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Festival of ‘food ideas’ coming soon to Bristol
Conversations around food, produce and the hospitality industry will take centre stage at a new “festival of food ideas” in September.
Josh Eggleton of the Pony Group and Shona Graham of Team Canteen started FŌDA in 2023 as a networking event exclusively for independent suppliers and restaurateurs within the South West region.
But three years later, the symposium of food will open to the public on September 27 & 28, with Arnolfini and the Floating Harbour as the setting for meaningful conversations around food.
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An artisanal producer village by the Floating Harbour, populated with cheese, wine, local spirits, and other goods brought in from independent businesses, will be open to visit through the weekend.
Additionally, visitors will have the chance to board the Pony Farm Bus, an interactive learning centre within a vintage double-decker bus with hydroponic growing, a demo kitchen and other information resources.
Discussions at the symposium will centre around four defining themes – salt, fat, acid and sweet – with industry experts encouraging delegates to challenge what and how they eat and ponder on the origins of their food.
Speakers for the festival’s first public edition include Max La Manna, Xanthe Clay, Gurdeep Loyal, Margot Henderson, David Rowley and many others.
Eggleton sees the festival in Bristol as the foundation for “nationwide conversations about food”.
He added: “I’ve always wanted to use the energy and culture that we have here in Bristol to create nationwide conversations around food.
“The aim of FŌDA is to challenge our perceptions of, and relationship with food, from how we source it to how we eat it. And crucially, how we pass this knowledge on to the next generations.
“My hope is that this will become an annual event providing the public with access to a broad range of experts at the top of their game; and that we’ll have some lively debate.”
Sourdough workshops held by Vanessa Kimbell and a long list of food and drink exhibitions and workshops will be available to attend through the weekend.
FŌDA is drawn on Eggleton’s inspiration from Food on the Edge, an international symposium hosted in Galway, Ireland, by founder JP McMahon.
McMahon will officially open FŌDA at the industry launch on September 26, before the festival opens to the public.
All photos: FODA
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