Taste London review
Channel 4’s Taste festivals have been pushed as the highlight of the UK’s gourmet calendar – the event for “serious foodies” looking to sample some Michelin-starred food in the great outdoors.
The fact that the organisers, this last weekend, persuaded 40 London restaurants to showcase their food in one place for four days is commendable. There were some excellent dishes to be eaten and a healthy quota of celebrity chefs to ogle, but there are several reasons why I think this event is aimed more at those with an interest in food rather than those who are truly passionate about food.
If you have never been to a Taste festival the format is like this: Each featured restaurant lists three dishes that punters pay for with crowns, the official Taste currency. Meanwhile exhibitors show off their products while celebrity chefs hold demos in the Taste theatre and food writers sign books.
If Friday’s turnout was anything to go by, the festival was certainly popular. Evidently not put off by the £21 entrance fee and the bizarre currency, visitors seemed to be enjoying the chance to sample London’s culinary best, such as Theo Randall’s Pan-Fried Scottish Scallop in the Shell, Tom Aikens’ Beer Battered Red Gurnard & Chips and Anthony Demetre’s Warm Salad of English Peas, Flaked Salt Cod and Young Shoot.
However, if you were looking for inspiration and excitement outside the restaurant tents, you might have been somewhat disappointed.
Exhibitors, while in greater numbers and more forthcoming with products to try compared to last year, were showcasing food and drink brands that most people can pick up in their local supermarkets. Similarly, many of the goods available at the stalls of the smaller artisan producers in the Delicious Producers’ Market were those the “serious foody” can find in his or her local farmers’ market or well-stocked deli.
Even the demonstrations in the Taste Theatre were nothing different from what you can see on TV cookery shows.
At the restaurant stalls the food is undoubtedly good, as you’d expect, but these top restaurants aren’t simply good because of the food. Yes, it is a major draw, but customers also visit them to eat well-presented food and drink selected wines delivered by highly-skilled waiting staff, which is why, if you want a real taster of what these restaurants and their chefs have to offer, you’d be better off taking your entrance fee, exchanging your crowns for cold hard cash and booking a table at one of their restaurants rather than eating a scaled-down version of one of their dishes from a plastic plate while wandering through Regent’s Park.
Food festivals in any shape or form should be supported, and Taste is a well-organised event, with plenty going on to keep everyone occupied, but for a festival as heavily-promoted as this, it should be setting the agenda, not following it. The true gastronome wants to be wowed as well as entertained and be given something that reflects the excitement and the brilliance of the British dining scene. In the words of one sponsor – Sainsbury’s – those serious foodies should be able to Taste the Difference, not taste more of the same.
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