A tried and tested food festival returns to Brighton next month after the disappointment endured by some at the cheese festival last weekend.
The Fiery Foods Festival is back for an 11th time with its celebration of chilli and spicy food.
The organisers said that Brighton and Hove would host “leading producers of hot food, sauces, chillies and chutneys from all over the UK”.
The festival’s track record has secured it a place on the Sunday Times “Top Twenty Food Festivals in the UK” list.
It looks likely to be a far cry from the ill-fated Cheesefest a week ago which made local and national headlines for “having hardly any cheese” – to quote the Daily Mail.
One disgruntled customer said that it came too close for comfort to the famous Monty Python sketch about a cheese shop with no cheese.
But the disappointment has prompted a rival organiser, the Big Cheese Festival, to capitalise by offering disgruntled customers a discount to the new event next March.
Before that, in four weeks’ time, the Fiery Food Festival promises spice, music and a chance to see the biggest chilli ever.
The festival will also play host to the annual National Chilli Awards – at which national chilli professionals will judge the best products.
The Fiery Foods Festival said: “Apart from the excellent food and products on offer, there will be live music all weekend, fun events for kids and lashings of chilli ginger beer – and alcoholic beverages – in the beer tent.
“The crowd-pleaser every year – and this year will be no exception – occurs on both days of the festival when a group of volunteers eat a succession of chillies, from the mildest peppers to the hottest chillies on the planet.
“Each contestant is given a chilli pepper, a glass of milk (the best antidote to the chilli pepper burn) and a discrete bucket!
“It’s great fun for the audience, if not for the contestants.
“Also on show this year – the biggest chilli ever.”
The Fiery Foods Festival is due to take place on Saturday 16 September and Sunday 17 September in Victoria Gardens – between the Royal Pavilion and St Peter’s Church.
For more information and to buy tickets, visit www.fieryfoodsuk.co.uk.
