Food: Inspiration and Skill on the Menu from The School of Artisan Food at RHS Chatsworth Flower Show 7-11 June 2017

Artisan food production will be on the menu from The School of Artisan Food at the RHS Chatsworth Flower Show where they will demonstrate how to grow, select and use tasty ingredients at very low cost.

The award winning School of Artisan Food has designed an exciting programme for the Artisan Kitchen Theatre supported by Villa Maria at the first RHS Chatsworth Flower Show. A feast of interests will be served throughout the five days from cooking with seasonal produce; keeping hens at home and plant pot bread making to wild food and foraging; cheese-making at home and cooking on a budget.

The school has invited its north Notts neighbour Rhubarb Farm – a horticultural social enterprise – to create a Garden for Hard Times and a 1940s allotment to feed into its delicious menu of food demonstrations and expert talks taking place every day between 11am-5pm.

Alongside leading food professionals, the school’s tutors will be sharing their expertise and knowledge of artisan food production at the Show with the line-up featuring advice on how to use cheaper cuts of meat for flavour; preserving and fermenting; patisserie; focaccia and flatbreads; botanicals in cocktails and chocolate infusions and the use of edible flowers in food and drink.

Julie Byrne, managing director at The School of Artisan Food, said: “We are committed to sharing artisan food skills as a way of improving how we think about the food we grow, cook and eat. RHS Chatsworth Flower Show is a wonderful platform to share our knowledge and expertise with everyone who has an interest in growing their own and finding out how to make the most of their food whatever their budget. Everyone here at The School of Artisan Food is looking forward to a busy and rewarding show.”

Visitors can also find out about sustainable winemaking from Villa Maria, New Zealand’s most awarded winery, with a talk on Winemaking & Sustainability: Looking after the next generation, taking place at 11am each day. Villa Maria are supporting the Artisan Kitchen Theatre as part of a wider partnership with the RHS.

Food historian Ivan Day will be giving a fascinating insight into The Story of the Pineapple in a nod to both the Chatsworth and Welbeck estates, which were at the forefront of the introduction and cultivation of this tropical fruit.

Rhubarb Farm’s Garden for Hard Times will demonstrate in a real and practical way how people can grow tasty vegetables and fruit to improve their diet and make use of many recycled items, all for a very low cost. Crops include chillis, salads, herbs, fruit and edible flowers as well as a whole range of vegetables that will be used in demonstrations to show how to make the most of inexpensive ingredients to create dishes full of flavour.

The 1940s Allotment will grow crops that would have been used to feed families in the post-war era across allotments in ex-mining communities such as beetroot, cabbage, French beans, gooseberries and of course rhubarb. Features include a shed dressed with items typical of the time including wooden seed boxes, original 1940s seed packets and tools, a hen coop and a dolly tub for forcing rhubarb. Rhubarb Farm staff and volunteers will be dressed in 1940s clothing at the Show.

Outside, there will be ice cream making demos as well as food to enjoy from the wood-fired pizza ovens and a barbecue delivered by the school’s expert artisan bakers and butchers.

Jenny Jenner, Show Manager, RHS Chatsworth Flower Show, said: “Having visited the School and seen their knowledge, enthusiasm and dedication to teaching people the craft of artisan food production first hand, I am delighted that visitors will be able to experience the exciting and informative programme of demonstrations they have planned at our inaugural show.”

The Artisan Kitchen Theatre full programme of free talks and demonstrations will be available shortly at www.rhs.org.uk/shows-events/rhs-chatsworth-flower-show.

For more information on The School of Artisan Food, go to www.schoolofartisanfood.org