Devizes Food & Drink Festival’s Starter; The Market

The sun certainly shone on Devizes yesterday as the Devizes Food & Drink Festival kicked off with its celebrated free foodie market in, aptly, the Market Place……

You should take note it’s not the be-all-and-end-all of the festival, only the starter. The Devizes Food & Drinks Festival combines twenty-four separate events over nine days, ending on 1st October. There’s a packed programme from a teddy bear’s picnic at Hillworth Park to Saxon Forager Craig Brooks introducing Viking and Anglo Saxon age cuisine, but for many, the market is the icing on the cake.

The finale is also popular, a free World Food Day, where for a 50p taster you can explore worldwide cuisines created by local residents with their roots from various countries. This takes place at the Corn Exchange on Sunday 1st October from 12:30.

Now, not wanting to criticise the amazing efforts and hard work which goes into the event, as it is fantastic to wander the square and smell the lovely food being prepared, browse some great local produce stalls, and enjoy taking a break at the Wadworth bar with some live music, but I confess, nothing particularly lurched out at me demanding me to eat it! Perhaps I’ve become accustomed to the annual affair, or perhaps I was in a grump, but in previous years there were a selection of interestingly different stalls, of Baos, street ravioli, or a grill selling burgers of kangaroo, ostrich, crocodile and various other unusual slices of dead animal, which sadly seems to lessen with each year that passes.

I tip my hat to the Rutts Lane Cider stall, The Goat Farmer, and the Cosy Gyros also in attendance, and salute there’s many welcomed returning participants, from Tray Cake to that strange silver van which although the cooking is hidden from view, does magically produce a tasty burger. There was a Japanese noodle stall, paella and churros, but these are all things we’ve seen at previous year’s markets, or else other town events.

The only one to sell it to me was a Caribbean preserves stall selling banana jam, which surprised me, otherwise I shrug at food stuff I can buy from regular places in town already and cheaper too. This conclusion ended with me fulfilling my promise to bring something home for the family, but popping over to Savannah Sweets in the Shambles, to bag a gurt lush variety of goodies for a similar price to three negligible packets of fudge on one of the stalls. Now I know it costs to independently create and market your own produce, and I’m even willing to accept the fudge on the stall might’ve tasted superior, but in this economic car-crash era, there has to unfortunately be a budget. Dammit if even a hotdog would set me back seven quid; am I at Wembley?!

I reflected on this samey feel last year, considered virtually copying and pasting the article and changing the dates, but I kept it positive, as I really want to convey a positive review as much as possible, and for what it was, especially if you’ve not been to a previous year’s before, as I said, it is great, don’t wish to sound like I’m taking it for granted, just think some creative input and souring of something usual and new is an angle fading annually.

In last year’s report I said, “if last year I winged “Frome’s eclectic-influenced folk four-piece, The Decades made for the perfect entertainment, but again, they were the same band which played there in 2019,” they were there again this time too,” they were even there again this time! The Decades are great, and apt for the occasion, but working an entire day is hard on them, and they regularly need to take breaks, where the Market Place is left void of entertainment. I know and accept the focus is on food and drink, being the Food & Drink Festival and all, but offering some different musical acts would be an easy change to make.

I also bore witness to bored kids being dragged unwillingly around. Once they’ve had an ice cream, erm; perhaps workshop tables could be introduced, build your own pizza, decorate a gingerbread man, or dare I suggest a Bugsy Malone fashioned custard pie fight? That’d certainly liven it up a bit!

Grumpus Maximus rant over, concubines can spoon feed me grapes and fan me down, and I will say, The Devizes Food & Drink Festival market will always be a regular must-do on our event calendar, is always worthwhile attending, though I believe some further thought is needed to prevent it becoming monotonous to regular annual attendees.