I
apologise for being a bit distracted from the blog recently, but I do think it
can be justified as just before Christmas another food blogger, Ros, and I thought it would be fun to
get a few of our foodie contacts together for a pint down the pub. Given our enthusiasm for food in Sheffield, the
idea of a pint down the pub quickly evolved into the rather extravagant idea of
a full blown event with demos and food.
After
deciding to focus on some of Sheffield's food producers I contacted a few to
test the waters and see how much interest there was. We were amazed at the responses and we
quickly realised that Sheffield is crying out for all things food!
From
that point, even though we hadn’t even worked out how the event was going to
work, I already felt committed; I didn't want to let the producers down, or
worse still, come across as someone who doesn't see their ideas through to the
end. So, after a series of meetings, Ros
and I, with the help of the husbands, set up Appetite.
The
premise behind Appetite is to bring people of Sheffield together over
food. Food producers, chefs, restaurateurs,
cafes, delis, pubs and food lovers; Appetite is for everyone. We would love to get Sheffield on the food
map; a difficult task for this industrial city, but hey, it's gotta be worth a
go.
Luckily
Ros and I are quite similar in our approach to things and we agreed that if we
were going to do this, we were going to do it properly. So, the next step was to set up our
website. Ros' husband has his own
computer business (Your PC's Best
Friend) so he was able to do everything 'techie'. It was then up to Ros and I to agree the
format and the content.
With
the website came the logo, and despite the fact that none of us are
particularly artistic, I think we've done quite well. The blue works well against the gleaming
steel like text and we have the option to change the colours according to the
seasons.
We
were also thinking about venues and Fusion Organic Cafe seemed an obvious
choice for us. Not only did Fusion win
an Eat Sheffield award last year, they have a gorgeous premises and we knew
that they wouldn't be open for customers on a weekday evening (their bistro nights are
held on Thursday’s and Friday’s).
Thankfully Melvin could see the potential in Appetite and he agreed to
lend us his venue.
With
a website, venue and a list of interested producers we planned A Day in the
Life of a Sheffield Appetite. From
breakfast, to lunch, to dinner and dessert we had a producer lined up for every
single meal of the day (including elevenses and a mid afternoon snack!).
Then
we went live! Again, we were stunned by
the level of interest and we quickly sold out.
The press have been incredibly supportive too with the Sheffield Telegraph, Sheffield Star and Postcode Gazette publishing small
articles to advertise the event. I also
managed to swing an interview with BBC Radio Sheffield!
Realising
that there was no turning back and feeling under pressure to make sure the
event ran smoothly Ros and I went into anal overload. You have never seen so many lists, tables,
plans and calculations; but come the week leading up to the event I felt pretty
calm about the whole thing because I knew we'd put the work into the planning.
Of
course the big day came around quicker than any of us imagined and before we
knew it, we were at Fusion setting the room up for the main event. Then the producers started to arrive. Then the guests started to arrive...
There
were lots of friendly faces; PJ Taste Peter,
Urban Pantry Reece, Eat Sheffield's Niki, The Food Places' Steph and Dave...
along with many new ones. We had the
press in full force too as Lesley Draper from Sheffield Telegraph, Ellen
Beardmore from the Sheffield Star and Matt Dixon from Postcode Gazette had
joined us... more pressure for us to get this first event spot on!
After
a quick introduction to the event the demos started as follows;
Elevensies –
Teabox gave a tea master class and Komal of Fusion Organic Café bake a cake.
Lunch – Just Preserves paired their chutneys with Pork pie by John Crawshaws and cooked some chicken and prawns with a chilli relish.
Afternoon Snack – Fusion Organic showed us how to make a lamb pasty.
Dinner – Whirlow Hall Farm gave a talk about their farm and chef Pete from The York demonstrated how to make a warm egg and kale salad using ingredients from the farm.
Dessert – Tamper Coffee gave a quick chat about the coffee scene along with some coffee tasters. Our Cow Molly also gave a talk about their super fresh milk whilst the guests tucked into affogattos made using Our Cow Molly milk and Tamper coffee.
Beverages – Bradfield
Brewery donated a lovely selection of beer and we had wine donated by Moss
Valley Fine Meats and Just Preserves.
Unfortunately
that’s about as much as I can tell you about the event. See both Ros and I spent the evening
organising everyone, timing the demos, making sure the guests and producers
were happy and clearing up. I was too
busy to even eat anything (although I did manage to snaffle half a boiled egg at
some point)… I tell you now, from the initial planning to the event itself, it
was bloody hard work but oh my! What an amazing
night!
Everyone
worked so hard at making the event work with the producers helping us and each
other with the food preparation, handing samples out and cleaning down. There were many happy faces in the audience
(and many full bellies!) and this made all the work worthwhile. To go and watch some food demos is one thing,
to have back stage seats is another, but to host an event like this is an amazing
experience.
We’ve
had some truly excellent feedback, check out the Appetite
website
for some of the lovely things that have been said about our first event. Of course, we won’t let these comments go completely
to our heads… we know that there are improvements to make and we’re committed
to making sure that our events get better and better!
Because,
yes, there will be more events; in fact we’re already working hard on the next
one. We want Appetite to show off as
many of the producers and chefs that we have in Sheffield as we can, so there’ll
be a variety of formats used, focusing on different food businesses and
charities on the way.
To
keep up to date with our forthcoming events follow Appetite at @AppetiteSheff or check out the events section of our website.
What a great event, cant wait for the next one! Sorry i spoiled the photo with my cheesy smile though :)
ReplyDeleteReece
Thanks Reece... and I think your cheesy smile made the photo!
ReplyDeleteAre you aware that your RSS feed for Google Reader doesn't work? I'm therefore unable to subscribe to your feed.
ReplyDeleteThat's OK... don't mind me. Just ignore my comment without any acknowledgement whatsoever. Great way to run a blog.
ReplyDeleteNate.
ReplyDeleteI do apologise for not responding to your comment as quickly as either of us would have liked. To be honest I did see your comment and I made enquiries into the setup of an RSS feed, but I was unable to solve the issue. My 'techie' skills are hardly what they could be and therefore I planned to tackle this issue when I had some free time. I would imagine that I will have some free time over the weekend, and I hope to resolve the problem then, but I cannot guarantee anything!!
In the meantime, if anyone can offer me any tips/assistance with this, please do!
Cheers
No harm, no foul. Good luck.
ReplyDeleteNate I'm sorry but I can't work the RSS feed out. Would you like to subscribe by email?
ReplyDeleteThanks, but feeds are more convenient.
ReplyDeleteI'm puzzled why you're struggling with this. It's all seems rather straightforward:
http://support.google.com/blogger/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=42662
It does look simple doesn't it? Sadly I have already read the guides and tried everything they tell me to do, but it still doesn't work.... however I do have a bit of a plan so bear with me.
ReplyDeleteNate. Thankfully we have an excellent IT department at Appetite and Your PC's Best Friend has fixed the problem. Do let me know if you have any further issues. http://yourpcsbestfriend.com/
ReplyDeleteNice one. Thanks.
ReplyDelete