Feast of fun at Queen Katherine School

11:30am Saturday 5th July 2008

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An estimated 300 children are expected to join in some special food fun at Queen Katherine on Wednesday, July 16.

There will be chef demonstrations thanks to none other than Steven Doherty, of Lakeland Limited’s First Floor café, who has ‘adopted’ QKS through his membership of the Academie Culinaire and helped bring the festival to life.

Steven has also enlisted the support of Michelin-starred chef Simon Rogan, of L’enclume, at Cartmel.

Twenty local food producers have been drafted in by Steven to display their wares for the youngsters to sample.

Kendal College is also lending its support – not only financially but also with skill demonstrations and providing practical assistance for the evening barbecue.

And Made in Cumbria has joined the army of helpers by providing covered stalls for the event.

The Crunch Bunch (see below) will act as hosts for their young counterparts during the festival.

The Crunch Bunch was formed with the help of teacher Tash Jones from a group which meets in the 'red shed' - a haven away from the classroom - and others interested in catering as a career.

This group – which has been responsible for organising the food festival on July 16 – first had its appetite whetted with ‘stories good enough to eat’ from Lakeland storyteller Taffy Thomas. Cumbrian chef John Crouch also took the students through the history of Cumbrian food as well as leading a tasting session.

They were then invited to research family recipes from parents and grandparents and so on.

In the second phase of the project, practical story-telling workshops revealed the tales behind the dishes which chef John helped the students to make.

The third phase of ‘Three Golden Apples’ project at QKS is the book, which will be launched at the festival.