The spring harvest marks the first yields of the year after the cold winter months. Celebrated with festivities and competitions, each regional delicacy, including artichokes, asparagus, Swiss chard, peas, and local cheese, takes centre stage. Indulge in these vibrant flavours at some of the lively food festivals this spring.
Spring is one of the most colourful and joyous times of the year marked with cherry blossoms and vibrant wildflowers blooming along the roadsides. Driving down the roads in the countryside is a special delight with vibrant meadows and fields of yellow rapeseed spread as far as eyes can see. Gardens all over the world are adorned in all shades of red, yellow and purple when eatable flowers and spring vegetables start to grow.
Artisan Cheese Fair, England
18th & 19th May 2024, Melton Mowbray, UK
From popular choices like Cheddar and Leicester, to lesser-known delights like Cornish Yag and Lincolnshire Poacher, the British Isles are connoisseurs of the art of cheese making. In the rural town of Melton Mowbray, known as the regional food capital, an annual cheese fair is held where around 50-60 artisanal cheesemakers from across the United Kingdom and Ireland display their finest selections. The fair showcases more than 300 different types of cheese from the country along with a selection of local wines, beers, spirits, pies, cider and cakes. The fair also features tasting sessions, theatre shows, workshops and demonstrations of cheese and butter making.
Check out the fair website for more details here.
Foire au Jambon de Bayonne, France
4th to 7th April 2024 Place du carreau des halles, Bayonne
France is known for its splendid charcuterie and they take their ham seriously. Since 1464, for four days in spring, crowds gather in the Halles marketplace in the small town of Bayonne in southwest France for the annual Ham Festival. A parade and concert introduce the Bayonne Ham Brotherhood, a group of judges wearing red capes who preside over the annual ham omelette and Jambon competitions. 30 artisanal producers compete each year for the prize where the guidelines are very strict: pigs must be raised free-range in Aquitaine, Midi-Pyrénées, or Poitou Charentes, and slaughtered no less than one year old. The meat should be salted and cured for a minimum of 12 months.
For more details on the Ham Fair this year, check out the Foire au Jambon website here.
Sugarbush Maple Syrup Festival, Canada
March 9 – April 7 2024, At Bruce’s Mill Conservation Park and Kortright Centre for Conservation.
The main event in the spring season in Canada is the production of the golden Maple Syrup. Canada is known for producing over 70% of the world’s maple syrup. Every district across the country celebrates their own Maple Syrup Festival when the Sugar Maples are tapped for their sweet sap. The festival invites tourists to experience the process of making maple syrup. With demonstrations on how they check and tap the tree for its tap and how the sap is boiled down into syrup, the guides share the entire history of maple syrup.
Did you know it takes 40 litres of tree sap to make 1 litre of maple syrup?
The stands at the festivals serve hot pancakes and sausages as well as waffle sticks with maple syrup to dip along with mugs of hot apple cider. You can also enjoy maple candies and cookies and the classic Maple Taffy which is hot maple syrup poured over snow and lapped up with a popsicle stick into a sticky lollipop. To buy tickets and to learn more about this tasty festival, check out Toronto and Region Conservation Authority here.
