Sunday, July 14, 2013

Travel: Glastonbury Foodie Review- Day 1


So! Finally I’ve got my act together, organised my photos, and written up this foodie review of the fest! Glastonbury Festival of Music and Performing Arts is the biggest festival in Europe, and is held every year (except the occasional “gap year” to let the farm heal up a bit) on the last weekend in June. The first one I went to was 2004, and 2013 will have been the seventh time I have come to this wonderful festival- so I wouldn’t call myself a “Glasto Veteran”- but I certainly do know my way around it pretty well. Along with all the music, comedy, circus acts, dancing, fire shows, and a billion other exciting things to get involved in, like all my other holidays, food has always played a big part in my enjoyment. What’s great about Glasto is that there really is something for everybody- even when I went to this festival and I was vegan, I was very well fed, and spoilt for choice. But of course, with a multitude of choice, you are going to get your rubbish food stalls, and the ones that really stand out. Since every year, normally the food stalls are in the same location, I hope that future glasto goers will find this review helpful, when choosing what to nosh on before getting drunk with the rest of the hippie rockers!

Now, unlike the rest of the “punters”, I arrive at Glastonbury before the official opening (as my dad does sound for one of the smaller stages), so my review begins on the Tuesday afternoon (with Glasto “officially” open to festival-goers on the Wednesday). If you are crew, or you get there a little earlier than the norm, your pick of the food stalls are slightly limited, as many of them only open as soon as the main glasto-goers get in. However, if you take a wander round the site (which is very enjoyable before the main opening, as theres almost no one around) you will find at least a couple of dozen food stalls serving already. My first foodie stop, once I’d sorted out all my laminates and wristbands, was a foodie stop I always take at least a few times during the festival- because it is always cheap (compared  to other stalls), always reliable, and always tasty. This is the “Phillipine Village” Noodles and rice stall, and serves things like chicken chow mein, chicken with black bean sauce, chicken satay sauce, chicken adobo, indian dahl- each with the choice of either vegetable fried noodles or veggie fried rice. I had their Thai chicken red curry with vegetable fried rice, and this was HOT, but filling and delicious. I know from experience also that their chicken with black bean sauce, with noodles, is one of the most satisfying things to eat on site, and they are normally one of the latest stalls to stay serving (till 2am I think? Most places close around 12am). You will find this place in between the Meeting Point, on the corner before you head off to the Big Top tent.

After that I went up and met mumsy up at the stone circle field, the weather was hot and lovely and we were thoroughly enjoying ourselves. Up near the healing fields, we then stopped off for a cuppa at a place called the “Tiny Tea Tent”. Loads of different varieties of tea, somewhere nice and cool to sit down, and also a thing where you can pay a £1 deposit to have your tea in a proper mug (which you of course get back when you give the mug back). Sounds a little strange, but to be honest after a while you do get tired of drinking from plastic/ cardboard cups, and it’s quite nice to have a proper
mug of tea!
 
Later on, to make sure I had something to line my stomach before boozing it up, I decided to get a falafel and tahini cone, from a place near the Market area. Now I think (although this is not a proven theory) that the most common food available all over the site are falafels, in various shapes, forms, and serving suggestions. I think to be honest you could probably do a ruddy “Falafell review” of glasto just by itself! I still haven’t found the best on site, this cone I had was a little average I think- I mean, it was tasty and all, but the falafels were all put on top of the cone, not “in it” mixed up with the salad and stuff, so once you’ve eaten the falafel bit you just end up with a pitta cone full of tahini-ish salad, which is a little disappointing.

 
After this, me and my friends who I was camping with went on a bit of a backstage bar crawl, which was a great laugh. On our way back we say this guy treading the massively long wire near the Astrolabe and Cabaret Stage-mental!!!

No comments:

Post a Comment