An Earth Trust food festival for children

If your children turn their noses up at everything you offer them at mealtimes, then the Children’s Food Festival is for you – or rather for them. This celebration of food and cooking is designed to turn fussies into foodies and is devoted entirely to young people.

Fronted by Raymond Blanc

The Earth Trust's Children's Food Festivals in 2007 and 2009 were fronted by Patrons Raymond Blanc and Sophie Grigson, who gave hands-on demos in the Rangemaster Cookery Theatre, inviting children to chop, stir, smell and taste. Previous line-ups have included Annabel Karmel, Jane Fearnley Whittingstall (author of The Good Granny Cookbook), Sam Stern (the Teenage Chef) and Nora Sands (Jamie’s School Dinner Lady). Children’s cookery writer Amanda Grant will be running the Belling Kids’ Kitchen.

Attracting over 15,000 visitors

The Children's Food Festival allows children of all ages to become adventurers in the world of real food and get their hands into plenty of ingredients from pizza to pesto and sushi to sausages.

 'We have been overwhelmed with highly positive feedback from happy parents. Our hope was that whichever way you looked in the Festival fields there would be something compelling to do – and that really was how it turned out.' says Eka Morgan, Festival Director 2007 and 2009.

Zita Hajdu, 33, from Oxford was one of the many who expressed her enthusiasm to the Earth Trust: 'The Food Festival was more than fabulous. Amazing! We all had such fun and my boys took away loads of goodies for their vegetable patch. Thank you beyond words - chocolate heaven as well. We're making one of the recipes now – we're so inspired!'

We hope to run another Children's Food Festival in the future, resources permitting.