Miles and I were lucky enough to receive some free tickets to the Chilli Festival in West Dean, and we decided to go on Sunday!We have been before and there is always some gluten free bits on offer, but this year was amazing! There was such an awesome variety of different foods to try, have for lunch and to take away it was just amazing!
…and this is what we found!
1. Pakoras- we’ve actually had these delicious deep fried vegetables before, at previous Chilli Festivals and this year they were just as awesome. Basically pakoras are vegetables (literally any veg you can think of) battered in a chickpea based batter with various spices added to it. One gripe I do have is that you used to be able to buy the packs of batter, but they’ve stopped selling them.
2. Vietnamese Food- I can’t say I’ve ever gone out and deliberately eaten Vietnamese food, but it’s one of those places on the map I’d love to visit. We managed to find a stall which boasted a few GF dishes. This was amazing because Miles had loads to choose from. We both went for a dish which name escapes me right now!! But it came with rice noodles, lots of pickled and fresh veg, and mine had delicious juicy bits of chicken, whereas miles went for meatballs which were equally as lovely!


Now on to the goodies we bought home with us!!

1. The first stall we went to is one we go to every year, Spicentice. We usually pick up a variety of spice mixes and rubs… use the rubs all throughout the year and totally forget about the spice mixes which sadly end up sitting in our pantry and going off before I have another clear out! However this year we decided to mix it up a little with some mango chutney, some papaya chutney (OMG both out of this world!) and some of our favourite pots of rub! I can’t wait to share some of the things we like to make with these ingredients. I believe everything they sell is actually gluten free, but please check before you buy!!!
2. Next up was The Garlic Farm stall. We bought a garlic plait from here! I love garlic and I like to add it into as many of our dinners as I can. Especially in the summer as it really helps to keep the mosquitos away and it’s also very good for your hair! Luckily Miles shares my love of garlic teehee!

3. Then it was on to a stall I don’t remember seeing before it was called Tan Rosie, offering lots of Caribbean style sauces and marinades… and the most amazing fiery ginger beer I have ever, ever tasted, that was amazing! We got a couple of glasses of the ginger beer (wishing id gone back for a couple of bottles!) and a Jerk Chicken rub. Mmmmm mmm!

4. After a little mooch about we came across a mayo stall called Le Range Mesurier, Miles loves mayo… on everything (much to my disappointment!) anyway this stall had a variety of different mayo’s, sauces and chutneys on offer! Although they were all gluten free, Miles couldn’t try them because they were using crackers to sample the dips with, this meant I got to pick which ones we bought and we went for Sundried tomato and basil mayonnaise, hollandaise sauce and a citrus mayonnaise. Which where my favourites!
5. Now, I am saving the best till last here, simply because this particular stalls offerings where the most impressive by far and the couple who own the business are so kind, and knowledgeable. The last stall we visited was called Mum and Dad’s Kitchen.
So, sometime last year I posted about a little place in Portsmouth called Pie and Vinyl. It just so happens that the gluten free pies that Pie and Vinyl sell come from Mum and Dad’s kitchen! It’s a small world! This stall was the best. It was stocked high with not only gluten free pies, but gluten free cakes too! We ended up having a lovely chat with ‘Mum and Dad’ and ended up walking away with 3 of their pies- Egg, Bacon and Chorizo (not only has this pie won an award, but oh my goodness it is amazing!), Piesty- which is a pasty in a pie (also delish!) and Pork Pie! They were also kind enough to give us one of their beetroot chocolate cakes, which were amazing too!

I will be ordering from Mum and Dad’s Kitchen in the near future, as there is even more to choose from on their website and they are just down the road from us! They even sell their shortcrust pastry, ready-made which is suitable for sweet and savoury dishes! Miles was very impressed with his pie lunches this week too!
I was so pleased there was so much on offer at the Chilli Festival. It just goes to show that coeliac awareness is on the up! And it’s not just free from festivals that cater for coeliac disease either.