Music festivals have been raising their game on the food front for several years. Where once your choice was limited to dubious burgers and undercooked falafel, now you’ll find banquets in forests, pop-up afternoon teas and the UK’s best-loved street food teams. Here’s our pick of the festivals with the best food, whatever your budget…
Best for street food
Field Day, London
Field Day is really raising the bar for festival grub this year. The east London festival has roped in Street Feast to make sure the food is more gourmet burritos than soggy kebabs. Traders include Street Feast favourites like Anna Mae’s mac ‘n’ cheese, Spit ‘n’ Roast’s tender buttermilk chicken and Busan BBQ’s Korean buns. There’s also a second street food area featuring traders like Churro Bros from south London’s Venn Street Market, a craft ‘brewers market’ with beers from London’s best breweries, and coffee from The Charlatan’s Tim Burgess’ charity initiative, Tim Peaks.
6-7 June, Victoria Park
Best for party fuel
Bestival, Isle of Wight
You don’t go to Bestival for a quiet picnic, but just because you plan to dance like a loon to The Chemical Brothers, doesn’t mean you want to get your energy from rubbish food. The Feast Collective is on site to keep Bestival goers fed and watered in style. At this dedicated area of the festival you can go healthy: fresh smoothies from Elephant Juice Bar, vegan treats from Wholefood Heaven, or hearty: Big Apple Hot dogs, raclette from Le Rac Shack and meatballs from Great Balls of Fire. There’s a tent filled with banqueting tables where you can sit and eat it all, too.
10-13 September, Isle Of Wight
Best for fancy dining
Wilderness, Oxfordshire
Wilderness has been pulling in big name chefs since it launched in 2011 and this year is no exception. Book ahead for long table banquets from Raymond Blanc, Angela Hartnett or Swedish whizz Niklas Ekstedt. Nuno Mendes from Chiltern Firehouse and Scott Hallsworth from Japanese restaurant Kurobuta are two of the chefs hosting small dinners in a small hilltop ‘restaurant’, while Moro has a souk tent and a sherry feast. There’s also cooking classes and foraging workshops.
6-9 August, Oxfordshire
Best for breakfast
Kendal Calling, Cumbria
Don’t make do with a cold tin of baked beans. At Kendal Calling, there’s a clutch of breakfast stalls who’ll help ease you out of your tent and into the day. Cereal Killers has 120 types of cereal, plus 30 different milks (hazelnut on Coco Pops for us, please). Local outfit The Square Orange will be firing up a morning barbecue. Tea and Toast is open 24-hours offering tea, toast and veggie-bacon rolls, while the brilliantly-named Strumpets with Crumpets serve crumpets with indulgent toppings like banoffee pie or goat’s cheese with blackcurrant jam.
30 July-2 August, Penrith
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.