Shrewsbury Food Festival. Wonder if they do sauce on a plate.

No-one could ever have accused our dear old mum of being a great cook. Pretty much everything she produced in the kitchen came out of a tin or a packet.
We grew up on a diet of beans on toast, supermarket shepherd's pie, faggots in gravy, braised beef, chicken pies, and (still one of my favourites) egg and chips.
The likes of Jamie Oliver would not have been impressed, but, as they say, it never did us any harm.
When I tell folks that our six o'clock tea time would feature nothing more exotic than jam sandwiches, they either stare at me in disbelief or else declare in a Monty Pythonesque Lancashire accent: "Jam sandwiches! You were lucky! We used to dream of jam sandwiches!"
Well. We did occasionally have tinned sardines, but I was never very keen.
What I really did love, however, was sauce on a plate.
"What?" I hear you ask.
You heard. Sauce on a plate. Quite literally HP sauce on a plate which you would then mop up with bread and butter. And, for afters, mashed banana with milk and sugar. Yummy!
It is against this background that this week your humble columnist turns his attention to the forthcoming Shrewsbury Food Festival.
What on earth is a food philistine such as I to make of a glorious celebration of all that's excellent when it comes to tickling the taste buds?
Well. At this point perhaps I should confess to two things. Firstly, my tastes and indeed the food I have been enjoying in adulthood have both moved on in the 30 years or so since our mum's cooking was the only food on offer. Secondly, I have been vegetarian for the last three decades so I'm afraid any tasty morsels involving in their production cows, sheep, pigs and suchlike leave me cold.
Having set out my stall, let's have a look at this food festival, shall we?

It's taking place this coming weekend in our beautiful Quarry park and around the town. The brochure and the website look fabulous (check outwww.shrewsburyfoodfestival.co.uk) and you can even follow the festival on Twitter (look for @shrewsfoodfest).

Amongst more than 80 exhibitors will be: Appleby's Cheese, Barnabys Ice Cream, the Battlefield 1403 Farmshop, Miranda's Preserves Ltd, Monkhide Wines, Ludlow Vineyard, Foxgloves Liqueurs, Doodle Bakes with their hand-made iced biscuits and sweets, Coopers Sausage Rolls, Fish In A Box, The Peach Tree Restaurant, Vintage Thyme pop-up tea room, The Fresh Lemonade Company, Native Breeds (hand-made hotdogs served with local relishes in artisan rolls), Polly's Parlour and Severn Valley Roasts.

Also represented will by Shrewsbury Mini Donuts, Shropshire Chocolates by Toots Sweets, Gwatkin Cider, the Green Fields Farm Shop, French Flavour Ltd, the Ludlow Food Centre, and many, many more.

Oh, and have you heard about the Restaurant Safari?

"The idea of our Restaurant Safari is simple," explains the brochure. "We've joined forces with a number of the town's finest, many of which have created special menus - with dishes for as little as £3 so that you can taste their take on local produce without breaking the bank. And if you like what you taste, you can stick around and order the full-sized versions. For full details of what's on offer, visit the festival website."

The festival is also providing a feast of films - movies about food. Having teamed up with Shrewsbury Film Society, those clever festival people invite you to take in a tasty movie at The Hive in Belmont.

There's lots to enjoy! And - like the Shrewsbury Folk Festival and the Shrewsbury Steam Rally - this event will surely grow and develop into one of the town's major annual attractions.

Mmmmmmm. I wonder if they'll do sauce on a plate?