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Monday, May 30, 2011

Vantastival Camper Van Cook Off

Van-tastic Fun

Vantastival is a camper and family friendly festival now in it's second year. It takes place on the gorgeous Dunanny Estate in lush county Louth, a gust away from the Irish Sea. The cook off sees 6 campervans competing to win the 2011 prize. This year's sponsors were Cully & Sully. Cully himself was down to do the judging, bringing along with him their chef Ivan, and also the Cheffactor 2010 winner Christine. Read about here experiences at Ballymaloe here.
Some of the finished dishes

The ingredients for the 45 minute cook off included Minced beef, green pepper, chick peas, onion, chili, chopped tomatoes, wild garlic, rice, black pudding, brie, cream & a banana. All teams could use a few store cupboard ingredients from their van cupboards. The brief was to produce two dishes, but all vans turned out three in the allotted time. 

Ivan gets comfy
Disco Dinner
Christine finds one of the entries hilarious
Well done to all the great chefs who could well under the baking hot sun and in front of the huge crowd that grew around them hungrily licking their lips. 
Did someone say dinner?

The judges get down to some hard work

The winners
The festival was such a success that it's back on the calendar for 2012, so if you're looking for a great family festival that has great music come on down to Dunanny. Or better still beg/borrow/steal a campervan and see if you can be crowned champion for 2012!

Like I said family friendly!
That'll be me
And a big thanks to Delo for the amazing photos! 

7 comments:

Aoife Mc said...

Wow! Looks like so much fun! Glad you had a good time :)

Kristin said...

I didn't realise it was a family-friendly event, now I wish I'd gone! Will definitely put it on the calendar for next year, especially since I live in Louth. Looks like it was a lot of fun!

Lu said...

Aoife - twas a lovely weekend made even better by the amazing weather.
Kristin - friends of mine were running the kids area - there were workshops all weekend, drumming, dancing, crafts etc and prob best free bouncy castle. Kids had a great time I think!

Eliza J said...

wow! i missed out! food and campervans! looks amazing! xx

Lu said...

Hey Eliza J - was a good weekend - next year then

Wagen said...

Hi Lola I am doing a show review of Vantastival for Louise Tangney and would love to use your report on the cook-off in our forthcoming book. Can you contact me asap.
stephen@wagenpublishing.com
Many thanks

sandhiya said...

Wow, very cool idea and definitely creative... Adding your feed now. Thanks!

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