News and Features

Hairy Bikers come to Somerset!

We were absolutely delighted when the Hairy Bikers asked www.somersetfood.org to help them discover the best of Somerset's larder.

We are big fans of this affable duo and have followed their tours to such far flung places as Morocco, Vietnam and Mexico, imagining the aromas of exotic herbs and spices and gathering inspiration for our holidays and our cooking.

When we heard The Hairy Bikers were coming to Somerset we wondered whether the the credit crunch had hit their budget, but it soon became clear that after travelling the world, the bikers were keen to discover the best of British cooking and help support the food industry.  The boys, their bikes and their film crew are busy touring the UK, visiting 28 counties for their next series to be screened on BBC2 in the Spring - we'll let you know the details as soon as we know! 

The planning and research was meticulous, with lots of time spent discussing what 'Somerset food' means to the people who live here, who the characters are and where would make good locations for filming, cooking and of course biking.  We'd love to tell you exactly where they went, but have been sworn to secrecy, suffice to say they picked some 'obvious' places as well as some of the counties more unusual delights, including several producers featured on this website.

After two days out and about in Somerset sourcing ingredients and meeting local producers, the Grand Finale saw the Bikers going head to head in a 'cook-off' against one of Somerset's most renowned chefs, Richard Guest, of The Castle Hotel in Taunton.  The challenge was for Richard and The Bikers each to create a dish designed to make the best of the Somerset larder.  The dishes were presented to a panel of 9 tasters, who were not told which was cooked by Ian and which by the Bikers. The panel voted for their favourite and the one which got most votes was awarded the winner.

I was lucky enough to be included on the panel along with other Somerset foodies including Jan Maggs of cooking school Vanilla and Spice, Elaine Steven of Elaine Bakes celebration cakes and Mark Elstone of fine food importers RH Amar. We spent a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon discussing all matter of foodie topics, and were presented with two spectacular and imaginative dishes that took every one of us by surprise - no pork or cider in sight!  

Who won? 

We certainly won't spoil the surprise - you'll have to watch the series and find out !

The highlight - enjoying the fabulous dishes or getting my photo taken in a warm hug with the bikers (see above), I can't decide which!