ST IVES FOOD AND DRINK FESTIVAL 2025 IS EARMARKED TO TAKE PLACE ON PORTHMINSTER BEACH OVER A WEEKEND IN MAY 2025. ANYONE CAN GO ALONG TO ENJOY THE BEST FOOD IN CORNWALL ALONGSIDE SUN, SEA AND MUSIC…
Food, glorious food! And beach, glorious beach! That’s right, it must be the St Ives Food and Drink Festival, one of Cornwall’s most eagerly awaited foodie fests. The 2023 edition on Porthminster Beach in St Ives was held over a weekend in May but sadly the St Ives Food and Drink Festival 2024 edition ‘took a break’. We prefer, however, to simply say it has been ‘postponed’ until May 2025.
On a St Ives Business Improvement District (BID) Facebook post towards the end of January 2024, a statement read that food and music operating company ILOW ‘will no longer be organising the St Ives Food and Drink Festival’ and, as a result, ‘the local CIC who owns this festival have taken this opportunity to make some changes and improvements to the event’.
In short, it means that the festival was off in 2024 while ‘new organisation and infrastructure is put into place to bring the festival back better than ever’. According to the official website, it looks like a weekend in May 2025 is the target for the next extravaganza.
At the May 2025 fest, just like its previous iterations, expect the best bites and most delicious drinks alongside top local live music over three days. That’s not official as it may not be three days but traditionally it’s been across a Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Make sure you bring an extremely empty stomach to this incredible Cornish event when it goes ahead.
The event traditionally features chef talks and demonstrations. In 2023, Jack Stein of Rick Stein Restaurants, ‘veg growing guru’ Kathy Slack and grill chef and author Simon Stallard did demos and talks. Barbecue hero Chris ‘Chops’ Taylor also held a demo for the crowds and seafood maestro Stephane Delourme closed out the fest with a special demonstration.
If music be the food of love then there’s always plenty of acts playing on over the weekend. The Scribes rocked up in 2023, as did Peri Rae, Molly Hocking, Bailey Tomkinson and the fabulous Roguey Roads. There has also traditionally been a Food Trail in St Ives throughout the festival with a whole host of tasty treats to discover along the way. Basically, there’s loads to eat, drink, listen to and learn over the weekend in May.
Thousands travel to St Ives for this hotly anticipated food fest on the white sands of Porthminster. At the 2022 edition, there were loads of chef demos firing it up on those sands from the likes of Jack Stein, Emily Scott of Emily Scott Food and Jackson Bristow from Nancarrow Farm. Plus, Kathy Slack, the Padstow Kitchen Garden’s Ross Geach and Chris ‘Chops’ Taylor were also there, joined by many more as they cooked on the festival’s Asado Fire Pit that was sponsored by St Austell Brewery.
Live music over the 2022 festival included funky Latin outfit Malavita! headlining the Friday night opening party, self-proclaimed ‘musical misfits’ Town of Cats on the Saturday night and the theatrical 3 Daft Monkeys on the Sunday. Visitors also enjoyed loads of street food, cocktail masterclasses and so much grub on offer.
If you like sandwiches and sand, and barbecues and beaches, then get down to Porthminster and loosen that belt for the 2025 St Ives Food and Drink Festival.
Plus, are you a business in St Ives? That Facebook post in January 2024 ‘put a call out to all businesses to get involved in either fundraising or raising the profile of the St Ives Food festival in anticipation of the new and improved festival returning in 2025’. You know what to do. Get hold of the St Ives BID team and support one of the best beach-bound food and drink festivals in the Duchy.