About Us
We are passionate about spices, their heritage and their gastronomy.
We aim to explore their rich & varied history, their benefits plus their ancient and modern applications in food, health and other properties, via our various products which are listed below.
Podcast
Our podcast features regular conversations and interviews with artisans, spice producers, chefs, historians and spice experts!
It’s completely free to listen to and in doing so, you can discover a brand new & spicy world!
Festival
The Ginger and Spice Festival is a community fringe festival which takes place annually in and around Market Drayton during British Food Fortnight. The festival celebrates the town’s culinary heritage & explores the town’s history via an eclectic mix of fringe events. There is a particular focus on promoting seasonal and locally produced food, often with a ginger twist!
Store
Our spice based store features artisan spice products, spiced based food, drinks, goods, gifts and more!
We are launching in June 2020!
Who we are
Julia is a graduate of English Literature and Environmental Studies and also holds her IOSH Managing Safely qualification. She has been working in communications and events sector for over 25 years and currently runs her own communications consultancy. She has a passion for heritage, social history and food. She also gives talks and speaks both nationally & internationally.
Julia is a member of the PRCA & the Garden Media Guild and also a Judge at the annual British Pie Awards.
Julia’s favourite spice is currently cumin!
She is also a big foodie at heart and enjoys eating out in the area, supporting local farm shops and find new and interesting food products to try cooking at home with.
Davina’s favourite spice is pepper, she particularly likes Mr Wolf’s pink pepper mix and regularly adds this and other spices to game dishes.
With being a South African, Rebecca would say that her most favourite spice of all time is coriander, as it is used in some of the most traditional South African dishes such as Bobotie, Boerewors and Biltong.
Helen’s favourite spice is Turmeric,
Moving from Rutland 34 years ago and buying a small bakery in Shropshire Street the business grew from baking bread, cakes and morning goods to 90,000 hand-decorated gingerbread novelty biscuits a week. The business now operates from a purpose-built bakery, employing over 50 people & produces biscuits for an upmarket supermarket chain, as well as food service and tourism outlets throughout the U.K.
Having been born into a farming family, Sarah understood from a very early age the importance of quality and eating what the land produced. Milk came straight from the cows in the morning, bacon and pork from the pigs and then there was the excitement of eating seasonal fruit and
vegetables from the garden, only being allowed to pick the Brussel Sprouts once they had had a frost on them!
Sarah’s favourite spice is ginger, especially when smothered on melon!
Iana took early retirement in 2013 to become a full-time carer for her disabled granddaughter, Kitty.
On moving to Market Drayton in 2015, Iana has dedicated her spare time to a lifelong hobby – baking. In 2017 Iana won the Ginger & Spice Gingerbread House Competition; in 2018 she took part in CH4’s Kirsty’s Handmade Christmas going on to win the Gingerbread House trophy; and in 2019, as part of the Ginger & Spice Festival, Iana conceived the Guinness World Record challenge for ‘The most number of people decorating gingerbread men simultaneously’ co-ordinating with two local schools.The Guinness World Record was awarded in early 2020.
Iana’s favourite spice is cardamom.
Contact Us
To contact us please email:- gingerandspicefest@gmail.com