Help me convince my mate

[It doesn't get any better]

Hi - I need your help

It's my second Glasto this year and I am really looking foward to it because last year was pretty much the best thing I have ever done.

Last year we cooked all our own food as we have at other festivals and my Glasto-mate is keen to do the same again

He says - "It's cheap, convenient and we can chill out at the tent getting some well-earned rest. Why would we queue up at food stalls for overpriced mediocre food?"

I say - "It's not like other festivals, the food is supposed to be really good. It's supposed to be one of the good things about Glasto so we should try it out. It'll also save us carrying loads of stuff from the car park and eating burnt sausages (my mate isn't much of a chef either!)"

Who's right? How can I convince my mate to leave the sausages at home????

[rachbon]

Who's right?

[Mel & Claire]

a) There are so many food stalls about, if there's a queue, go find somewhere else

b ) Yes, the food may seem expensive, you can get by on £20 on food a day, and generally it really is excellent quality compared to other festivals. I've only been to Glasto and V, but the difference was amazing.

c ) Find a thread on this forum discussing the food and show him

d) Who wants to waste time hanging around at the tent eating burnt sausages when you could have curry, baked potatoes, chili, pies, pizza, fajitas, fruit smoothies, pie and mash, giants yorkshire pudding-sausage-mash-veg plus loads more?

I'd suggest that you go find the good food yourself, and leave him to cook and eat stuff he brings with him if he can't be convinced. But if it's for financial reasons he's being like this, then I guess you'll have to let him do what he wants.

Edited February 7, 2010 by Mel & Claire

[TheBoyInTheBubble]

Just refuse to carry any of it. Tell them you'd rather spend time around the festival than sat at a tent waiting for a sachet of dried food to become edible. Plus how can you ignore the smell of cooking bacon and onions??

[Laura_Babs]

Tell him your keen to try out the food this year but he is welcome to bring his own stuff to cook! See what he says.

Your right, the food really is worth trying!!! There is so much variety and I have rarely had to Q for long! You don't need to spend a fortune on it either. I budget £20/day for food and snacks or a cider. I rarely spend that much and never go hungry. I think I could get by on much less but granted there wouldn't be much variety in there!

[Mr Ploppy]

hhmmn, I would tend to agree with your friend. Chilling out at your camp cooking your own food is great but with the occasional food stall snack over the few days. Thats what I normally do and will be doing again this year.

Now here is something that I know alot of people will disagree with because I have read so many positive reviews of the food stalls.

I have had some appaulling food from stalls at Glastonbury.

Bought a big yorkshire pudding thing with pork from a stall near the Other Stage a few years ago. I have read on here that they are superb, but my experience was completely the opposite. It was a large mushy mess with hardly any pork in it at all - instead is had clumps of gristle and what seemed like burnt fat. It looked pretty grim and tasted even worse - needless to say it went straight in the bin.

I had noodles once from a stall that tasted dried up and old (the noodles not the stall (ha ha ha)). Fair enough tho, I was drunk and hungry so would have eaten them... except the brown chow mein type sauce they were cooked in must have been 95% salt. The mega high salt content did make them taste nice (as salt does) but I am surprised my body didnt go into shock with all that salt. It will have been extremely unhealthy. I am not being fussy here - they REALLY were just smothered with salt.

Another time I bought a noodle meal from a different stall, this time one right next to the Other Stage (Massive Attack were on at the time). The meal didnt taste very nice at all and to my astonishment I noticed that in the mass of chunky sliced mushrooms was a mushroom that had started to go mouldy... it was going orange! Then to my horror I realised that those mushrooms were not mushrooms at all - upon closer inspection, THEY WERE CARROTS! They were so old that they had lost their consistancy and gone brown. I stood eating them near the stall and so peered over to look in the huge pans they used and saw a load of this multi-coloured carrot slices. I just plonked the meal back on the counter and walked away.

I have had other bad experiences with food at Glasto but dont panic... I have had good experiences too with some wonderful food. Overall though, the bad outweighed the good for me and I would have been better off just ripping up my money and putting it in a bin.

Fair enough I might just have been very unlucky on those numerous occasions, but instead of wasting a fiver on a mushy yorkshire pudding with gristle in it, I would much prefer to spend less than a fiver and cook myself some flavoured rice and chilli con carne over a stove at my campsite. throw in some garlic naan bread too and you have a filling meal for a few quid and it wont make your stomach churn.

As I say, I have read so much about good food on here and I am sure there is alot of it about, maybe I was a bit wreckless with the places I chose to eat from. This year I will be taking my own food again but will have a look around the green fields for healthy food for snacks.

[Zacko]

Maybe get something a bit different and bring it back to the tent and offer him a bit? If he likes it maybe he'll change his mind. A couple of our group were a bit hesitant to try different food at Glastonbury last year but by the end of the weekend that had changed.

[Laura_Babs]

hhmmn, I would tend to agree with your friend. Chilling out at your camp cooking your own food is great but with the occasional food stall snack over the few days. Thats what I normally do and will be doing again this year.

Now here is something that I know alot of people will disagree with because I have read so many positive reviews of the food stalls.

I have had some appaulling food from stalls at Glastonbury.

Bought a big yorkshire pudding thing with pork from a stall near the Other Stage a few years ago. I have read on here that they are superb, but my experience was completely the opposite. It was a large mushy mess with hardly any pork in it at all - instead is had clumps of gristle and what seemed like burnt fat. It looked pretty grim and tasted even worse - needless to say it went straight in the bin.

I had noodles once from a stall that tasted dried up and old (the noodles not the stall (ha ha ha)). Fair enough tho, I was drunk and hungry so would have eaten them... except the brown chow mein type sauce they were cooked in must have been 95% salt. The mega high salt content did make them taste nice (as salt does) but I am surprised my body didnt go into shock with all that salt. It will have been extremely unhealthy. I am not being fussy here - they REALLY were just smothered with salt.

Another time I bought a noodle meal from a different stall, this time one right next to the Other Stage (Massive Attack were on at the time). The meal didnt taste very nice at all and to my astonishment I noticed that in the mass of chunky sliced mushrooms was a mushroom that had started to go mouldy... it was going orange! Then to my horror I realised that those mushrooms were not mushrooms at all - upon closer inspection, THEY WERE CARROTS! They were so old that they had lost their consistancy and gone brown. I stood eating them near the stall and so peered over to look in the huge pans they used and saw a load of this multi-coloured carrot slices. I just plonked the meal back on the counter and walked away.

I have had other bad experiences with food at Glasto but dont panic... I have had good experiences too with some wonderful food. Overall though, the bad outweighed the good for me and I would have been better off just ripping up my money and putting it in a bin.

Fair enough I might just have been very unlucky on those numerous occasions, but instead of wasting a fiver on a mushy yorkshire pudding with gristle in it, I would much prefer to spend less than a fiver and cook myself some flavoured rice and chilli con carne over a stove at my campsite. throw in some garlic naan bread too and you have a filling meal for a few quid and it wont make your stomach churn.

As I say, I have read so much about good food on here and I am sure there is alot of it about, maybe I was a bit wreckless with the places I chose to eat from. This year I will be taking my own food again but will have a look around the green fields for healthy food for snacks.

[grumpyhack]

Why not suggest that the amount he spends of buying his own food to take could be better spent on buying and taking additional booze?

There is some superb food at Glasto - it's one of my festival joys.

However I still take some food, mainly for breakfast if you don't want to set off too early, and for late night munchies.

One of the best things I bought as a piece of kit was a £4 fold flat Gelert toaster to go on a gas burner.

We had a toast factory going every day with toast and marmalade, toast and marmite and toast and smoked mackerel pate on different days and at different times.

Also take coffee, drinking chocolate and biscuits for snack times.

Maybe you could cut him down to those things.

Edited February 7, 2010 by grumpyhack

[ghandi]

Last year, aside from the fry ups for breakfast ( twice over the weekend ), i had a lovely fish and chips meal on the Thursday ,after a few pints it went down a treat, lovely fish cocked well. On Friday i had a giant Yorkshire pud with sausage and mash which was ok but way to much on a plate, hardly a complaint! On Saturday i had a grilled Chicken breast with haloomi ( spelling!) salad with houmos, which was very nice. On Sunday a Pork roll which was overpriced although nice.

On the whole the food experience was nice. And as said £20 a day is ample, £50 a day include drinks and other bits. I have still to try the food stalls around the Circus/Jazz area were i intent to camp near this year.

I wouldn't even think of all that cooking palarvor!

[jameshay1]

classic thread.

[MilkyJoe]

This bit http://www.glastoearth.com/the-faq/faq-part-4 gives a little info on the diversity of food offered at Glasto.

We tend to go easy on the food at festivals anyway and usually take some bacon packed in ice for the first few days so we can chill out with our own bacon sandwiches when we get up, and occasionally a pasta pot or something if we are heading back to the tent through the day. We usually only have one meal per day from one of the stalls which is more than enough. You can get by on cereal bars and roundtrees randoms through the day. There's much more interesting things to do than eating!!

[mattrgee]

Sausages, burnt or not aren't exactly the most high quality 'cuts' of meat! There's worse in them compared to some of the food stalls.

Choose the stall carefully, have a look at the food other people have bought and if it wasn't right, don't go back. There's plenty of other places to choose from and if my experience all serving very nice food. The Goan Curry place next to the Jazz World stage was a hidden gem

You must waste so much time trailing back and forth to the tent every time you want something to eat! Sounds like hell! Having something to eat while listening to a band and taking in the culture is all part of the experience.

[paulo999]

Bought a big yorkshire pudding thing with pork from a stall near the Other Stage a few years ago...

Another time I bought a noodle meal from a different stall, this time one right next to the Other Stage...

Edited February 7, 2010 by paulo999

[Laura_Babs]

The Other Stage / Pyramid areas have some of the crappier places. It's a bit like eating from kebab shops outside west end night clubs, and then saying London has terrible restaurants.

Jazz/World & the Green Fields have far better places.

[ukslim]

Yep.

By the Other Stage you have nasty greasy Growlers and unloved noodles. (Although even around there, you find some gems).

By the Jazz Stage, you get laaaverly Carribean goat curry, and Goan fish curry, and El Fred's chilli. Mmmmm.

In general, the further East you go, the nicer the food. But the Park has some smashing stalls too.

[paulo999]

Yep.

By the Other Stage you have nasty greasy Growlers and unloved noodles. (Although even around there, you find some gems).

By the Jazz Stage, you get laaaverly Carribean goat curry, and Goan fish curry, and El Fred's chilli. Mmmmm.

[godders1966]

Hi - I need your help

It's my second Glasto this year and I am really looking foward to it because last year was pretty much the best thing I have ever done.

Last year we cooked all our own food as we have at other festivals and my Glasto-mate is keen to do the same again

He says - "It's cheap, convenient and we can chill out at the tent getting some well-earned rest. Why would we queue up at food stalls for overpriced mediocre food?"

I say - "It's not like other festivals, the food is supposed to be really good. It's supposed to be one of the good things about Glasto so we should try it out. It'll also save us carrying loads of stuff from the car park and eating burnt sausages (my mate isn't much of a chef either!)"

Who's right? How can I convince my mate to leave the sausages at home????

[rabid]

I had the best bacon and egg buttie of my life at Glastonbury.

[The Nal]

Who's right?

[amfy]

What we do is a decent compromise on this. We always cook our own breakfast. It saves having to go treking for food at the time of the day when we really aren't at our best, and gives us time to find ourselves in the morning. I quite like doing this little bit of proper camping.

Then - sometime between 4-6ish - we head over towards Jaxzzworld/Leftfield (whatever they're calling it this year) and have something really lovely! I seriously recommend The Square Pie Company, and Pieminister as festival highlights, along with the ackee an saltfish with cornbread from Yam the Casava!

See - that way you both win!

[LusciousLucy]

The Glastonbury Festival of Food, Cider and Ale! I make it a personal mission to get round all my favourite stalls each and every year taking in the delights of La Grande Bouffe, Garlic Kitchen (although that has now sadly gone), a Growler, Goan Fish Curry, Oggie, Thali, Katie's Thai, stonebaked pizza, PieMinister, decent sausages near the Milletts stall, a Dimble Burger, a roo/croc/emu/ostrich burger, Ben & Jerrys, the best hog roast stall (I know it when I see it - usually has a green awning), tea and cakes in the Green fields, cookies and truffles in the campsites ...the list can and does go on...

And as for the cider and ale...dont need to say much about that now do I?

The food is incredible if you ask around and dont just go for the first thing you see.

But make sure you at least force your chum to try some of the delights and generally if you follow the rules of not eating near the Pyramid/Other Stage (apart from a Growler!) and avoid any food stall that looks like it should belong at a fairground or the food is noodle based, you should do alright! Its NOT difficult to figure that out!

[scudetto_boy]

Eh....it's that expensive & advise you to take your own!!

[ferraristu]

But in fairness, £20 a day for 5 days is a fair wedge of cash for some of us. Am fortunate as am in a caravan, therefore have a fridge, but I cook a gut busting late breakfast and then make butties for the rest of the day. Would rather spend my £20 a day on cold beer in between my brought in vodka.

Edited February 8, 2010 by ferraristu

[godders1966]

I make it a personal mission to get round all my favourite stalls each and every year taking in the delights of La Grande Bouffe, Garlic Kitchen (although that has now sadly gone), a Growler, Goan Fish Curry, Oggie, Thali, Katie's Thai, stonebaked pizza, PieMinister, decent sausages near the Milletts stall, a Dimble Burger, a roo/croc/emu/ostrich burger, Ben & Jerrys, the best hog roast stall (I know it when I see it - usually has a green awning), tea and cakes in the Green fields, cookies and truffles in the campsites ...the list can and does go on...