HOT MEALS: The Burrito has landed

Tomorrow (August 25) the burrito will land in Bath.

Mission Burrito is opening the doors of Bath's first burrito-dedicated restaurant in Kingsmead Square.

And that's not all. To celebrate its launch Mission Burrito will be handing out free burritos between 12pm and 3pm. I think it's fairly safe to assume there will be a bit of a queue! But not to worry, the clever people at Burrito HQ have planned ahead and there will be a Mariachi Mexteca to entertain the waiting crowds and transform Kingsmead Square into a Mexican fiesta.

For those who don't know burritos are handheld food found mostly in Mexico and America – a kind of exotic take on a sandwich.

A tightly wrapped Mission Burrito - wait until tomorrow to see what's inside!

They are made from grilled flour tortillas wrapped around a combination of ingredients including rice, beans, lettuce, salsa, meat, guacamole, cheese and sour cream – and at Mission Burrito you can be sure that every single thing that goes into your burrito is really, really fresh. In fact, many of the ingredients are made from scratch to ensure that they deliver the level of flavour and quality that makes a Mission Burrito so special.

There is an art to a properly crafted burrito – an art that everyone at Mission Burrito has now perfected.

The tortilla must be grilled to soften it, and it should be tightly rolled around ingredients that meld together to create a unified taste.

Getting messy is all part of the enjoyment of munching on a burrito, but an expertly made burrito should not explode or leak all over you. Which is good because you don't want to ruin your clothes, or waste a single morsel of the delicious fillings.

And a Mission Burrito is no measly mouthful, oh no. A Mission Burrito will be at least 1lb of mouth-watering yumminess.

Jan Rasmussen

Husband and wife team, Jan and Sharon Rasmussen launched Mission Burrito in 2008 when they imported the burrito fromMexico, via San Francisco and opened a small 20 seat restaurant in Oxford.

They thought there was a gap in the market, which turned out to be correct as Bath will be their fifth store, hot on the heels of a recent opening in Park Street in Bristol.

Mission Burrito in Bath can seat 24 people indoors, with a bit of outdoor seating for the odd occasion when it's actually sunny.

For customers in a hurry there is the facility to pre-order online to avoid queues during peak times and there is also

the option to takeaway. Mission Burrito also offers outside catering for private functions and festivals and will be at Bath's Love Food Bath Event on Sunday October 9 at Green Park Station.

For more information about Mission Burrito visit www.missionburrito.co.uk.

For more on Bath's Love Food events see my previous posts:

http://hotbathuk.blogspot.com/2011/08/hot-meals-love-food-festival-comes-to.html

http://hotbathuk.blogspot.com/2011/06/hot-bath-why-i-loved-baths-love-food.html

HOT MEALS: Love Food Festival comes to Dyrham Park

It's great news that the Love Food Festival is coming back to the Bath area.

After the success of the event in Green Park Station back in June, this time Lorna Knapman's foodie event is coming to the beautiful surroundings of Dyrham Park.

Dyrham House

Lorna founded Love Food in 2008 with the aim of making top quality local food and drink available to the community as well as bringing children (and adults) out into the countryside learning about how and where our food should come from, how to grow and cook their own food and generally try to spark an interest in the topic through various mediums including hands on experience, tasting, art, movement and storytelling.

The venture began in Bristol, but now Lorna is keen to spread the word further and the Bath area is her next target.

Which is why, on September 11, between 10am and 4.30pm, the grounds of the National Trust's Dyrham Park will be filled with more than 30 producers selling a wide range of delicious goods including venison from the Dyrham estate, fresh bread, local fruit and vegetables, artisan cheese, charcuterie, jam, cakes, honey, cream and much more.

Cookery demonstrations from some superb chefs will show how to make the best of all the fantastic produce available in the market.

There will also be seasonal children’s activites, music, nature walks, story telling and a picnic area with street food, barbecue and a cafe and entry to the market will be free.

Lorna said: “I’m delighted to be working with the National Trust on this exciting project. I’m a huge fan of the work they do and Dyrham is absolutely stunning.”

I very much hope that people will make the effort to make the trip out to Dyrham Park.

I really feel that it's important to support local food producers. Not only is the food they sell almost certainly infinitely more tasty than that which you buy from the supermarket, but you can also find exactly what is in it and how it is made - you can find out for sure if the the vegetables really are organic or if the animals have been well looked after before being butchered and it's genuinely interesting to talk to producers about the goods because they have a real passion for them and their enthusiasm invariably shines through.

And, in a world where global warming and environmental affairs are becoming increasingly important, I think that it's important to buy local whenever possible to keep the food miles down.

Cath Pye, Operations Manager at Dyrham states “We are really excited to be working with Love Food at Dyrham Park. The National Trust shares the vision of the festival to get people out into the countryside to learn where our food comes from. It is great to be able to support an initiative which we hope will grow to be an important local event.”

The festival is the perfect excuse for a day out enjoying not only some delicious food, but also all the delights that the National Trust Property has to offer.

It sounds like a foodie paradise and I can't wait!

For more information visit www.lovefoodfestival.com.

Love Food will also be returning to it’s Paintworks home in Bristol on September 25 for a harvest celebration and to Bath on October 9 at Green Park Station.