The huge music, art and science festival Bluedot is back for the summer after a three year absence - with a packed lineup of entertainment. The event got underway on Thursday night with thousands heading to camp on the site, next to Jodrell Bank's stunning Lovell Telescope, ready for the weekend's schedule.
Thousands more will be heading along on individual day tickets to see the likes of Groove Armada, Mogwai, Metronomy and Bjork in the days ahead. There's also a host of top scientists delivering talks, while visitors can walk through an art trail dominated by Luke Jerram's incredible Earth sculpture as you enter the site.
Part of the fun of the festival is the huge raft of food and drink options to sample all across the site in Cheshire. This year it will also include for the first time in the VIP Village a host of Manchester's best known restaurants cooking up special treats for visitors.
Read more : Bluedot Festival guide - everything you need to know for 2022
We've also spied some pretty interesting foodie options for those heading around the main site - including the prospect of a whole roast chicken with all the trimmings for a princely £20 and a stall dedicated entirely to fried cheese. To give you an idea of the sorts of prices you pay, we've rounded them up here.
How much are drinks?
Drink prices vary across the site, but these are the prices in the main drinks tents found in the main festival field.
Beer and Cider - Amstel pint £6.50, 1/2 pint £3.50; Inch's Cider pint £6.50, 1/2 pint £3.50; Brixton Reliance Pale Ale pint £6.60, 1/2 pint £3.50; Strongbow Dark Fruit can £5.80; Heineken can £5;
Wine and sparkling - 187ml cans of wine (white/red/rose) - £7; Italian sparkling wine can £8
Cocktails and seltzer - White claw seltzer can £6; Cocktail cans £6.50/£8.50
Soft drinks - Coke/Sprite/Water - £2.50; Red Bull - £3
Spirits and Mixers - (served with choice of Coke, Spirte, Orange, Tonic or Soda) - single £7, double £11
Shots - Jagermeister - £4.50
What food is on the site?
There are a huge range of food stalls dotted all around the festival site this year. The likes of Greek Gyros (Pitta wrap £12, Pitta box £16 or meze trays £25); Pizza Slices from £8.50; Heavenly Indian with chicken tikka or lamb kebab £10, lamb rogan josh or chicken tikka masal with rice £12; Jumping Bean Burritos with burritos from £12 or nachos grande for £11; K Noodles offer chicken katsu curry for £12, and sweet chilli or hoi sin noodles for £9.50.
Catching our eye were the Scrumptious Nans - where you get a nan bread stuffed with chicken kebab, slaw and jalapenos (the Juicy Lucy) for £10.25 and the Macready with grilled aubergine and mango chutney for £9.75. There are also freshly made crepes with a raft of savoury options like ham, cheese, egg, mushroom from £8.50 or sweet options from £5 including sugar and lemon and nutty chocolate.
There's a stall dedicated entirely to cheese - featuring breaded brie for £9.50, mozzarella dippers £9.50 and piri piri halloumi £9.50. The Jerk it Up stall has a host of spicy treats including rice box or chicken wrap for £10 or chicken and chips for £10.
And getting everybody drooling was the Barnaby Pie Makers stall - where pie deals include pie, chips or mash with gravy for £10. Next door to the pie stall is a real treat this year - a full rotisserie with the Roaming Rotissere.
Here you can get your hands on a WHOLE chicken served with seasonal potatoes, stuffing and gravy for £20 which serves 2-4 people. You can also get a half a chicken for £10, or a large roll stuffed with shredded chicken and stuffing for £8.
What's in the VIP Village?
If you've upgraded yourself to the VIP ticket, you’ll have access to the VIP village (if you’re under 16, you can wander in on your regular wristband), where non-profit Eat Well MCR has brought in some of the best chefs in the city.
Friday features former Baraxturi chef Rachel Stockley, Saturday has chefs from Oldham Street Thai barbecue spot District, Saturday features steak legends Hawksmoor and Sunday is a takeover from Stockport’s Michelin-bothering Where The Light Gets In.
There are also stalls from Honest Crust Pizza (with whole sourdough pizza from £9 for classic marinara, up to £12.50 for the Save the Bees special complete with house special honey) and fresh-baked pastries from La Chouquette's pretty pastel pink van. Think cinnamon rolls (£4), pain au chocolat and pain au raisin (£3) or a classic croissant for £2.50.
Even better than the brilliant food, the VIP village will be raising hard cash for Eat Well, which with support from restaurants across the city has supplied more than 68,000 free meals to people in food poverty across the Greater Manchester region.
A percentage of all the VIP tickets sold for the weekend, plus a chunk of the food and drink in the VIP Village, will go directly to support EatWell. As well as that, all food traders on the site will be offering a £2 ‘Meal for Manchester’ option, 100% of which goes to fund an Eat Well meal for someone in the city who needs it.
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