Dumfries gave a multicultural welcome to visitors who flocked to enjoy the food and entertainment at its newest free festival on Sunday.
The hugely popular inaugural International Street Festival was held in the town’s flagship Dock Park and organised by the Dumfries-based refugee charity MOOL, as a community celebration of diverse food, drink and culture.
From pies by Langholm’s Browns Family Butchers to delights from the Far East and Yemen, it was the world’s food on a plate on a sunny Sunday afternoon, bringing together talented chefs from Dumfries and beyond – some who have not long opened up as small family businesses in the town.
The Dumfries Larder delicatessen team from the town’s High Street were among the stallholders selling cheese board boxes and charcuterie bowls, plus a range of snacks, treats and non-alcoholic drinks for an on-the-spot picnic.
Dumfries-based Jasco’s Creations – a small family business creating Asian caked and food – were also one of the fabulous food vendors.
The business began after they shared Asian food photos on Facebook which gained a lot of interest. During the lockdowns they received a lot of private messages urging them to open up a business in Dumfries, with many asking to try their recipies.
The family said: “We were very overwhelmed by all the interests and decided to open our wee business. And this international street food festival was a perfect opportunity for us to showcase to showcase to people in Dumfries more traditional Chinese food.”
Also at the festival were Unique Sweets n’ Savouries – who have a shop in Dumfries’ Annan Road – and started trading in 2017 at the Dumfries Farmers Market and have been regulars at markets acrosss the region, Cumbria, Edinburgh, and at local festivities ever since.
Another local business at Dock Park was Abdulrahman Jubahji and his family who came to Dumfries in 2016 and opened Levantine, an authentic Syrian Restaurant on Whitesands in 2019.
Despite lockdown and all the disruption, the restaurant is open again, serving delicious Shawarma chicken wraps, falafel, hummus, baba ganoush and so much more.
A MOOL spokesperson said: “We are delighted that Levantine was one of the first partners we had for the Street Food Festival. They are a perfect example of the ways in which our area benefits from people from different cultures, cuisines and traditions coming into the area.”
Other vendors included Chef Chiara of The Chocolate and Pastry bar in Edinburgh. She was born in Italy “into a family where food matters more than anything else, my grandma cooked like a pro for up to 40 people” and five years ago came to Scotland and is fulfilling her dream “to become self-employed and do what I love the most – care for people by cooking for them.”
There was also Ancala Crafts, Black Thistle Ltd, Seabuckthorn Scotland, Mawbray Cheese Company and Sweetheart Tablet Ltd.
Among the entertainment was Yemen Scotland showcasing traditional Yemeni dancers throughout the day as well as Yemeni cuisine, Yoga From The Heart Dumfries with Jill Dobbie, the beautiful harmonies of the talented SongWave Choir, BOGLE MUFTY with their special blend of folk music, Simon from Wordsmithcrafts reciting his favourite tales from all over, and the finale was singer Guillaume Tiberghien accompanied by his electric acoustic guitar.
There were also stalls by various organisations including, The Children’s Peacemaker Club run by Venus Carew in Dumfries; Social Enterprise, Invisible Cities, which trains people who have experienced homelessness to become walking tour guides of their own city. They offer alternative walking tours of Edinburgh, Glasgow, Manchester and York to break down the stigma that exists around homelessness.
