Magic of Thailand Festival
One of our highlights of the year was taking part in Brighton’s Magic of Thailand Festival! The event was a vibrant celebration of Thai culture and the culinary offerings took centre stage! With many stalls making fresh Som Tum, plenty of variety of curries, satays, pad Thai, sai krok Isan sausages and Thai noodle soup. We were lucky with the weather too, it was a beautiful hot weekend just like Thailand! Many attendees were having picnics on the grass watching the entertainment on stage. A few different performances of Thai dancing in their elegant traditional costumes, there were Thai singers and ladyboy performances too! Another great segment of the entertainment was the “I’m British get me out of here…” which was a very funny eating competition in which there was a cash prize for the winner!
The Foodies Festival
We really enjoyed our time at the Foodies Festival events this summer. We visited 6 locations which were Brighton, London, Bristol, Oxford, Chelmsford and Norwich. The Foodies Festival is a culinary celebration that brings together food enthusiasts, chefs, and producers in a vibrant showcase of diverse flavours and gastronomic experiences. Attendees indulge in a delightful journey through international cuisines, gourmet street food, and artisan products. There were many live cooking demonstrations by renowned chefs happening throughout the day which offered insights into their culinary techniques and trends. Beyond the palate-pleasing experiences, the festival fosters a sense of community with live music, entertainment, and family-friendly activities. The Foodies festival will be visiting new locations for next year, so it’s definitely worth a visit if there’s an event near you. Mae Jum was located in the festival's marketplace which was full of talented small producers. There were many amazing products on offer from cheeses to decadent chocolates to international spice mixes to craft beers. We were pleased to see the enthusiasm that so many people had when trying our samples for the first time, and then asking for another and then another! It was such a surprise to meet some of our existing customers at these events too, some of which have been stocking up on our curry pastes for a couple of years now. It was such a lovely feeling for us and we can’t wait to come back to the Foodies Festivals again next summer.
The Cheese and Chilli Festival
Another one of our highlight events was the Cheese and Chilli Festival in Winchester. If you love chilli or cheese or even better both, then this is an event for you! It is a culinary delight that marries the rich world of artisanal cheeses with the fiery allure of chilli. This was our first time at a cheese and chilli event and it blew us away with the amount of amazing chilli based products there was, it was truly exceptional. The festival offers a dynamic exploration between cheese and chilli, with many small producers presenting their unique pairings. There were live cooking demonstrations, family-friendly activity areas, and lively music acts to complete the experience. Overall the vibrant and feel good atmosphere was shared between the event-goers and us stall holders. It was a great sunny weekend and we would love to attend again some day.
Mae Jum's New Products
Mae Jum's culinary innovation has reached new heights with the introduction of our three exciting new products: Tom Kha Paste, Pad Thai Paste, and Kua Kling Curry Paste. Each of these pastes embodies the authentic flavours and traditions of Thai cuisine, elevating home cooking to a whole new level! The Tom Kha Paste captures the essence of the classic Thai coconut soup, blending galangal, lemongrass, and kaffir lime leaves to create a harmonious and aromatic base. With Mae Jum's Tom Kha Paste, recreating this beloved Thai soup at home becomes a breeze, allowing food enthusiasts to enjoy the comforting and exotic flavours of Tom Kha with ease. For those craving the iconic flavours of Thailand's famous street food, Mae Jum's Pad Thai Paste is a game-changer. After sending out a survey to gather our customers' thoughts on whether we launch a paste with sugar or not as a lot of palm sugar is needed for a pad Thai sauce. Quite a heavy majority voted for no sugar, therefore our paste combines only shallots, red chilli, tamarind and garlic to deliver a brilliant base for a Pad Thai sauce. Allowing the cooks at home to add as much or as little sugar to reach their desired balance of sweet, sour, and savoury notes. Creating an authentic Pad Thai dish is now a simple and delicious endeavour with Mae Jum's Pad Thai Paste. Kua Kling curry paste introduces the bold and fiery taste of southern Thai cuisine. This paste features a blend of aromatic herbs and spices, including turmeric, lemongrass, galangal, and bird's eye chilli, creating a flavourful and spicy dry curry. This curry is as hot as our jungle curry but it is very different as no coconut milk or water is needed for Kua Kling. A very quick and easy stir fry styled curry!
Mae Jum's commitment to quality and authenticity shines through in these new products, offering food enthusiasts the opportunity to explore the diverse and delicious world of Thai cuisine from the comfort of their homes. Going on to 2024 we plan to continue to develop our range of pastes and expand our soup range even further!
We hope you had a wonderful year and that Mae Jum has brought you joy in your meals at home. We would love to meet more of our customers out and about at the many events we plan to take part in next year. Most are in South East England and London, but we are making our way up to Birmingham for the summer BBC GoodFood event!
All the best,
Jum & Jess
