Norwich battle of the bangers 2017

A highlight of any sausage lover’s calendar is the Battle of the Bangers in Norwich.

This is a central event in the all-year-round calendar of foodie brilliance that the lovely people at Norfolk Food and Drink arrange to celebrate the best of the county and beyond.

This year it was bigger and better than ever before and, perfectly timed falling on father’s day!

 

One of the many reasons I love this event is because it does a very fine job of demonstrating the true power of the sausage!  For me the sausage is the ambassador for the high street, it has the power to reconnect people with true local business.

The Battle of the Bangers has grown beyond a sausage competition and now includes; a farmers’ market, local bar, singers, craft market, cookery demos and an amazing chilled out atmosphere that just makes it feel perfect for father’s day.  There was even a chance to splat the dad!

This year, a first for Norfolk I think, there was a hot wings eating competition too!

Another reason I love this event is because of the sausage producers.  These guys are some of the stars of the sausage world.  They are innovating and inventing all the time and it is people like them that make the not-so-humble british sausage the institution that it is today.  Around 5 million people tuck in to about 12 million sausages a day and it is producers like these that keep sausages exciting!

I also love that this great event, free to the public, provides a great opportunity for people to talk to the food producers directly and find out about the love and generations of experience that goes into their products.

In the end around 7000 people turned out to vote!  That is a true yes vote for the humble british banger!  The passion from the sausage producers always works it’s magic on the public tasters and makes the vote pretty difficult to call.

There can be only one winner and in my view that is all of the people who live and work in Norfolk.  We are truly spoilt with an incredible number of quality sausage makers.  Check out the Norfolk page in my directory to find your local champion.

In the Battle of the Bangers there are actually two sausage producers who win each year.

While 7000 members of the public voted for the public choice a crack team of sausage experts assembled in a secret location to sample and find the sponsors choice!

This year it was even tricker than ever.  Two of the seven entrants had been so overwhelmed by the general public numbers coming through they had run out of sausages for the expert panel to try!  Here are the entrants of the Battle of the Bangers 2017 in no particular order:

Coxfords Butchers

 

Art Cafe Norfolk

 

The Fruit Pig Company

 

The White Horse

 

Walsingham Farms Shop

 

Papworths Butchers

 

White House Farm

After much deliberation the expert panel, which included seasoned sausage judges, decided that first place should go to White Horse Pub.  Their excellent sausage was made to their recipe by Tavern Tasty Meats.

 

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