We made the trip down to London last weekend for the inaugural AGA Festival. Held at the handsome rooms of the Royal Geographical Society, the Festival was a celebration of everything AGA.
We were all welcomed to the event by William Magrath, AGA Chief Executive.
Following on from William’s opening speech, was an interview with Lucy Young. Lucy is Mary Berry’s right hand girl and together with Mary has just written a new AGA cook book. Entitled the complete new AGA cook book, this will be the AGA bible that will replace the now out of print original AGA book.
Lucy made us laugh with tales of kitchen disasters and made us marvel at the energy of her boss, 80 years young Mary! It became apparent that Mary and Lucy’s success is due in no small part to the diligence in tasting recipes over and over again. We are all looking forward to getting the new book in the shop. Please contact us if you would like to order a copy!
Next on stage was Kathryn Ireland from the USA. Kathryn has had a colourful career in Los Angeles as an interior designer, property developer and film / video producer. She is an official Brand Ambassador for AGA and has been responsible for introducing many Hollywood celebrities to the joys of owning an AGA. She clearly has a passion for life and inspired us all to tackle life’s challenges head on. She showed us some of her lovely new textile designs. From USA we then moved to China. Daniel Wong the AGA Sales Manager for China introduced us to Coco. Coco is the AGA Brand Ambassador for China. She is a food writer, blogger, chef and the ‘go to’ baking lady of China! Apparently following on from the Great British Bake Off, there is a phenomenal interest in baking in China. All the would be Mary Berry’s of the Far East are desperate to bake the best cakes and of course, the dear AGA can do this job exceedingly well!! Coco also pointed out that the AGA makes an awesome Peking Duck!
Next on stage was Olivia Wollenberg. Olivia is just 26 and had passed up a career in neuro science to concentrate on her own business of bringing truly healthy food to the high street. Through her brand Livia’s Kitchen, she is set to change the composition of sugary snack food. Look out for her products and try them yourself if you can.
To close the morning session, we heard about new cookware products from Caroline Smith and some lucky folks won vouchers to spend on AGA cookware. We all enjoyed a splendid lunch of aubergine moussaka or fish served with rice salad and new potatoes followed by chocolate tart and fresh fruit salad. The sun was still shinning heartily and allowed us all to eat outside on the terrace.
In the afternoon we were treated to various presentations covering the history of both the AGA cooker and the AGA company, interviews with Daisy Lowe and Amy Wilcock plus helpful tips and advice from Dawn Roads and Richard Maggs (the AGA cookery doctor).
William closed the afternoon not only looking back over the last few years, but by looking forward to the next few years and left us all considering what we might expect from AGA.