The Upcoming
  • Culture
    • Art
    • Cinema
      • Movie reviews
      • Film festivals
    • Food & Drinks
      • News & Features
      • Restaurant & bar reviews
      • Interviews & Recipes
    • Literature
    • Music
      • Live music
    • Theatre
    • Shows & On demand
  • Fashion & Lifestyle
    • Accessories
    • Beauty
    • News & Features
    • Shopping & Trends
    • Tips & How-tos
    • Fashion weeks
  • What’s On
    • Art exhibitions
    • Theatre shows
  • Tickets
  • Join us
    • Editorial unit
    • Our writers
    • Join the team
    • Join the mailing list
    • Support us
    • Contact us
  • Interviews
  • Competitions
  • Special events
    • Film festivals
      • Berlin
      • Tribeca
      • Sundance London
      • Cannes
      • Locarno
      • Venice
      • London
      • Toronto
    • Fashion weeks
      • London Fashion Week
      • New York Fashion Week
      • Milan Fashion Week
      • Paris Fashion Week
      • Haute Couture
      • London Fashion Week Men’s
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • RSS

CultureFood & Drinks

Meatopia festival arrives in London | Festival review

Meatopia festival arrives in London | Festival review
10 September 2013
Niki Shakallis
Avatar
Niki Shakallis
10 September 2013

Meatopia, New York’s annual meat and barbecue festival, finally arrived in London this weekend, attracting hundreds of excited carnivores from across the UK. The landscape unfolded through a thick mist of smoke, perfumed with the heady scent of charring meat. Each step forward revealed a new temptation: hamburgers, paella, meatballs, ox heart, beef ribs, venison, poultry and pork.

The event was held over two indoor floors within East London’s Tobacco Dock, with brass bands and Brazilian samba players entertaining a lower deck while a sound stage above showcased an eclectic mix of performers. A children’s area included face-painting and a disco, and a dockside outdoor space featured quirky food carts and a demonstration theatre. The mood at the all-day event was buoyant, despite long queues, as British and American chefs joked with crowds and posed for photographs.

Home-grown offerings included Gizzi Erskine’s Korean Spiced Chicken Wings, the Pitt Cue Co’s Pigs Head Sausage with Apple Ketchup and The Run BMC Burger from Almost Famous. The Wild Game Co’s Venison Steak Frites saw buttery chips and tender red deer venison, fragranced by rosemary-topped coals, paired with chilli mayonnaise. Not to be outdone, Moro’s Sam Clark dished up a cacophony of flavour and texture via Quail with Cumin and Paprika. Served over a chopped salad and crowned with spiced labneh (yogurt), it was the perfect summer dish.

From across the pond, the award-winning Seamus Mullen cleared 13 gigantic trays of Paella de Cerdo, while burger chain Shake Shack – which has dual nationality since opening in the UK – veered away from its signature patties with a succulent Confit of Hog’s Belly and a hotdog overpowered by pickled peppers. Chris Hastings, from Alabama-based restaurant The Hot and Hot Fish Club, delivered the event’s standout dish: Smoked Chicken and Crimson Grits. Each bite of the lightly-flavoured meat in a fruity sauce, brimming with peach slices and whole blackberries, was a complex yet subtle triumph.

Provenance was paramount to the festival and all meat was supplied by London merchants, Turner & George. Beverages also had a local slant, with an emphasis on craft ales, including Hivers’ Honey Beer – not too sweet and with a floral note to compliment the smoky meats. Alternatives of bourbon-laced cocktails stayed true to the festival’s American roots.

Frustratingly, several food stands had sold out by 6pm, and numerous cocktails and ale varieties ran dry. Fortunately, we managed to bag a trio of squidgy treats from The Marshmallowists for dessert – Passion Fruit & Ginger, Blueberry & Portobello Road Gin and Pear & Elderflower – others weren’t so lucky.

Launched by award-winning food writer Josh Ozersky in 2003, Meatopia is arguably far more than a pig-out session for meat lovers. The event bore all the hallmarks of a ritualistic ancient sacrifice, albeit in a modern context: intense reverence for the animal, respectful butchery, celebration and a perpetuation of long-standing traditions. In addition to full bellies, we left Tobacco Dock with a cult-like appreciation for charred and seared meat – a divine experience in every sense!

★★★★★

Niki Shakallis
Photos: Andrei Grosu

For further information about Meatopia London, Tobacco Dock, Wapping, London, E1W 2SF visit here. 

Related Itemsreview

More in Food & Drinks

Start the year right with these eco-friendly vegan and vegetarian food deliveries

The editorial unit
Read More

Plant-based recipes that will give you a boost through Veganuary and beyond

The editorial unit
Read More

How to celebrate Burns Night in true Scottish style

The editorial unit
Read More

Three alternative New Year’s Eve menus

Rosamund Kelby
Read More

Sommelier Kelvin McCabe on where to buy good wine to celebrate (and enjoy) 2021

Filippo L'Astorina, the Editor
Read More

Perfect Christmas recipe: Hide Christmas Tree by Ollie Dabbous

The editorial unit
Read More

Ember Snacks to launch three new charcuterie snacks in January

The editorial unit
Read More

Avoid supermarket stress with a last-minute Christmas veg box delivery from Nature’s Choice

The editorial unit
Read More

Ten great Christmas meal kits and takeaway services

The editorial unit
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap
  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • We Still Fax at ANTS Theatre Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • We Ask These Questions of Everybody: An interview with Amble Skuse and Toria Banks
    Theatre
  • Start the year right with these eco-friendly vegan and vegetarian food deliveries
    Food & Drinks
  • Hello Cosmos – Dream Harder
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Identifying Features
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • Assassins: Exclusive new clip
    Cinema
  • Identifying Features
    ★★★★★
    Uncategorised
  • Schemers
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • Away: An interview with animator Gints Zilbalodis
    Interviews
  • The Queen of Black Magic
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Identifying Features
    ★★★★★
    Uncategorised
  • Arlo Parks – Collapsed in Sunbeams
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Identifying Features
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • We Still Fax at ANTS Theatre Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • WandaVision: Marvel’s charming sitcom proves an astounding success
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
The Upcoming
Pages
  • Contact us
  • Join mailing list
  • Join us
  • Our London food map
  • Our writers
  • Support us
  • What, when, why

Copyright © 2011-2020 FL Media

John H. White: Chicago at Daniel Blau | Exhibition review
Bestival’s 10th year comes to show-stopping finale | Live review