Food vendors get regional awards

The Jabberwocky and Fresh Rootz will trade at the BBC Good Food Show Summer at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham from June 12 to 16 - an event which is likely to attract about 90,000 people over the five days.

They were picked along with two other winners in the BBC Midlands Street Food Awards from which 60,000 social media fans picked their favourite vendors.

Barney Luxmore, a chef who set up the gourmet toastie business Jabberwockey with his wife Felicity in 2011, said: “I think we were picked because we do something different to anyone else in the country. I really don’t know anyone who is doing toasties as street food or any people who use the type of van we use.”

The couple spent much of their first year of trading getting their 1986 VW transporter van up to standard but Mr Luxmore said he and his wife were now in the position where they could quit their jobs and work on the business full time.

They have a full calendar for the remainder of the year with Global Gathering and the Comedy Hullabalo in Stratford coming up.

Fresh Roots, set up 12 months ago by business partners Andrew Brookes and Martin Phazey, sells vegetarian and vegan world food.

The pair are well travelled, with Mr Brookes having been a chef on cruise ships and with Airtours and Mr Phazey picking up various techniques and recipes during three years of travelling throughout Europe, Asia and New Zealand.

Mr Brookes said: “Our philosophy is to use the main British Root vegetables and then put a contemporary twist into our recipes.”

The pair will have a pitch at the Glastonbury Festival this summer.

For more on these vendors visit www.freshrootz.co.uk and www.thejabberwocky.co.uk