Trashy but tasty

The Electric Picnic kicks off on Friday, and while the big names are wowing on the main stages, there are foodie and trailer park delights to be found all weekend

THE LIST OF "things I learned at a music festival" is probably a short one for most people, ie remembering to pack a raincoat. Electric Picnic's Theatre of Food, in its second year next weekend, is determined to expand our knowledge of all things food. The workshops include one on how to smoke and cure fish in a biscuit tin, by Sally Barnes of Woodcock Smokery; a bacon masterclass (including how to make bacon fudge) by the London-based Dungarvan food blogger Niamh Shields and a look at edible cosmetics with Sally McKenna and Maria Kennedy.

On Sunday we examine the differences between men and women in the kitchen when I lead a "girl band" against Ross Golden Bannon's "boy band". The two teams of chefs will be cooking mystery and favourite ingredients and extra points will be given for musicality. Us "girls" are made up of Maria Raftery of Kilkenny's Zuni, Jess Murphy from Kai in Galway and Clodagh McKenna of Clodagh's Kitchen. The lads will be Pichet's Stephen Gibson, JP McMahon of Cava and Michael Quinn from Waterford Castle. Expect spangly lycra and lots of lip-syncing.

A pop-up cafe will be run by the team behind gastropubs L Mulligan Grocer and WJ Kavanaghs, promising scotch eggs, macaroni and cheese and "tasty casseroles". And finally there may be mud but there will be blood (and guts) when Tim and Jack McCarthy from McCarthy's Butchers, Kanturk, make sausages and black pudding on site with chefs Troy Maguire and Ross Lewis. For more, see electricpicnic.ie/food Catherine Cleary

IF YOU GO DOWN to the woods at Stradbally next weekend, you're in for a big surprise - in the shape of this trashy, kitsch trailer park.

A new addition to the Electric Picnic festival, The Trailer Park is a brash explosion of noisy colour and follows on from the success in recent years of themed stages such as The Salty Dog, which is housed in an old shipping boat.

Situated just outside the Body and Soul arena, The Trailer Park consists of a central area with a mobile home stacked on top of two trailer homes, with the front cut off (with a can opener?) to reveal all the glories of 1950s Americana. The surrounding area - touted as a celebration of the era of the mobile home and American front porch - will see you tripping over gaudy delights, including some seriously tacky picket fences, deck chairs, plastic sun loungers, plenty of polka dot, fluff and frills, and suspiciously plasticky "plants".

The area was conceived and designed by local woman Roz Jellett, who has been helping to style the festival since the early days and whose work can be seen on festival signage and areas such as Mindfield and - not for us mere mortals - the artists' pavilion. Drawing on a "life-long love affair" with vintage caravans - "including a much-loved but shameful ancient beige family caravan that people take photos of when it passes though town" - Jellet hopes to inject some pride and glamour into the humble mobile home next weekend.

Performances will take place throughout the festival, with bands playing in the lounge and on the front porch (as the poor lighting and sound technicians while away the weekend in the spare bedroom and lavatory).

The music will keep even the pickiest hick happy, with performances including rockabilly from Kevin Doyle with The Way It Was Orchestra; some retro beat from Cavan band The Strypes, bluegrass and country from (one of our favourite-named bands) Prison Love, and many more. For more see electricpicnic.ie

Rachel Collins