The Greater Craigmillar Festival returned on Saturday, 7th June, marking another joyful chapter in a long local tradition. What began in 1962 as a grassroots effort by a determined group of mothers from Peffermill Primary School has grown into a much-loved annual celebration which we at Edinburgh Food Social take great pride in helping to organise.
Two children enjoying their lunch!
This year’s festival was hosted at Castlebrae Community Campus, moved indoors thanks to Edinburgh’s stubborn June drizzle: our first problem solving exercise of the day! Big puddles outside were filled with brightly coloured wellies as children splashed, giggled, and made their way toward the entrance. Inside, the campus was alive with activity. The festival buzzed as adults and children wove their way through the crowd—some making a beeline for the bouncy castle, others heading straight for lunch. The lunch table was carefully set up by our team of chefs and volunteers; heaped with vibrant, seasonal salads, quiches, sandwiches, and fresh fruit. We were able to offer a free meal to everyone, largely thanks to our local suppliers; whose donations of seasonal and surplus ingredients allowed us to serve between 150 and 200 festival goers, performers, volunteers, and stallholders.
On the menu were crowd-pleasing quiches, in a variety of flavours, including a ‘breakfast fry-up’ with black pudding, potato, swede, and smoky bacon; broccoli and cauliflower cheese; and mushroom with sautéed spring onions. Alongside these were Scottish black pudding and cranberry sausage rolls, and tofu, mushroom and pea parcels for the vegetarians.
Plenty of fresh fruit and salads on offer
Earlier in the day, a delivery from Fareshare provided sliced cold cuts and mountains of butterhead lettuce, which we used to fill baguettes that had also arrived on our doorstep that morning from a local supermarket. We don’t always know what we’re going to receive in our donation packages—so it’s always fun to see what we can come up with. Our salad bowls overflowed with roast carrot and parsnip in green herb vinaigrette, and a Greek-inspired mix of vine cherry tomatoes, cucumber, and pickled red onion. A zingy pea and mint dip offered a vegan-friendly option paired with crusty bread and greens.
When the savoury dishes ran out, it was time for something sweet. Bite-sized cakes and pastries were generously brought to us by local volunteer Jennifer, who regularly collects surplus food in the community and helps redistribute it to where it’s needed most. We are well known for getting inventive with ingredients – we recently managed to make these delicious blondies using canned beans. This time however, we transformed leftover croissants and soft strawberries into a rich, chocolate-strawberry bread and butter pudding.
To round off the feast, we offered a colourful spread of fresh fruit: mango, melon, oranges, satsumas, apples, pears, apricots, and nectarines. We want to change the food culture in Craigmillar from the ground up, and encouraging people to try something they might not usually include in their weekly shop is a pretty good way to open up the conversation.
Silent disco dancers
One of our favourite moments came just after lunch, when everyone—from toddlers to grannies—shimmied their way outside to the silent disco. The rain had certainly ramped up by this point, but no one cared. For one hilarious afternoon, Castlebrae Community Campus felt more like an Ibiza dancefloor than a rainy school yard.
The day wouldn’t have been what it was without the Greater Craigmillar community showcasing their skills; from our own volunteers prepping food and cycling the cargo bike up and down from our kitchen at Peffer Place, to the performers from Aerial Art House wow-ing the crowds with their gymnastics, or even the local residents who decided to don giant monster costumes to entertain (or very occasionally scare) the kids. Everyone pitched in.
If you have a skill you’d like to share—whether it’s cooking, face-painting, performing magic, or singing—we’d be delighted to hear from you. We’re always looking for an eclectic mix of entertainment and extra pairs of hands to help bring the festival to life. So get in touch!
Here’s to another year of art, action, and good food in Craigmillar.
