Five minutes with Dom & Jimmy
Harvest at Jimmy’s is a festival where the food shares top billing with the music. Debra Waters gets the lowdown from organisers Dom Gomez and Jimmy Doherty.
There’s many a festival that celebrates the joyous affinity between food and music, but none unites the two like Harvest at Jimmy’s. The festival, now in its second year and based at a picturesque Suffolk farm, is the brainchild of Dom Gomez and farmer-cum-television presenter Jimmy Doherty, of Jimmy’s Farm fame.
Dom has always been an ardent festival-goer, but after his daughter was born he was drawn to smaller, boutique festivals such as the Innocent Village Fête and Latitude. In 2009, equipped with a background in the music biz and a passion for food, he helped set up an event in which top chefs work alongside celebrated musicians, with award-winning food replacing the customary festival slop. Jimmy’s farm – and his reputation – provided the ideal platform.
Dom expected to shift 3,000 tickets at the first festival – in the end, 10,000 were sold. “When I saw thousands of people pouring through the gates, I realised we’d created something special,” Dom says. “Food and music are both great ways to communicate and celebrate.”
Jimmy is just as sold on the magical food-music mix. “I can’t think of cooking and eating without listening to music – for me they go hand-in-hand,” he says. “Both affect your mood, so bring good food and good music together and you have a brilliant time.”
And the line-up of cooks involved this year is as impressive as the musicians’. “I think they like the idea of making food a bit more rock and roll,” says Dom.
This year’s chefs include:
Thomasina Miers, Valentine Warner, Rachel Allen, Oliver Rowe, Mark Hix.
This year’s headline bands include:
Scouting for girls, Kate Rusby, The Futureheads, To Kill a King, Kitty, Daisy & Lewis, Newton Faulkner, The Hoosiers, Son of Dave, Vadoinmessico.