Helen Peacocke gets a taste for the Oxford Street Food Festival where people can enjoy all the fun of the fare

Richard Johnson, founder of the British Street Food Festival, has travelled the world, eating the best food on the dusty lanes of Bethlehem, with its hole-in-the-wall falafel shacks serving up pittas fat with hummus, pickle and broad beans, and the highways of Mandalay, with bowls of fishy noodles still salty from the sea.

As a food writer, broadcaster and restau-rant critic at The Independent, he knew his stuff, but was always disappointed on returning to Britain at our equivalent — dodgy kebabs, chips and burgers.

So in 2009 he began signing up worthy street food sellers, to show us how it can be done for the first British Street Food Festival as well launching the British Street Food Awards to champion the best 10,000 young chefs now cooking on the streets of Britain and beyond — a new generation, of street fooders.

Bringing Oxford’s Street Food Festival to the grounds of Oxford Castle on May 1-4, it’s now our turn to experience his vision.

So why Oxford? “Because it’s a young city with an amazing spirit, and the sort of architecture that can still a beating heart. Plus you love food!” he says.

And who better than Richard to run this fascinating event? Richard has presented BBC’s Full on Food, reporting on everything from the birthplace of coffee to the rise of the organics business, and Kill It, Cook It. He is also the super-taster that judges the food on ITV’s Taste the Nation and Channel 4’s Iron Chef. Currently he is the man giving the thumbs up (or down) to contestants on Channel 4’s Cookery School and is still a regular contributor to the food and drink pages of several leading newspapers and magazines.

As for what you can expect, Richard says that everything about this year is a step up, with music folding its way around all that’s going on — street-food crazy golf, food-and-beer-matching experiences and a high-end food quiz, which he is convinced with blow our minds.

Among those trading in Oxford is Dougie Crabbieshake, inspired by the fishermen’s huts in his home town of Folkestone. He concentrates on crab, offering soft shell crab burgers with a number of different garnish options. Where possible he sources for his signature crabbie burger from the Kent coast. This soft shell crab, deep fried in Old Bay batter and garnished with fennel, almonds, harissa and avocado helped Dougie win the London heat of the British Street Food Awards last year.

Old-fashioned nursery comfort food is being offered by Johnny French at Crumble Shack, aiming to take us back to a happy place by conjuring up the image of a family table bowing with generosity and warmth. His crumbles come with ladles of free range egg and Madagascan vanilla custard. Delicious!

The Cheeky Italian boys specialise in the best of Italian street food which will include dishes that you won’t find on the Pizza Express menu. Their van, which is a 1970s Citroën H-van clad in reclaimed wood, will be offering Meatball Calzone Fritti, Black Truffle and Wild Mushroom Arancini Balls and Pistachio Mortadella Croquette.

James Fedden combines his love of baking with his passion for vintage vehicles as The Cake Doctor, a baker of exquisite cakes, desserts and whoopee pies, all lovingly served in a 1979 Ford Transit Mark 2 ambulance. When he’s not out front icing the cakes, he will be inside helping his mum with the baking. You certainly can’t get fresher cakes than his.

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Another converted classic vehicle, possibly the UK’s only mobile juice and smoothie bar, is the Juice Dub’s VW Camper van named Mary-Jane. Ask here for a bespoke smoothie and it will be served almost instantly.

Oxford’s cup cake queen Julia Atkinson, who can often be seen selling her Happy Cakes wares in Cornmarket during the summer months, will be in attendance at the festival with her attractive yellow trike filled with a magnificent assortment of luscious little cakes.

Tasting portions of the food at the festival will cost £3, a full dish £6. Having tasted everything they fancy, members of the public will then be encouraged to vote for the food they like most. By downloading the British Street Food app they can vote for their favourite stalls for the 2015 British Street Food Awards.

Winners will go on to compete with three other regions at the finals to be staged in London during September. Richard’s main hope, however, is that once Oxford’s festival visitors experience proper street food they will understand that street food is not just something sold in the back streets of Singapore, but a new way of eating altogether.

To book your tickets or for more information go to britishstreetfood.co.uk