Holding a festival dedicated purely to hot sauce?
That takes a lot of bottle.
After all, a little famously goes a long way with this condiment. But such is the thirst and devotion of Londoners to hot sauce that the Hot Sauce Society is bringing back their annual heat-loaded hoopla to Peckham’s Copeland Park this May.
Over 40 independent traders will be packing their wares into the airy industrial setting, bringing literally hundreds of handmade and small-batch hot sauces with them for you to sample. You’ll be able to try before you buy (as much as you can handle) and chat to the producers personally about what goes into their bottles of liquid fire.
When you need a little respite from the tastebud tingling, there’s plenty of other stuff going on, too – the team behind South London’s hot sauce, craft beer & vinyl shops Hop, Burns & Black will be returning with their unique take on karaoke (which requires you to scarf down a scotch bonnet chilli pepper right before you sing); there’ll be DJs and live music; and chilli face-painting, which is guaranteed to make you look hot.
And since man cannot live on hot sauce alone, there’ll be street food from Oh My Dog, Lucky’s Fried Chicken, and the high-end grilled cheese purveyors at C’est Cheese, as well as wood fired pizza on Sunday by 450 Degrees. And to bring some diary-laced respite from the heat, Marcello’s Ice Cream will be on hand to douse flames, along with a couple of pop up bars.
It’s got quite a kick.
NOTE: The Hot Sauce Society festival returns on 10th & 11th May at Copeland Park in Peckham. Tickets cost £5, and you can get them at the Hot Sauce Society website.
Hot Sauce Society | Unit 8, Copeland Park Estate, 133 Copeland Rd, London SE15 3SN
And on Sunday… take an ice cream crawl through Central London