Ostrich burger or Pieminister? Chilli burrito from Flaming Cactus or poached salmon from Rathmullan House? Never mind when your two favourite bands clash – with the vast array of great-quality food on offer, choosing what to eat can be just as fraught, writes Conor Pope

PEOPLE almost certainly will not be going to this particular picnic for the food, but the dizzying array of dining options available will nonetheless be a big attraction.

Every year the quality of the Electric eats seems to get better and better, and while you can still find messy burgers and greasy chips and the occasional hot dog about the place – and there’s no harm in that – the typical picnicker has come to expect a whole lot more besides, so next weekend it’ll be gourmet this and stone-baked that and organic the other.

The food at Electric Picnic has been a talking point since the first festival in 2004, and the promoters have been careful to carefully cultivate the artisan, fair-trade, organic and, most importantly, wonderful- tasting vibe.

There is even a Bridgestone awards ceremony dedicated to the festival. Among the categories last year were a green award for the most ecologically aware producer, a vegetarian award, a gong for best-dressed vendor – in truth it was the stalls being judged, not the vendors – and a people’s choice award, which was won by Donegal restaurant Rathmullan House.

Rathmullan was a deserving winner, having wowed punters with its poached salmon and new potatoes, among other delights. It will be back this year to try to retain its crown.

Also impressing last year was Butler’s Pantry, which did a roaring trade in its Gubbeen chorizo, handmade croissants and a summer ministrone with basil pesto and parmesan (not any old parmesan, mind you – it had been aged for 36 months).

While some people might diss the humble burger, many of the stalls on the Stradbally site will do a roaring trade in them this year, although much of the meat will be organic and locally sourced. And a lot of the chips will have been lovingly hand-cut, and fried in good quality, clean oil rather than frozen to within an inch of their lives before getting dumped into ancient fat.

There were more than two dozen burger vans last year, and the quality was generally good, although special mention has to go to the ostrich burgers, which were selling for €7.50 a pop. The chilli burrito from the Flaming Cactus was awesome.

There will be about 150 different food retailers, when the water and sweet sellers are factored in, and the organisers have once again done their best to encourage organic and fair-trade produce.

The responsibility for getting the catering in rests largely with Vanessa Clarke. She owns a company that looks after the catering for more than 20 high-end festivals and major events each year. Speaking earlier this summer, she said that Irish appetites had “completely changed in the last eight years, and people have become very discerning about what they eat. I think at Electric Picnic you get the most discerning crowd of all.”

She says that traditional and rustic food is likely to be popular this year, and when asked to identify some of the culinary highlights, she says she is “quite excited about Fiddlers Cottage pasties” and expects them to give Pieminister a run for their money in the pie wars.

Pieminister has acquired near- legendary status at the festival, and at peak times the queues at the stall for their pies, gravy and mash can be long. They are also good-natured, however, and the wait is worth it.

Another stall likely to make a splash this year is the Tailor Made Fish Company. It will be hoping to reel punters in with the promise of sustainably sourced fish and chips – and an oyster bar. An oyster bar! At a music festival? The ghosts of Lisdoonvarna will be spinning in their collective graves.

Other stalls worth keeping an eye out for include the Choux Box, a company Clarke says will offer “really, really cute cakes on sticks”.

There will also be a pop-up restaurant this year that will allow punters to have sit-down lunches rather than having to eat on the hoof.

And the prices? Well, eating out over over three days is not going to be cheap, but it does not have to leave you smashed. It should be acknowledged that the festival organisers police prices to stop caterers losing the run of themselves – last year, for example, it prohibited vans selling bottled water for any more than €2.

However, going to a festival is rarely particularly cheap, and people will need to leave aside at least €180 for food and drink – and that is without eating or drinking that much. It will be money well spent, though, as long as you choose wisely.

It gets posher. A wine bar is being introduced to the Mindfield talking shop area of festival for the first time to give people an alternative to the lager, bags of wine and (always delightful) vodka-jelly shots that are sold by enterprising vendors snaking their way through the well-fed crowds over the three days of the picnic.

st Don’t miss Booking the Cooks at Electric Picnic, as comedian Danny Dowling takes on Phantom’s Michelle Doherty in a cook-off at 6pm on Saturday in Mindfield