Chester Food, Drink & Lifestyle Festival arrives in Chester!

4th April 2012

Categories: News

The 11^th annual Chester Food, Drink & Lifestyle Festival is to arrive in the city for three glorious days, celebrating everything that is food and drink.

Over 25,000 visitors are expected to flock to the Racecourse for Easter Weekend to enjoy a whole host of events including celebrity chef demonstrations, a restaurant garden, kids cooking, adventure play area, 130 food and drink producers and cookery lessons for budding chefs.

The festival will begin at 10am on Saturday 7^th April with an official opening before the ever popular chef demonstrations gets underway. This year, Channel 4 chef and local restaurateur, Simon Rimmer, makes a welcome return and will be on stage from 12pm – 1pm and 3pm – 4pm.

Chester’s culinary genius, Michael Caines will be cooking delicious recipes on Sunday 8^th April from 12pm – 1pm and 2pm 3pm and top chef Andrew Nutter will be cooking on Monday 9^th April from 12pm – 1pm and 3pm – 4pm.

Also featuring in the demonstration kitchens will be the final of the Chester Sausage Competition, which will take place on Sunday 8^th April from 10.30am – 12pm. Be a judge and try all of the delicious, sizzling sausages from the four finalists. Vote to choose who will be this year’s winner and have the opportunity to buy this year’s winning sausage to take home for dinner.

This year’s finalists include, David Joinson (Chester Market) with his Welsh Sausage, Ernest W. Edge and Son’s Butchers’ Cheshire Pork and Roast Sweet Pepper Sausage, Noel Baker British Meats’ Pork and Caramelised Onion Sausage and The Hollies Farm Shop’s Cumberland Pork and Mixed Herb Sausage.

If keeping the kids happy and entertained this Easter is of high priority then let them run wild in the festival’s newest attraction, Extreme Adventure. Extreme Adventure is a thrilling playground where children can fly through the air on a zip wire, scramble through nets and try their luck at Spider Mountain.

And for those children who want to join in the food festivities then the Kids Cooking with the Culinary Academy of Arts is a must. Children can learn the importance of healthy eating in an informal and enjoyable way. They will get messy with food and try foods that they have never eaten before. Workshops will run every 15 minutes so children won’t have too long to wait before they can roll their sleeves up and make their first meal.

In the main hub of the festival village will be the 130 food and drink producers. Try everything imaginable including Cheshire honey and ice-cream, ginger beer, cupcakes, vinegars, dips, jams, speciality meats, sausages, cheese and much, much more. With inside and outside stalls there will be hot and cold food to eat and sample there and then so hungry tummies won’t be hungry for long.

New for this year is Cook Along with Brian Mellor. Take part in an exclusive cookery class with the master chef, Brian. Brian will teach students how to cook three mouth watering courses with the opportunity to sit down at eat them all at the end. Places for this event are limited and can be pre-booked by calling Kelly on 01244 405615. There will be two sessions running on each of the day of the event (Saturday, Sunday and Monday) – the first at 12pm and the second at 2.30pm.

Festival Chairman, Jane Mooney, said: “We are so excited for this year’s festival and visitors coming to this year’s event are going to be in for such a treat. With even more demonstrations packed into our demo kitchens, festival goers will are guaranteed leave feeling inspired to get cooking. And with a record number of producers there is everything at your finger tips to get you in the mood for food.”

For further information and bookings visit www.chesterfoodanddrink.com  Ticket prices are, Adults £7, Concessions £5 and under 12s FREE. CamperFest tickets are £25 per person for adults (until the end of January), £35 Adults and £10 for children.

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