He said: “I am very impressed by Bolton Market. It’s important to me to be able to source fresh, local ingredients for my dishes and here I can find excellent quality fish, fruit and vegetables, which is very satisfying. The market rates among the best and its at least as good as, if not better, than the famous Borough market in London.”
Paul was joined at the food and drink festival by fellow presenter Mary Berry, and together they demonstrated their expert baking skills at three sold-out shows in Victoria Square.
Many thousands of people visited the festival over the four days (Aug 23-26) of the bank holiday weekend. They were able to sample culinary delights from more than 80 stalls; watch celebrity and regional chefs in a series of demonstrations; enjoy the activities at the new children’s food and fun emporium and sit back and relax while being entertained by live bands and street performers, and the sunny weather was a bonus.
Four free cookery demonstrations were staged at Bolton Market. Asian chef Aazam Ahmad provided an entertaining display on Friday morning cooking a salmon curry and on Saturday Sean Wilson from Channel 5’s Great Northern Cookbook performed twice and Harry Yeung from
Manchester’s Yang Sing restaurant provided a Cantonese twist at his lunchtime show.
Chef Sean Wilson, ex-Corrie star, made Lancashire cheese and onion pie, oven bottom muffins and Eccles Cakes. He said: “The Bolton Food Festival is a great northern festival for great northern people.”
Michelin-starred chef Michael Caines launched the festival on Friday 23 and provided two enthralling cookery demonstrations for free in the Festival Marquee and then in the Market Place Shopping Centre.
Michael Caines said: “It is a pleasure and privilege to be back at this event for the third time. Over the last few years I have seen the Bolton Food and Drink festival grow and develop from a local to a national event, with new additions each year.
The festival shows that there is a real appetite for local and regional food and it is crucial in bringing the community together and also boosting the local economy. The festival is a credit to Bolton and it is an honour to be asked to launch it again this year.”
In addition to the free cookery demonstrations in Bolton Market, many more regional chefs performed in the Market Place Shopping Centre, including Andrew Nutter, Anjali Pathak, and Chris Yates. Local chef Anjali Pathak who was a big hit in the Market Place demonstration kitchen said: “This is my fifth year at the Bolton Food & Drink Festival and I am delighted to be back , as its an opportunity to come back to my home town . The festival is growing year on year and provides a showcase for the market, local producers and local chefs.”
Anjali made caramelised lamb masala with spiced flatbreads and for dessert she made sticky peaches with vanilla and lime cream.
Two new features this year proved to be big hits - the children’s food and fun emporium at Crompton Place which provided a packed programme of entertainment, games and hands on food activities to entertain youngsters and live performances by local bands in the Beer Keller and the KRO Bar where Shandy South, the Dolly Birds and Our Fold were just a few of the bands who struck a chord with customers.
Free shows by performers including the Ski Band and the Bourbon Street Roof Raisers also entertained the crowds.
Coach parties came from the North East, Hull, Huddersfield, Wakefield, North Wales, Lancashire and Warrington. Teresa Wade from Hull said: “We came to the festival last year and thoroughly enjoyed it, so came back again. We want to come again next year and will be making it a regular fixture in our calendars.”
Alwyn Johnston, visiting the festival from Macclesfield Cheshire for the first time this year said: “I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the day – the stalls, the demonstrations and tasting all the food. And when we got to the market we couldn’t believe the quality and range of fruit and veg at such low prices. Everything’s been fabulous and I can’t wait to bring my friends next year”
Visitors even came from as far away as Australia. Tina and Dennis from Victoria in Australia said: “We are doing a three-week tour of the UK. We researched what was on and we saw the Bolton Food and Drink Festival and just had to come. It is excellent, we are enjoying it very much and the free parking is a bonus!”
We have had great feedback from all the chefs who provided cooking demonstrations and the feedback from traders was really positive, with many of them having to call for extra stock as their stalls were so popular!
“Visitors to the Festival came from as far away as Hull, the North East, Essex and even Australia and all seemed to enjoy their visit, which has a really positive impact on the town. The children’s emporium, which was new this year was also really popular, with queues for all the activities. We’d like to thank everyone who took part in the festival, from the chefs to the traders and also all the visitors who came and made it an amazing success.”
To keep up to date with the latest festival news, log on to the website www.boltonfoodanddrinkfestival.com, visit Facebook and search for Bolton Food and Drink Festival or search for #Boltonfoodfest on Twitter.
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