More than 155 food and drink exhibitors will be at Chester Food and Drink Festival this Easter weekend

Up to 30,000 people will head to Chester Racecourse this Easter weekend for the Chester Food and Drink festival.

The event, now in its 18th year – is the largest of its type held anywhere in the UK with over 150 Food and Drink Exhibitors on show.

Headline chefs from the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 feature with Paul Rankin, Chris Bavin and Jun Tanaka as well as the best chefs from around the region over 3 days of free cooking demonstrations on the stage.

Harlech Foods are providing free adult cooking classes, where their chefs will be teaching adults how to prepare meals, special knife skills, tricks of the trade and of course the opportunity to eat what you have prepared.

Sam Elliott,  Development Chef at Harlech is looking forward to the showpiece.

“We know this is the biggest event of its type anywhere in the UK at Easter and we thought it was the perfect chance for us to show people just how easy great cooking can be with the right skills and of course the right produce.

Our buyers scour the region for the best possible produce to ensure much of what you eat when you go out is the finest your chef can find and at the Festival this year we will be talking to our many clients and of course showing some great skills in the kitchen.

I am really looking forward to it”

Sam and his team have put together three different classes that include.

11:30 : Making mini burgers using the purity sauce bursts and Bwydlyn mince, all presented on mini slider buns.

1:30:  will be BBQ marinated chicken and steamed buns with a huge depth of flavour; and

3:30: will be a Prawn Ramen where cooks will make a broth and cook various veg and prawns.

In addition to the Cooking Classes, local legend, celebrity chef Brian Mellor, the owner of Harthill Cookery School will be teaching people how to improve their BBQ skills.

Brian will have 8 Weber BBQs set up with regular sessions each day showing how to avoid the normal burnt offering as he explains;

“This is the chance to understand just how much fun cooking outside can be and what it takes to produce great tasting food.

I have had so many people say after our sessions they simply didn’t understand what they were doing on the BBQ and now they do.

I really enjoy doing this because it produces such great tasting food and of course the customers love it because they get to eat what they have cooked. It’s a real winner with Weber.”

Back again in 2018 is the Children’s cooking classes with Academy of Culinary Arts Supremo, James Holden running these very popular taster sessions as he explains:

“We have been doing these classes each year for the last 10 years and they just get more and more popular. Every year we have more than 900 children who come and spend time with us cutting, sorting, tasting and enjoying understanding food.

We get such a buzz seeing the joy of children cooking and many try things they have never dared before, simply because they have prepared it. It is what events like these are all about.”

Briony Wilson is excited about the 2018 event and is ready for a busy Easter.

“We think this year’s event delivers on every level. We have over 150 exhibitors with foods from every part of the globe, we have the best chefs on our stages and we have more customer participation events than ever before.

We have a great live music stage where families can chill and lots and lots of seating areas for people to simply enjoy great food and drink.

In my opinion this is the best £20 for four hours of fun for a family of four that money can buy and it’s the biggest event of its type being staged anywhere in the UK this Easter.”

The festival takes place at Chester Racecourse from the 31st March to 2nd April and online tickets are just £6 for adults with children under 12 free.

For more information about the Festival or to buy online discounted tickets go to www.chesterfoodanddrink.co.uk