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Read about the Food and Drink Festival here...
Nottingham Food & Drink Festival Proves a Huge Success
Nottingham City Centre played host to the first annual food and drink festival which was launched by TV chef and Saturday Morning Kitchen host, James Martin, on Wednesday 16th September 2009.
The action packed 5 day event was attended by over 18,000 visitors, attracted by a Celebrity Chef’s Theatre in the Market Square, masterclasses and specialist events in food and drink venues around the city, and a regional and speciality food and drink market.
The event itself was organised and part funded by the Nottingham Leisure Partnership, an organisation which was formed to represent all of the city centre’s licensed premises. The Greater Nottingham Partnership also provided a substantial amount of funding.
The Rangemaster Chef’s Theatre in the Market Square hosted celebrity chefs James Martin, host of Saturday Morning Kitchen, Nottingham’s own Michelin star chef, Sat Bains, Step Up To The Plate regular, James Tanner, Ready Steady Cook favourite Brian Turner and Something for the Weekend’s Simon Rimmer. Tickets for James Martin’s demonstrations went before midday on the day of release, proving what a popular draw he is.
James commented “it’s good to be back in Nottingham and I’m delighted that they’ve finally got their own food and drink festival, my last visit here was as a judge for the Nottingham Restaurant Awards. It’s a great city and an event such as this continues to showcase the food and drink offering to its fullest.”
Recipes from a selection of the celebrity chef demonstrations can be downloaded below:
Another of the highlights in the Rangemaster Chefs’ Theatre over the five day festival, was the Ready Steady Cook style cook-offs with chefs from our local eating establishments pairing up with radio, TV and sporting personalities. BBC East Midlands Today’s Sara Blizzard took on BBC Radio Nottingham’s Richard Spurr in a contest that ultimately ended in a draw – some might say a lucky score for Sara, who didn’t seem to know her way around the kitchen too well and was found looking for butternut squash in a bottle!
Other activities in the Rangemaster Chefs’ Theatre included specialist classes led by city restaurants including Wagamama, YO! Sushi, The Curry Lounge, Kean’s Head, World Service, Memsaab and The Old Angel. Local producers and suppliers held master classes including meat by butcher Owen Taylor, fish by M&J Seafood, simply sausages by Johnny Pusztai, perfect pork pies by Stephen Hallam and cooking made easy by home economist Teresa Bovey.
City centre restaurants and bars also held special events in-house attracting up to 100 customers at a time, making it a city wide festival. The events included a 7 course gourmet menu at Tonic, a beer and food matching event with expert Richard Fox at the Pitcher and Piano, cocktail making classes at The Living Room and a chocolate and beer tasting experience at Bluu.
Owner of The Curry Lounge Razak Arfan, who first approached the Nottingham Leisure Partnership with the idea two years ago, spoke of their involvement during the festival: “It was a fantastic experience, from cooking in the Chefs’ Theatre to showcasing the restaurant to new visitors during our week-long events. It was also nice to see my idea finally get off the ground. I’m sure it will grow to become one of Nottingham's must-visit occasions! Great to see so many Nottingham folk supporting this unique event, there was a real buzz in the city. We were delighted with the response and look forward to next year.”
Sylvia Manser, Chief Executive of the Nottingham Leisure Partnership, summarised: “The Food and Drink Festival was a great initiative for the city centre restaurants and bars to lay on and is a great example of what can be achieved by businesses working together. The festival attracted people from far and wide to enjoy what our wonderful city has to offer, and we hope it will encourage them to come back soon to experience some more of Nottingham’s great selection of food and drink venues. It was a fantastic event and it can only get bigger and better over the forthcoming years.”
Funding is already in place to make the Nottingham Food & Drink Festival an annual event for at least a further 2 years.