Universal Cookery and Food Festival travels to the north east

Chefs of all levels are invited to travel north with the Universal Cookery and Food Festival as it heads to ‘the foodie gateway to Hadrian’s Wall’, Vallum Farm, Northumberland for its fourth year.

This is the first time that the festival, which is designed by chefs for chefs, has been held in the north of England.

Craft Guild of Chefs representatives John Feeney, Lee Maycock and Ian Nottage are driving this unique event to give chefs up and down the country the opportunity to get outside in a relaxed environment, meet and talk directly with game-keepers, farmers, growers and food producers as well as get close to industry respected chefs and operators.

The festival offers a packed programme of events including a farmers’ market where chefs can experience a wide range of national as well as local food, drink and equipment suppliers and take the opportunity to gather some real inspiration to take back to their own kitchens.

There will be a wealth of on-trend topics and demos taking place over the course of the day with the festival line up including Kenny Atkinson, House of Tides, Sat Bains chef patron of Restaurant Sat Bains as well as Aaron Mulliss from the Hand and Flowers and Nick Beardshaw from The Coach.
Visitors will be challenged to see if they can eat away the fear as entomophagy appears on the line up.

“It’s not something from the local area but it’s a trend emerging from places such as Bristol and London that we can take up with us and we like to do something that is a bit left of centre” says Maycock.

Demonstrations will see Seb Holmes and Thom Lawson of the Smoking Goat, Soho, cook dishes and make cocktails from their new insect cookbook with EatGrub.

The festival will also give a nod to well-known experienced chefs who will share their pearls of wisdom with the audience in a reverse take on last year’s ‘Rising Stars’ which showcased the up and coming talent of the industry.

Speaking in the session are the likes of Terry Laybourne from 21 Hospitality Group and John Williams, Executive Chef of The Ritz.

The brand new Innovation Zone headed up by Infusions4Chefs’ Jeremy Medley will provide a hotbed of food innovation and learning as he teams up with the festival’s headline sponsors to showcase the latest in culinary innovations.

Visitors will be able to sample a wide range of food at the event, which will end with an evening barbecue, local band and free beer in the shadow of Hadrian’s Wall.

Tickets for the universal cookery and food festival 2015 are priced at £99 + VAT per person.

The ticket price includes coach transfers to and from Newcastle train station, access to the full event, refreshments and evening event.

To book your place or get more information visit www.cookeryandfoodfestival.co.uk or call 01293 854403.