The Malton food lovers festival

The Malton Food Lovers Festival, taking place on 26^th-27^th May, is expected to welcome more visitors than ever in its tenth year of foodie celebrations, thanks to a hive of activity set to give revellers a free Bank Holiday weekend event like no other.

All of the headline activity will be taking place at the Main Stage sponsored by Inntravel, a new feature for 2018. From cooking demonstrations, to talks and interviews, visitors will be able to witness all the action for free. This year, the Festival has four Yorkshire-born Michelin starred chefs attending, all of whom will be demonstrating their culinary credentials throughout the weekend and giving visitors an insight into their kitchens.

With 140 Yorkshire and Northern-based stall holders, and 30 of the UK’s top street food vendors, there will be a vast variety of delectable dishes and products available for all to try. The stalls will be open from 9am to 5pm both days, with a selection of street food vendors trading until 10pm alongside the Festival Bar which is hosted by beverage brands Brass Castle, Sloemotion and Orchard’s of Husthwaite.

The Festival Bar will be opening on Friday 5pm – 10pm, and on Saturday and Sunday from 10am – 10pm, with a full line up of local bands each night from 5pm to 10pm. This year, 100% of the street food traders in the Greenergy Pop-Up Picnic Area will be using recyclable or biodegradable packaging in the fight against waste.

Kicking off the activity on Saturday will be Alice Naylor-Leyland with her “Miss Alice” clean eating demo at 10.30am, followed by a talk from Kevin Hollinrake MP at 11am. Andrew Pern, owner and Michelin starred chef at The Star Inn at Harome will be demonstrating recipes from his cookbook of local and seasonal recipes at 11.30am, and will be followed by James Mackenzie from The Pipe and Glass Inn at 12.30pm.

A fanfare of TV chefs will be demoing their dishes on Saturday afternoon, including The three Pigott Brothers from BBC2’s ‘The Big Family Cooking Showdown’ who will be up at 1.30pm to show the crowd how they won over the judges on the programme, followed by Jess Gardham from BBC1’s ‘Masterchef’ at 2.30pm, then Cyrus Kay who is currently appearing in Mary Berry’s new BBC1 show ‘Britain’s Best Home Cook’ at 3.30pm. Tom Naylor-Leyland, Festival Director, will be giving a talk on The Future of Food in Malton at 4.30pm before wrapping up for the day. Tom will also be giving the talk on Sunday at 3.30pm.

Activity at the Main Stage on Sunday will see The Robshaws and Debbie Raw from BBC2’s ‘Further Back in Time For Dinner’ at 11.30am, followed by “Mrs Alice” back again at 12.30pm to demo clean eating. Michael O’Hare from Leeds’ Man Behind The Curtain will be on stage at 1.30pm, and Tommy Banks from the Black Swan, Oldstead at 2.30pm who will also be signing copies of his new book ‘Roots’ at 3.30pm in the Festival Book Shop in The Milton Rooms.

There will be plenty of entertainment for all ages, from a steam-powered Victorian carousel in the Vintage Funfair located in the Shambles car park, to an eclectic mix of buskers lining the streets with their songs.

Children will be able to take part in the Little Cooks cookie decorating workshop in Talbot Yard and get their face painted at the Festival Bar. The Salvation Army will have a pop-up activity tent and children’s theatre company Magical Quests will be giving free theatre workshops for under 8’s in the Milton Rooms.

There are many fringe events going on in Malton across the weekend, such as free demos on each hour in the Malton Cookery School with many renowned local chefs, Knife Skills Workshops in 36-28 Market Place, and the GYSheifer steel sculpture will be on display as part of its tour before being installed in Harrogate Great Yorkshire Showground.

To find out more about the Malton Food Lovers Festival, visit www.visitmalton.com.