Nantwich Food Festival News –A return of the Cookalong Theatre

After a hugely successful introduction of the Cookalong Theatre in 2023, Nantwich Food Festival has decided to increase the space devoted to this incredibly popular facility, giving locals and visitors a great opportunity to work alongside talented celebrity and local chefs.

Trained chefs and mixologists from near and far will be on hand to provide master-classes on how to prepare delicious recipes and cocktails.

Crewe-based Restaurant, bar and hotel, The White Lion Weston will sponsor the Cookalong Marquee and the neighbouring Food Court, covering all three days of the Festival on August 30^th & 31^st and September 1^st.

With events for both children and adults, there will be just 12 places per session with a ticket fee of between £10 and £15 to cover the cost of ingredients; as would be expected, alcohol-based events will cost more.

Details and booking links will be found on the festival website at: 

www.nantwichfoodfestival.co.uk/cookalong/ 

Places can be booked from mid-July, and we are sure that these limited places will fill up fast!

Event organiser Nanna Pedley says:

“The White Lion Weston Cookalong Marquee and Food Court will be located in the Love Lane area near to the Theatre and pillory. 4pm on Festival Friday and Saturday will be cocktail time, when The White Lion will field an expert bartender to show us how to produce their impressive cocktails, whilst new to Nantwich town centre, Three Wrens Gin will lead a craft gin tasting event on Sunday.

Great chefs from local restaurants will offer participants the chance to cook along with them to produce delicious dishes; St Martha’s will delight us with their prawn saganaki, and Reaseheath College will lead a field to fork event using fresh ingredients grown on their own site.

Meanwhile our friends at Romazzino will host their Kids’ Italian Cookalong on Festival Friday; based on the success of last year, this is bound to be in demand.”

Nanna goes on:

“We are delighted that celebrity chef Nigel Brown will be onsite to teach participants in his Hands on Summer Lobster Salad Masterclass, whilst our own cheese shop will be showcasing some great local Cheshire cheeses. We are confident that the extra space that we have allocated to the Cookalong will be popular with all participants”.

Elsewhere in the Festival, local chefs will enhance the already impressive range of celebrity chef demonstrations in the Reaseheath Demonstration Kitchen. Karen Young, chef organiser, is thrilled to again welcome the head chef from St Martha’s on Festival Friday and to offer a return welcome to a most talented patissiere, Babna of Babna’s Patisserie on Festival Saturday; Babna describes her style as ‘French desserts made easy’.

Karen tells us that chef Darren Snell of Welsh Row’s The Black Lion will again demonstrate for us on Saturday, and she is delighted that Elliott Hill of Chester Grosvenor has agreed to make a welcome return following his much-admired demonstration in 2022.

Keeping bang up to date, the Festival has organised an air-fryer cooking demonstration at 3pm on Festival Friday – don’t miss it if you have an air-fryer!

The Food Theatre Sponsor, Reaseheath College tells us how pleased they are to again be sponsoring this important and key Festival feature; Stephanie Owen, Reaseheath Events Manager says “Reaseheath College has worked with and supported Nantwich Food Festival for many years, and we are delighted to sponsor the Food Theatre for the third year. The College offers a whole raft of food related courses from butchery to bakery, dairy to food technology, so supporting this major local event is clearly important to us.

Stephanie goes on to say:

“There are many Apprenticeships and Degree courses available at the College to start in 2024, so we look forward to welcoming applications.”

• The Nantwich Food Festival is an independent food festival run by volunteers
• The 2024 Festival takes place Friday 30^th August to Sunday 1^st September
• Since 2009, the festival has been run by not-for-profit Nantwich Food and Drink Ltd.
• Around 200 businesses have stalls located across Nantwich town centre during the weekend festival.
• The festival generates an estimated £2m each year for the local economy.
• Nantwich has one of the largest collections of historic buildings in Cheshire, with Elizabethan, Georgian and Victorian architecture throughout the town centre.
• There has been a market in Nantwich since 1720
• Over 100 unpaid, dedicated volunteers keep the festival running each year

Pictured - Elliot Hill demonstrating at Nantwich Food Festival.