THE region’s foodies are in for another treat – tickets are now on sale for cookery demonstrations in the festival kitchen at Rochdale Food & Drink Festival, which is being staged on Saturday 16 March in and around Rochdale Town Hall.
Six chefs will be cooking live during the event, staged in partnership with Premier Kia, with eight 40-minute demos scheduled packed with tips, techniques and the opportunity to ask questions as well as meet the hosts.
Popular TV chef Dean Edwards and local star foodie Andrew Nutter will be among the chefs cooking, alongside BBC Fusion chef and Rochdale favourite Aazam Ahmad, as well as a trio of local talent – Austin Hopley from The Baum, Adolfus Lewis from The Hare on the Hill in Littleborough and Noo Meenan from Thai food experts Issan Friends.
Over on the indoor Family Stage Mr Bloom from CBeebies will be performing during the day featuring veggie stories, gardening games and catchy nursery songs for tiddlers and their parents! Also for families with young children – there will be Shake, Rattle and Roll workshops at 12:15pm and 2:30pm. The sessions were a big hit at last year’s Manchester Food & Drink Festival - children will get chance to explore instruments, create sounds, sing songs, dance, move, socialise and make a big noise! They’ll also be able to learn new songs, activities and games to continue to sing and play at home. For older children, the Mad Science team will be hosting spectacular free workshops in their pop up tent, featuring amazing food related science experiments and a lot of fun.
The festival kitchen, sponsored by local business Quirky Catering, will be located inside the grade one listed town hall along with plenty of stalls and free things to do. There’ll be an outside food and drink village, a series of free themed demonstrations including cocktail making and artisan chocolate making, plus live music from local acts.
If you don’t manage to grab a ticket for one of the chef demonstrations there’ll be a free seating area in the Clock Tower Dining Room to watch on big screens and soak up the festival atmosphere!
To book cookery workshop and Mr Bloom tickets and find out more visit www.rochdale.gov.uk/events