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Taste of success for Bolton’s Food and Drink Festival
Monday 21 September 2009
Bolton’s annual Food and Drink Festival has been hailed a scrumptious success by organisers after attracting more than 40,000 visitors.
The three-day foodie spectacular last month featured a whole host of mouthwatering events including live cooking demonstrations by top celebrity chefs James Martin and The Hairy Bikers, a continental market with traders from across Europe, themed nights laid on at local restaurants and street theatre.
The event, organised by Bolton Council and sponsored by Warburtons, saw people from across the north west flocking to the town.
The festival was launched by top Bolton chef Paul Heathcote. He demonstrated his culinary skills in a special marquee in Victoria Square where he created hash browns of black pudding with Lancashire cheese, and a caramelised mulled pear tart for dessert.
Paul said: “It’s a real honour to be involved in the festival and it was an even bigger honour to open it.”
The opening day of the foodie event also saw two Bolton councillors competing in an omelette-cooking contest. Councillor Phil Ashcroft and Councillor John Byrne went head-to-head in a Conservatives vs. Labour battle.
The opening day of the foodie event also saw two Bolton councillors competing in an omelette-cooking contest. Councillor Phil Ashcroft and Councillor John Byrne went head-to-head in a Conservatives vs. Labour battle.
The competition soon turned into a scrambled egg-making challenge and the Mayor of Bolton, Councillor Norman Critchley declared it a draw.
The Hairy Bikers roared into Bolton on the second day of the food-fest accompanied by a cavalcade of 10 trikers.
Dave Myers and Simon King demonstrated to a packed audience in the festival marquee how to create scallops with caramelised black pudding in a champagne sauce; duck with caramelised plum; potato cake and asparagus sauce and a Keralan paratha with South Indian king prawns.
The duo also paid a visit to Bolton Market on Ashburner Street to check out the quality of fresh, local produce on offer. The boys cooked a Thai curry in the demonstration kitchen and stopped in at several stalls, including the Salmon King.
Tony France, aged 46, who has been running the stall for 16 years said: “It’s great that they’ve come here. What they’re doing is good for the market and the whole event is such good profile for the town.”
Hairy Biker Si said: “Markets like this are what we need in every town. Markets are at the heart of the community, they are permanently there and the quality of the produce is superb.”
Dave added: “There’s a fantastic amount of meat and produce here at affordable prices. We’ve had a magic time and this is one of the best food festivals we’ve ever been to. Many thanks to Bolton Council for making it happen. We would definitely come back.”
The Hairy Bikers were also presented with a cake from Christine Molyneux, aged 58, who runs the Cake and Decorate stall at the market. The 10-inch Madeira cake was baked by her daughter Gemma, aged 27, who couldn’t deliver it personally due to being out of town.
Christine said: “My daughter loves them to pieces. She thought the cake would be a nice idea and she’s really gutted she’s not here.”
Crowds were also entertained on the second day of the festival with demos from top local chefs including Mike Harrison from Zest deli and culinary queen Anjali Pathak from the Pathak spice family empire.
The final day of the food festival saw James Martin demonstrating his culinary skills. Yorkshire man James created a host of dishes including lamb, seafood and black pudding, using food from the speciality market.
The market featured more than 70 traders from across Europe and some of the north west’s finest food producers, selling everything from cupcakes and Greek grub to arts and crafts. A number of the local traders will be returning to Bolton for the monthly local produce market, held on the fourth Sunday of every month, in Victoria Square.
James said: “The festival shows just how diverse Bolton is. You’ve got pork from Portugal, Indian restaurants, local cheeses and other great food. I’ve cooked with the bacon and the lamb in my demos and I enjoyed a lovely hog roast sandwich for lunch. I’ve never been to Bolton before but I’ve enjoyed great hospitality. It’s fantastic and if you invite me back, I’ll definitely be coming back.”
He added: “Whenever I get the chance to support a festival, I will do it. I think they are vitally important. They are a direct link from the producer to the consumer. The Bolton Food and Drink Festival will happen again next year and it will just grow and grow.”
James Martin fan Claire Gaskell, from Lostock, said: “This year’s been really good, it’s on a par with Manchester. I came down to see James Martin but I would have still come to the market. The celebrity guests prompted me to come down on both days.”
Council chiefs are now looking to make next year’s event even bigger and better.
Bolton Council’s Executive Member for Development Councillor John Byrne said: “This is our fourth year and the festival has grown tremendously. Our challenge for next year is to make it even better. Good food will always be an attraction and we are determined to make the festival one of the key events in the north west. Securing celebrities like James Martin and the Hairy Bikers really helped pull in the crowds. Many of our local traders also sold out of food and said it was the best festival they’d ever visited. Events like this are about inspiring people to cook and eat well and it was great to see so many people.”
Special offers in the town's restaurants, bars and pubs are continuing throughout September. Full details are available online at http://www.boltonfoodanddrinkfestival.com
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