Kokova Magazine

Durham City Food Festival has been declared a great success, attracting over 20,000 visitors to Durham city centre and sparking the busiest weekend for city centre retailers so far this year.

Organised by Durham Markets in partnership with Durham University, Durham City's second annual Food Festival took place on 27th-28th October 2012, bringing together regional, national and international food producers for a celebration of quality food and drink in a beautiful and historic environment.

The Festival began with Durham's ever-popular Continental Market running in the Market Place from Thursday 25th to Sunday 28th October, featuring a wide selection of cheeses, breads, meats, delicacies and treats from across Europe and beyond, alongside a special Evening Retail Market on Thursday 25th October.

Durham Indoor Market, voted Best Private Market in the UK 2011 and featuring a wide range of quality local food producers, was open on Thursday, Friday and Saturday and many local restaurateurs also offered special menus throughout the weekend.

Central to the Food Festival on Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th October, the enormous Gourmet Food Marquee on Palace Green featured over 100 food and craft stalls (up from 75 last year) including a wide range of independent retailers from right across the region with everything from fine wines, marinades, meat and fish to pies, puddings, cakes and fruit.

With painters, craftsmen and artists also present, it offered the perfect opportunity to pick up some imaginative and enticing gifts for Christmas.

The award-winning Michelin starred chef, Jean-Christophe Novelli, proved very popular on both days, giving multiple culinary demonstrations in the Marquee on both Saturday and Sunday, meeting the public, chatting with the stallholders and being available for photos.

Coinciding with the final weekend of Durham Book Festival, food celebrities Signe Johansen, author of Scandinavian cookbook 'Scandilicious' and master chocolatier, Paul A Young, were present in the Marquee on Saturday 27th October, introducing their books to the public and offering demonstrations of their delicious new recipes.

The Gourmet Food Marquee also included live demonstrations by several other renowned regional chefs including Indian cook Maunika Gowardhan, Bob Arora from Sachin's Indian restaurant in Newcastle, Alan O’Kane from Wynyard Hall and Bill Oldfield from Oldfields Restaurant, Durham, every hour between 10am and 4pm on both Saturday and Sunday.

Other weekend entertainment on Palace Green, between the Cathedral and the Castle, included pumpkin-carving, chocolate-making and cake-decorating workshops for children, juggling and balloon modelling, a falconry display and tours of Durham Castle.

Thank you very much to all those who have helped to make this year's Food Festival such a tremendous event. It’s an excellent way to celebrate the very best of all the region has to offer and we look forward to a bigger and even better event next year.

The Food Festival is scheduled to return to Durham City Centre in October 2013.

Please keep an eye on the website, www.durhamfoodfestival.com for further details in due course.