Nantwich Food Festival is already set to wow the crowds for 2024!

The countdown to Nantwich Food Festival 2024 has already begun, and the local community will be pleased to hear that the Festival dates can be confirmed as Friday 30th August, Saturday 31st and Sunday 1st September inclusive, as usual before children restart school in September.

The planning and organization of this year’s Festival started in late 2023, shortly after the Nantwich Food Awards, so there is plenty to report even at this early stage.

The Festival is such a popular community event that brings people into the town to enjoy a wide variety of food experiences and entertainment in a safe and enjoyable atmosphere. Therefore it’s great to hear from Exhibitor Manager, Julian Thompson, that a whopping three-quarters of available exhibitor spaces have already been booked for this year. Julian is currently busy, assessing the balance of exhibitors already booked to help identify and fill gaps to give us a really good variety of exhibitors.

A new feature last year was the incredibly popular Cookalong kitchen, where locals were able to follow recipes, prepare cocktails and enjoy tastings under the expert guidance of local and celebrity chefs and mixologists.

Due to its popularity, the Cookalong kitchen will again be in place for 2024, with sessions for both adults and children to join in. The events will open for bookings in the summer and will undoubtedly sell out fast!

Turning to Chef Demonstrations, Festival chef organiser, Karen Young tells us "Nantwich Food Festival is unique in providing such a high quality event completely free to visitors, so I am thrilled to announce a start to the wonderful line-up of Celebrity Chefs who will be demonstrating this year.”

In addition to the lovely and talented Nigel Brown, who returns this year as both much admired celebrity chef and compere, Karen can confirm that Chris Bavin will be here in Nantwich.

Chris started his career in fresh produce by working with growers, supplying wholesale markets, first with flowers and plants and later moving to fruit and veg. You may recall ‘The Naked Grocer’, one of the very first zero packaging, no plastic retail businesses, which he ran for nine years.

Chris first appeared on our screens in BBC’s Eat Well For Less in 2013 and has since gone on to present a total of eight series of the show. Alongside this he has also presented Tomorrow’s Food, The Truth About Meat, Food: Truth or Scare and Shop Well for the Planet, all for BBC One.

He appeared as a judge and the resident fruit & veg expert on three series of BBC’s Best Home Cook as well as joining the presenting team on Channel 4’s Aldi’s Next Big Thing in 2022, so we are delighted to hear that the second series of this show will appear on our screens this year.

Chris’s first cookbook, ‘Good Food Sorted’ was published by DK books in March 2019. His second, also by DK Books, the very popular, well-illustrated ‘Fakeaway’ was published in January 2020. We are so looking forward to his informative, fun, and entertaining food demos; it looks that we are in for a real treat.

The support received from sponsors is crucial to the Festival’s success, so sincere thanks are due to all the supporters, from both large and small organizations; without this support the Festival simply would not exist. Details regarding the returning and any new sponsors will be available in the spring.

Finally, it is important to highlight that Volunteers are the backbone of Nantwich Food Festival, so whilst anyone wishing to volunteer now for this year will be welcomed with open arms, more information will be available in April regarding roles that need filling.

For now, please make a diary note for Tuesday 28th May 7pm for the first Festival Volunteer event of the year; more details will follow in April.

If you just can’t wait until then, please contact Ana Martins, Volunteer Co-ordinator at volunteers@nantwichfoodfestival.co.uk

www.nantwichfoodfestival.co.uk