Yorkshire Food & Drink Festival

Yorkshire Food and Drink Festival, Millennium Square, Leeds

The show, which is now in its sixth year, included live cookery demonstrations, tasters from top restaurants and more than 100 exhibitors showcasing the best of the region’s food and drink at Millennium Square.

Mine Cothay from Thai Erawan

On the Yorkshire Food & Drink Festival  main demonstration stage, hosted by Great British Menu star Stephanie Moon, chefs from across Yorkshire cooked some of their favourite dishes. Stephanie said: “What makes Yorkshire special is the fact we have such a wide range of produce.”

A second stage was added this year and  included demonstrations from three of the county’s top cookery schools – Jamie’s Ministry of Food, Malton Cookery School and Cooks, The Carlton School of Food. Visitors were able to have a go themselves at making some of the mouthwatering dishes.

Ollie Reynolds from Pizza-loco, Yeadon

Restaurants including Chaophraya, Stockdale’s and Malmaison were just a few of the 100 food and drink stalls at this year’s show.

Other highlights included cooking demonstrations from Persian cuisine expert Afsaneh Kavini, Gyp and Salvo Dammone from Salvo’s, Simon Chappela from Jamie’s Ministry of Food and George

Psarias from the Olive Tree.

Kay Chapman and Laura Tacey serving gin from their Juniper 1933 van

Natasha Jockel from the Northern Bloc ice cream company

The warm weather saw the crowds come out in force and the budding young chefs weren’t forgotten. Children got the chance to  show off their cake decorating skills thanks to cupcakes donatd by Thomas the Baker while mums and dads enjoyed a well earned cup of Yorkshire Tea.

Tom Bissett from the Black Swan, Call Lane, Leeds

Kay Chapman enjoys a drink in the sun

Another highlight was the grand finale of the free three day festival – Leeds’s first  chilli eating competition which brought the event to a close. Run by the Chilli-Shop in the Leeds Merrion Centre, more than 2,000 people watched the contest as it literally hotted up.

The chillies eaten ascended in heat, starting mild to Cayenne, Thai, Habanero to 350,000 SHU (Scoville Heat Units) Scotch Bonnet, then we got serious moving up to wold record territory, Ghost chilli 1.4m SHU, Trinidad Scorpion 2m SHU’s and the ultimate world record 2.2m Scoville Units of pain Carolina Reaper.

The final was between Dave who has won many chilli challenges and a regular at the Chilli-Shop, and the crowds favourite Owain from Bad Co Bar who provided the contestants beer. After the worlds hottest popping candy bonus round and one more Ghost and Carolina Reaper, Steph Moon asked the crowd to choose the winner and they chose Owain, who won the worlds hottest chilli hamper.

Plans are already under way for next years’ Yorkshire Food & Drink Festival so watch this space.

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Yorkshire Food & Drink

Yorkshire's only dedicated food and drink website from Yorkshire Post Newspapers and its sister titles in the region. Showcasing everything Yorkshire has to offer from the fruits of the sea to the fields of the moors and beyond. It includes unbiased restaurant reviews by renowned food critics, recipes and 'how to' videos from some of Yorkshire's finest chefs and latest food and drink news and blogs from around our amazing county. And you can have your say either on the site or via our Facebook and Twitter accounts.

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