Nantwich Food Festival says ‘Have we got Chefs for you!’

Locals are undoubtedly aware of what a gem they have in the volunteer-run Nantwich Food Festival that takes place this year between September 1st and 3rd.

Festival chef organiser, Karen Young tells us "The town centre will be buzzing this year with all the great chef demonstrations. These will all take place in our state of the art Food Theatre, housed in a large marquee sponsored by Reaseheath College, and located in the Love Lane Festival zone.

Nantwich Food Festival is unique in providing such high quality chef demonstrations completely free to visitors, so I am thrilled to announce the wonderful line-up of Celebrity Chefs who will be demonstrating this year in the Reaseheath Food Theatre.

We announced earlier in the year that Simon Rimmer will be demonstrating at the 2023 Nantwich Food Festival and know that foodies from near and far will be keen to see him at work.

Simon is the chef and co-presenter of Sunday Brunch, the Sunday morning show waking up the nation with a mix of chat, current affairs, guests and food. He has a wealth of TV experience, and has appeared across many channels.”

Karen goes on to say “We are delighted to welcome Lesley Waters to Nantwich Food Festival for the first time. Lesley is well known for her cookery books, and television appearances on Ready Steady Cook, Great Food Live, and This Morning.

Her immensely successful cookery school is based in Dorset. Inspired by the superb quality of the local produce available on her doorstep, she likes to cook seasonal food and her simple, modern style creates dishes that are easy to recreate with stunning results.

Lesley studied French Cuisine for three years; she then joined Prue Leith's Restaurant before branching out on her own. She has often represented British food at international cookery displays, taking as her theme 'good food for health's sake'. Lesley is passionate about healthy eating and keeping fit, and is a qualified fitness instructor.

She has worked in television since 1989. An accomplished writer, Lesley has written many cookery books, including collaborations with Sainsbury’s and Weight Watchers and is regularly in demand for her food journalism.”

 Karen continues “Our 3^rd Celebrity Chef, who is also visiting us for the first time is none other than Jack Stein of the Seafood Restaurant, Padstow; yes, you did read correctly, he is Rick Stein’s son.

Jack began his career in the hospitality industry as a kitchen porter during school holidays in The Seafood Restaurant kitchen. Upon completing his BSc and MA in non-food subjects, he returned firstly to The Seafood Restaurant in 2003, then Rick Stein’s Café, following which Jack then went to work at La Régalade in Paris, which ignited a passion for worldwide travel.

Upon his return to Padstow he soon became Executive Development Chef across the Stein Group.  Jack participates in ‘Cook with Jack Stein’ courses at Rick Stein's Cookery School, where students cook alongside him.

Jack’s debut novel ‘Jack Stein’s World on a Plate’ was published by Bloomsbury in 2018 and his television profile started rising fast. In addition to filming in Australia and South Africa, he also regularly appears on UK TV. Most recently Jack has taken on the role as expert chef and judge on ITV's brand new cooking competition, Cooking with the Stars.”

Karen concludes her line-up of Celebrity Chefs with the talented Nigel Brown, saying “In addition to being a celebrity chef in his own right, Nigel will again be the Demonstration Kitchen Compere on Festival Saturday and Sunday, providing the ‘glue’ to ensure we all hear what is truly happening in the kitchen plus hosting Cookalong sessions too.

Having spent a lifetime in the hotel and catering industry, Nigel has worked at some of the UK’s biggest hotels. He also spent time at the highly acclaimed French cookery school Ecole Le Notre where he picked up a wealth of experience in specialist patisserie work.

Life has been busy recently for Nigel; he completed a historical food segment of filming for BBC1’s popular series The Antiques Roadtrip. He is also finalising his second cookbook publication, so watch out for this around Christmas time. Somehow he’s finding the time to work on opening his second cookery school in the UK in collaboration with a top TV celebrity/personality friend of his, so watch this space as they say!”

The Food Theatre Sponsor, Reaseheath College tells us how pleased they are to again be sponsoring this important and key Festival feature; Stephanie Owen, Reaseheath Events Manager says “Reaseheath College has worked with and supported Nantwich Food Festival for many years, and we are delighted to sponsor the Food Theatre for the second year. The College offers a whole raft of food related courses from butchery to bakery, dairy to food technology, so supporting this major local event is clearly important to us.

Stephanie goes on to say “There are many Apprenticeships and Degree courses available at the College to start in 2023, so we look forward to welcoming applications.”

Turning to the all-important Festival Volunteers, there will be an opportunity for locals to meet some of them and hear more about volunteering for the Festival. Saturday 1^st July sees the welcome return of the annual Societies Spectacular in Nantwich town square between 9am and 2pm.

This is a great opportunity to hear some of the up to date Festival news plus discuss how to volunteer; just turn up and ask anyone on the stand for more details.