Macclesfield locals to shine at Cheshire food festival this weekend
By Alex Greensmith
19th Sep 2024 | Local News
The county will come together to celebrate great food and drink this weekend.
Maxonians are invited to go on a culinary adventure Great British Food Festival at Cheshire's Arley Hall.
Set in the breathtaking grounds of Arley Hall, Northwich, the event is set to take place on Saturday, September 21 and Sunday, September 22.
Local foodies will be there, and indeed exhibiting or on stalls.
Perhaps the most famous name from the Macclesfield area to be there will be Dan Hunter.
The Bollington resident and Great British Bake-Off runner-up will be doing live demonstrations on the dessert stage, twice on the Saturday.
This comes just days after he launched a new online webshop, where you can order cakes, cookies and more from the local star baker. (More info about Dan's demos HERE).
"I will demoing rhubarb and custard cupcakes and lemon meringue financiers, doing two forty-five minute demos on the dessert stage and my host will be fellow Bake Off legend Sandy Doherty, teaching tips and tricks and taking any questions," said Dan.
Elsewhere, local food and drink brand Dipple Tipple and Co. - who you will know from having a stall on Mill Street during Macclesfield's Treacle Market - will also be there. The business, which promotes local, artisanal alcoholic drinks, is operated by rural Macclesfield resident Laura Dipple.
"We are going to be selling O'Donnell Moonshine from the artisan marquee," she said.
"We will also have our own gazebo set up for Salford Rum Company. You will be able to try their six distinctive rums. School pals Tommy Gaughan and James Harrison make it in the railway arches near Salford Central station.
"We will be offering tipples to try, and jars and bottles to buy.
"It is a busy weekend for Dipple Tipple and Co., as we will be at the Poynton Independent Market on Sunday too, with our original brand partner Riverside Spirits. I love my job, introducing customers to delicious tipples that they may not have tried before.
"My favourite part of the job is the buzz, and the adventure of travelling the country, discovering new brands.
"We have toured the country with the Great British Food Festival. I love supporting small businesses to expand their reach."
Laura also works with Macclesfield's Forest Distillery, but sadly the latter will not be present at this weekend's Great British Food Festival.
And it is not just locals that you have to look forward to at the Great British Food Festival.
New food producers from across the north west making their debut at the festival includes Bowland Pork and Tikka Tango at the Artisan Market – where you will also find vegan and gluten-free treats amongst the many stalls.
Chef demonstrations will include The Alberti Twins, Italian twin brothers, John and Tony are based in Manchester and appeared on the first season of Love Island.
They are now cooking up a storm in kitchens across the world. Also, on the roster is COOK! [not to be confused with the frozen food store of the same name that is opening soon in Macclesfield] the Vegetarian Society's new cookery school, they will be bringing their love of plants to the table.
"Marni Xuto grew up in the heart of Bangkok and her beautifully balanced recipes celebrate Thai flavour. Marni is a recipe developer for many brands and runs cookery courses as well as setting up her own Thai food website.
"Marni will be hosting the chefs on the Cobra stage where she will be interviewing them, making sure there are lots of delicious samples for people to try and keeping everything fun.
Marni, who lives in Cheshire, says: "I have worked in partnership with brands and developed recipes for BBC Food and BBC Good Food.
"This is my third year at the Great British Food Festival and I'm excited to host Cobra stage. Arley Hall is such a fantastic setting. Visitors get to experience high quality food and drink in one of the most beautiful country house estates in England.
"I am hoping to demonstrate two dishes. Weeping Tiger is a prime fillet steak carefully cooked and served with a unique Thai dressing called Jim Jeaw. And Prawn Kra Prow which is fresh prawns stir fried with Thai holy basil and chillies. Delicious!
"I want people to understand that Thai food is easy, and you just need a few store cupboard essentials, such as Thai fish sauce, good quality coconut milk and oyster sauce."
The food and drink event established 13 years ago, by the Altrincham based Maycock family.
In a statement sent to Nub News, event organisers said: "The festival is a great way to spend a relaxing day out with friends and family. Take your taste buds on a culinary adventure trying new global cuisine from the incredible array of street food stalls.
"There's plenty of space to digest with eight acres of formal gardens, one of the finest in Europe. Arley Hall in Cheshire is known for its unique avenue of pleached lime trees leading to a clock tower, its double herbaceous border and of course its kitchen garden."
The Cheese Collective will be sharing their knowledge of artisan cheeses. Set up by Sam and Shivali Elsdon during the pandemic, in response to cheesemakers forced to pour hundreds of litres of milk down the drain and even give cheese away for free after losing huge proportions of their business overnight when the hospitality sector closed. This, alongside the huge decline in donations to food banks at this time, when people needed support the most, spurred them to do something.
They set up The Cheese Collective finding the best cheeses and delivering them freshly cut and chilled to your door the next day. For every cheese box bought, they donate a meal to a food bank through the charity The Trussell Trust.
Meanwhile, Love Island's Alberti twins were unlucky in love on the first season of the ITV2 programme. However, they have gone on to have huge success cooking Italian meals and sharing their passion for Italian food to audiences globally.
John Alberti, from the Alberti Twins, says: "We love doing the festival. It's great to get feedback from a live audience. We specialise in traditional Italian dishes. Our family is from Tuscany and our Nonna was a chef and we've grown up with great food and big family meals.
"We cook all over the world, in Canada, USA and Italy of course, but we are based in Manchester, so this is a hometown show really. We are going to be cooking spaghetti alla puttanesca – a dish from Naples and Pasta alla Norcina which has sausage and cream.
"Sharing our recipes at the festival means that people go home and try them and then DM you to show you that they've made it. That's a great feeling."
Janine Maycock, one of the co-founders of the Great British Food Festival, added: "The festival aims to bring people together through a shared love of food and offers a range of activities including the chilli challenge, sausage & cider challenge, kids' cookery, cake-off, foraging walks, and more.
"With plenty of bars, a local crafts and gift marquee and a vast artisan market of over 40 stalls showcasing the best local produce, visitors are in for a treat."
Live music will be performed throughout the day from a diverse range of artists including local band Groovy Revolution, a brilliant five-piece performing the best party tunes. There is a play area making it a winning day out for families and the event is dog friendly so there's no need to rush back home.
Tickets for either date can be purchased on THIS LINK.
Saturday September 21st runs from 10am until 7.30pm.
And Sunday September 22nd runs from 10am until 5pm.
The event is located at Great British Food Festival Arley Hall, Northwich, Cheshire CW9 6NA.
*Image - Public Domain https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arley_Hall#/media/File:Arley_hall.jpg Pixie2000
^ (Image - CC 3.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Arley_Hall_1.jpg Unchanged Grahamec
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