CELEBRITY chef Simon Rimmer will kick off the seventh annual Chester Food and Drink Festival “Taste Weekend” when it opens today.
The Wirral-born chef will take to the stage at the new Chester Racecourse venue for his fourth year running at the festival, along with other leading chefs.
Also at the Taste Festival – in the main grandstand area – will be a large producers market, which will showcase the district's variety of quality produce, from cheeses, meat products, fruit, vegetables, ice cream, shrimps, salmon and cider to homemade chocolates and preserves.
Over the three days, visitors will be able to enjoy a host of different events such as wine, beer, champagne and cheese tastings, cookery demonstrations and competitions.
Other celebrity chefs taking part in the festival include Lotte Duncan, who has been broadcasting on British television for nine years and will appear on Easter Sunday.
And on Bank Holiday Monday, the special guest will be Mike Robinson who presented top-rated series for UKTV Food/Style and Gardens – Heaven's Kitchen, Heaven's Kitchen Cookbook and Heaven's Garden.
Stephen Wundke, chairman of the Chester Food and Drink Festival, said: “We are delighted that Simon is getting things sizzling on Saturday, with Lotte and Mike on Sunday and Monday.
“In this seventh year of the festival, there are even more reasons to visit or stay in Chester at Easter.
“It is a measure of how prestigious the festival has become that we can attract so many world-class chefs.
“Hotels and restaurants across Chester will be offering special packages throughout the festival for visitors, so it is easy to stay over if you are travelling in from Manchester or across the North West.”
Simon Rimmer, who is the resident chef on BBC’s Something For the Weekend and is also appearing in BBC 2’s Recipe for Success, will be demonstrating his culinary skills in the celebrity kitchen.
He is a TV chef extraordinaire and vegetarian expert, passionate about good food from around the North West.
He has recently finished filming a fifth series of the very successful Grub’s Up for ITV 1, which will air later in 2008.
Chester’s Food and Drink Festival is organised on behalf of Chester City Council with support from the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA), Visit Chester & Cheshire; the tourism board for Cheshire and Warrington, Cheshire County Council, Made in Cheshire and North West Fine Foods.
FOR more information about other events happening over the Chester Food and Drink Festival please visit www.chesterfoodanddrink.com.
liammurphy