Sustainable Communities

East Midlands Food & Drink Festival 4/5th October 2008

“This is a great event with great food; it’s well organised and one of the best food shows in the country” James Martin, Celebrity Chef

Organisation: Melton Mowbray Food Partnership Ltd

Location: Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire

Project Description

The award-winning East Midlands Food and Drink Festival took place at Brooksby Hall near Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire from 4-5 October 2008. The UK’s largest regional food and drink festival spread over 50,000 sq ft of covered marquee space at the site, featured over 200 exhibitors from around the region, and attracted thousands of visitors from the region. Top celebrity chefs including Clarissa Dickson Wright, Rachel Green and Anjum Anand from the BBC’s ‘Indian Food Made Easy’ lead the celebrations by hosting talks and demonstrations throughout the two-day festival. The LSEP is invested £21K in the project.

The theme for this year's food and drink event is 'Diversity: Food and Cultures of the East Midlands'. Besides traditional delicacies such as Melton Mowbray Pork Pies, Bakewell Puddings and Stilton Cheese, the East Midlands has a wealth of foods from communities who have settled in our region since the second world war. Leicester won the coveted tribute as the 'Curry Capital' of the UK last year and Melton Mowbray itself has a large Polish community since the war. The festival celebrated this diversity in food with demonstrations and tastings from a range of different cultures many of whom also displayed their art, dance, music and crafts at the festival.