TV chef Ainsley Harriott cannot wait to get back to Bolton for the Food and Drink Festival this weekend.
Ainsley will be taking to the stage in the Albert Halls on Sunday August 28, where he will be bringing his infectious character are expert cookery inspired from he travels around the world to the people of Bolton.
With more than 30 years of television fame, including hosting ‘Ready, Steady, Cook’ for 21 series, Ainsley is a familiar face at the festival.
This year marks his fourth appearance.
He said: “It’ll be great. If you haven’t seen me before I go out into the audience and I talk to people and get them up with me and we have a bit of a chat. That’s what it’s all about.
“It’s just real family entertainment, it’s not just for a specific group of people, it’s for everybody.
“When I walk out there - it’s ‘why, hello Bolton’.
“It’s very spontaneous. I don’t know until I get there how I’m going to react with the audience. It’s just me and that’s what you get. We’re all there to have a good time.”
Ainsley has something of a love affair with the north, despite mostly residing in London.
His partner lives in Chester and his father lived in Manchester and had friends in Bolton - meaning that Ainsley was familiar with the town long before he ever came to the festival.
“For me, and I don’t think this is just specific to Bolton but it’s just the north, I kind of like the vibe when we’re in Chester,” he said.
“We go off and it’s right next to Manchester, Bolton, Liverpool and they’re all just genuinely friendlier.
“I keep getting invited to go back and do the shows in Bolton because we’ve connected. We got back and chat and people want to talk about what I’ve been up to and stuff like that.”
The 65-year-old has plenty of delicious food in store for those who come to see his show.
He said: “I’ll be doing my gochujang ginger and stir-fried pork and greens. Gochujang is a spicy Korean paste and I’ll talk to them about that.
“I’ll be doing some pineapple skewers with a coconut slaw. I’ll be doing a brûléed banana milkshake and I’ll be doing a fantastic, wonderful Wandsworth mess with mangos and mint – I put a little liquor with it. It’s just like an Eton mess, really, but I give it my Caribbean twist.”
He added: “All the recipes and everything that I do are in the two series I’ve done on ITV and in my books. People can watch the programmes and recreate it if they so wish.
“A lot of people go online when they want recipes now but there’s nothing like holding a book. There’s something about holding something a flicking through it and seeing it.”
If you have a story or something you would like to highlight in the community, please email me at lewis.finney@newsquest.co.uk or DM me on Twitter @lewisfinney18
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