Day two of Bolton Food and Drink Festival has had something to offer for all with the popular event attracting large crowds once again.
Local celebrity chef Simon Wood drew in a bigaudience with his morning demonstration at the cookery theatre pop-up with an iconic town hall backdrop.
The Master Chef winner owns a restaurant in Manchester and this is his ninth year attending the festival, which he called “the premier food festival in the country”.
He added: “If you haven’t been, you have to come. It’s simply a must.”
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Simon cooked a lamb rump and rumbledethump, a traditional dish from the Scottish Borders, during the demonstration and he had a helping hand on stage from a young volunteer, Ava.
He said: “We’ve also added some Lembas bread as a little nod to J. R. R. Tolkien, and let’s not forget the rumbledethump, nips and tatties and some cabbage running through there.
“At the end of the day, what we’ve got is meat and two veg – but just my way.”
Amongst the 200-plus artisan stalls, there were plenty of diverse offerings for visitors to enjoy.
Dasha Krasuik runs the Vegan Infinity tent on Victoria Square.
They are based in Horwich and offer a wide range of vegan and gluten-free treats for those with dietary requirements or who are simply looking to try something new, all handmade by Dasha’s mum.
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Celebrity chef James Martin, who will be back on Monday, was so impressed when he tried their food last year that he invited them to feature on his TV show, James Martin’s Saturday Morning, in November.
Dasha said: “This is our third year at the festival and we almost fully sold out yesterday. We get lots of return customers along with people who are coming to us for the first time.”
Dasha's mum handmakes the raw vegan desserts in her Horwich kitchen (Image: Newsquest)
Mr Murray's Scotch Eggs has a pop-up nearby selling gourmet versions of the classic pub snack.
The family business is run by a husband and wife duo who are consistently coming up with new recipe ideas, such as Bury black pudding and Peking-style pork.
To keep up with demand, they have just created their very first vegetarian Scotch egg inspired by Welsh rarebit and using red chilli cheese.
La Petite Café on Le Mans Crescent was also buzzing with customers queuing for their fruit crumbles.
Louie Ridings, who was on the stall on Sunday, said: “We were constantly busy yesterday.
"People told us how delicious the food is and our dog-friendly ‘puppercinnos’ went down a treat too!”
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They offer a variety of fruit crumbles including mixed berries, apple and rhubarb with vegan options available.
Back on Victoria Square, Mr Fitzpatrick’s offered traditional temperance cordials with lots of unique flavours such as raspberry and lavender; sarsaparilla; blackcurrant and liquorice; lemon and ginger and cream soda alongside their 29 drinks.
Based in Rawtenstall, they also cater for vegan and coeliac customers so make sure everyone can enjoy their traditional tipples.
The free fun continues throughout the town centre on the final day (August 26) with regional chef demonstrations from Anna from Smithills Farm, Tom Yam, Sean Noonan, Doug Crampton, Tim Allen and Xaviar from D&X Caribbean.
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