Cheltenham food & drink festival celebrates its 15th anniversary with a fabulous 2023 line up

On a warm June day, there is nowhere nicer to spend a few hours of leisure time than Montpellier Gardens in Cheltenham enjoying the Cheltenham Food & Drink Festival.

Celebrating its 15th anniversary, the Festival runs from Friday 23rd to Sunday 25th June, with gates opening at noon on the first day. There will be plenty going on in this fun-filled family show including specially organised events for your dog to take part in!

The first afternoon welcomes culinary legend, top chef and cookery teacher Rosemary Shrager to the Lansdown Kitchens Chef’s Theatre. Having proved she could cook anything anywhere when she took part in ITV’s ‘I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here’, Rosemary loves travelling and experimenting with new dishes. With her great sense of humour and passion for trying new produce and creating fabulous food, she will surely tempt us to get cooking! Rosemary has two appearances so be sure not to miss them. Other chefs appearing that afternoon are The Country Man Chef Matt Eddolls, Sarah Ross author of ‘What’s for Dinner’ and wild food expert and talented chef Mark Lloyd.

Two talented chefs will be opening the Chef’s Kitchen on Saturday morning. The first is winner of the 2015 MasterChef: The Professionals Mark Stinchcombe who is head chef at the Barn at Severn & Wye, which specialises in seafood. Next Nathan Richardson, former head chef at the Guinea Grill in Mayfair, now Chef Patron at the Lamb Tavern in Buckland, will demonstrate his skill of turning simple ingredients into memorable dishes.

One of the highlights on Saturday 24th will be when actress, writer and co-host of ITV’s ‘John and Lisa’s Kitchen’ Lisa Faulkner reveals some of her tips and tricks on what has led her to develop a second career away from acting and presenting. Lisa’s culinary talents first came to the fore when she won the 2010 Celebrity MasterChef. She has subsequently written several best-selling cookery books and is passionate about cooking with children.

For those of us who love Asian and Middle Eastern cookery, you can watch BBC broadcaster and presenter Sumayya Usmani as she shows us how to cook dishes from her homeland of Pakistan. Suki Pantal, a contestant on the C4 ‘The Great Cookbook Challenge’ with Jamie Oliver, is an ardent lover of Indian food and spices, cooking everything from scratch from a treasure trove of family recipes. Whilst Saghar Setareh celebrates flavours from her native Iran combined with dishes from Italy which she learned when studying in Rome. We will also have a treat for lovers of vegan food with a demo from Richard Makin, a vegan recipe developer and blogger behind School Night Vegan.

Sunday 25th June welcomes Great British Bake Off 2021 finalist Chigs Parmar to the Chef’s Kitchen. He only started learning to bake at the start of lockdown in 2020 going on to become Star Baker twice and receiving two Paul Hollywood handshakes during the competition. Chigs loves inspiring people to start new hobbies and start baking in the same way he did. Other chefs appearing that day are Matthew Beardshall from Nailsworth’s Wilder Restaurant and Bee Gill, AKA The Authentic Punjabee, Head Chef Alex Maurer from Broadway’s The Lygon Arms. Cheltenham’s Litu Mohiuddin, chef patron of the Memsahib’s Lounge will conclude the festival when he showcases some of the small plates and celebration food he serves at his restaurant.

For those of you who love discovering new wines and learning how to create wonderful spirit-based cocktails, book yourself a place in one of the Wine and Drink Masterclasses. There will be several wine experts at the Festival, including those from New Zealand’s award-winning vineyard Yealand’s Winery. The location of their vineyards, close to the sea, influences how they craft their wine, using sustainable viticulture methods. Other wine connoisseurs will take you on a tasting journey of wines from South Africa, Italy, France and Germany.

The perfect accompaniment to fine wine is cheese. Ned Palmer will be hosting several Cheese Masterclasses bringing together a range of cheeses from Britain and France. Cheese also works well with cider and beer as you will discover when Six Counties Cheese is put with local ale, perry and cider.

Coffee lovers are not forgotten, as a fabulous Masterclass will take you through the journey of speciality coffee from bean to cup provided by Fire & Flow Coffee Roasters and multi-award winning barista Callum Parsons.

When you have finished visiting the array of artisan food and drink stands around the Festival, take time out to enjoy the live music and street theatre on offer whilst relaxing with a glass of Prosecco. Children’s entertainment includes traditional Punch & Judy shows and street theatre.

For dog owners, you can bring your beloved pooch along too. The Cheltenham Animal Shelter are our Charity of the Year, and they will be organising many ‘doggie’ events over the weekend, including a Fun Dog Show on Saturday 24th, sponsored by Cheltenham’s ‘Be More Bob’. Full details of the various events, including the Dog Show classes and how to pre-register are shown on the Cheltenham Food & Drink Festival’s website. 

Tickets for this fabulous event are available on pre-order from just £9 for an adult ticket. Children under 16 go free but must be accompanied by a ticket-purchasing adult. Pre-booking for the various Masterclasses is essential.

The Festival opens from 12 noon until 7pm on the 23rd of June, 10am until 7pm on the 24th and 10am until 5pm on the 25t. For further information and to book your tickets, simply visit www.cheltenhamfooddrinkfestival.co.uk

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