Delicious delights draw thousands to Nelson for food and drink festival

More than 7,000 people enjoyed a fantastic day of food, drink and entertainment, as the seventh Nelson Food & Drink Festival took place in Nelson Town Centre on Saturday 14th September.

Sponsored by Nelson Town Council, the free-to-attend event featured over 30 food and drink stalls, a live cooking demonstration area hosted by social media sensation ‘Shabaz Says’ and entertainment for all the family.

An incredible range of food was on offer throughout the day (10am-4pm), including Finch Bakery, ice cream, fudge, pies, pizza, cheeses, preserves, Turkish and Caribbean food, plus much more, with flavours from all around the world.

The live cooking demonstrations got underway at 11:30am with local legend Mama Shar preparing a mouth-watering dish of loaded Caribbean fried dumplings.

Onlookers were then treated to a wonderful performance of Bollywood dancing from Desi Nach, whose unique and quality dance shows have been entertaining the nation for over 10 years.

Back to the food and star of MasterChef: The Professionals, Matt Willdigg, then took to the main stage to cook up a Tallegio, potato, rosemary and wild garlic caper pizza, as well as KFC hen of the woods mushrooms, with black garlic mayo.

The final cooking demonstration came from Fazila Foods, developers and creators of modern halal foods, offering a true blend of Asian spices and irresistible flavours. Led by their founder Fazila Malek, audiences got to learn how to make their extremely popular vegetable samosas and chicken spring rolls.

Mama Shars Caribbean Cooking, Fazila Foods and Matt Willdigg’s new venture, Oh! Pizza, also had food stalls at the event, with visitors able to sample their culinary delights.

The festival featured activities for all the family with further stalls featuring a henna artist, facepainting and Talons Bird of Prey.

Earlier in the day and local nursery and primary school children took part in a special procession, led by a lone piper from the world famous Accrington Pipe Band.

Ahead of the event, over 4,000 school children were invited to take part in a competition, which saw them challenged to decorate a chef’s hat. The decorated hats were worn in the procession, before being judged in Nelson Library by councillors from Nelson Town Council. Prizes for the winners included £50 cash for first place, £25 for second and £20 for third.

Coun Ruby Anwar, chair of Nelson Town Council’s Events Committee, said: “This has been a fantastic community event and one that the people of Nelson, and those from our neighbouring towns, have thoroughly enjoyed.

“We have had food, drink and entertainment for all the family, and it has been wonderful to see everyone enjoying themselves.

“Thank you to everyone who has been involved in the event and we hope everyone had a fabulous day!”

For more coverage from the 2024 Nelson Food & Drink Festival, visit:  www.nelsonfoodfestival.co.uk and the Nelson Food Festival Facebook page: www.facebook.com/nelsonfoodfestival