City’s Flower and Food Festival continues to blossom in 31st year

THE best in blooms and fabulous f ood will be celebrated when the 31st Flower and Food Festival takes place i n Dundee this weekend.

The t hree-day event opens i n Camperdown Park on Friday.

The much-loved festival is set to be the largest yet as it showcases horticulture and cookery, as well as live entertainment and family activities.

Winner o f 2 0 1 6 ’s MasterChef: The Professionals Gary McLean will lead food festival demonstrations, with 2014’s winner Jamie Scott and finalists Dean Banks and Jilly McCord also appearing.

T h i s y e a r ’s g r e e n - fingered celebrities will be BBC Beechgrove Garden presenters Carole Baxter and George Anderson, who will attend on both Saturday and Sunday.

The festival will host one of Scotland’s greatest horticulture competitions, with this year’s show displaying dozen of platesized begonia flowers in the Scottish Begonia Society’s 12 Board British Championship.

Organisers have announced their focus on climate change, emphasising the importance of reducing food waste through meal planning, sustainable shopping and making the most of leftovers.

Councillor Anne Rendall, convener of the city council’s neighbourhood services committee, said: “The Dundee Flower and Food Festival is an important date in the calendar.

“The event allows the community to come together to celebrate the fantastic green space, horticulture, f ood and entertainment the city has to offer.

“To keep Dundee beautiful, we need to fully embrace recycling and new ways of doing things.”

Iain Gulland, chief executive at Zero Waste Scotland, said: “There are lots of simple steps people from in and around Dundee can take to protect our environment and we look forward to discussing this with them across the weekend.”