Food festival back to celebrate 20 years
DIRECTOR PROMISES MOST EXCITING PROGRAMME YET OF CULINARY EVENTS
MANCHESTER Food and Drink Festival has announced the dates for its 20th anniversary event this year.
Launched in 1998, the festival will be celebrating two decades in the city with what organisers promise will be its most exciting programme yet, paying tribute to the remarkable chance in the city’s gastronomic landscape.
Founder and director Phil Jones said: “We started the festival as a way to showcase the talent that we had here in Manchester and the north west, at a time when we were certainly not recognised as a gastronomic city, even by residents of nearby towns and cities, never mind London or beyond. “Twenty years on and Manchester is now an international tourist destination with a dining and drinking scene to match. “This year’s festival will be a tribute to the hundreds of chefs, restaurateurs, operators, producers and personalities Phil Jones who have made that happen.
“We’re creating the 20th anniversary festival in collaboration with the biggest, most exciting food community we’ve ever had and the event will feature people and places who have been around from the beginning to the newest faces on the scene.
“The programme will blend nostalgia with innovation - expect very special things!”
The 2017 festival will take over the city from September 28 to October 9.
Albert Square will be home to the festival hub again, while restaurants, bars and other venues across the city will also be getting involved to stage a huge programme of food and drink events.
The festival will culminate in the MFDF Gala Dinner and Awards Ceremony on October 9, which recognises the best of the city’s hospitality industry.
The full programme of events will be announced from March. Go to manchestereveningnews.co.uk/ whats-on to watch what some of Greater Manchester’s top chefs have to say about the city’s changing food landscape.