EAT! NewcastleGateshead festival off to great start

May 4 2009 by Katy Simpson, The Journal

FOOD fans were served up a culinary treat as the EAT! NewcastleGateshead festival kicked off this weekend.

Culinary fanatics flocked to Newcastle’s quayside and Gateshead’s Baltic Square for the IncrEdible North East celebration on Saturday, which was the first event of a two-week festival. Local fare took centre stage with cooking demonstrations and a market featuring some of the North East’s finest produce, including seafood, meat, cheese, wild food and produce grown in allotments.

Chefs from restaurants including Ravel, Malmaison and Six at Baltic drew in crowds in the demonstration zone on Baltic Square, where they shared the secrets of cooking regional produce such as venison and game.

North East chef Terry Laybourne showed people how to make the perfect soufflé, and eco-chef Arthur Potts-Dawson gave tips on preparing his famous waste-not want-not banquet.

Children were kept entertained with street theatre workshops and were given the chance to meet animals from Bill Quay Farm. There were also workshops on how to keep allotments, make compost, and create a wormery.

Festival director Simon Preston said he was delighted with the number of people who turned out for the event.

“The weather has been really kind to us,” he said. “We have had two indoor and two outdoor events so far, and each time the weather has gone our way.

“We had our launch party on Friday, celebrating all the people in the food world who have won awards since our last festival. It was a chance to let the beautifully restored heritage centre shine - a lot of people had not been there yet and were very impressed.

“On Saturday we had larger crowds than ever before for the fishing boat which brought its catch up the Tyne. We had a huge halibut, which sold for £70, and a good catch of lobsters, which people were crowding round to see.