Date:
Voted Surrey’s Food and Drink Hero 2018 and Surrey’s Best Local Food Event 2015, 2016 and 2017, the multi award-winning Woking Food and Drink Festival is back for the seventh consecutive year, from Friday 30 August to Sunday 1 September 2019.
Spread across Woking town centre’s main pedestrian areas, the free to attend festival has all the ingredients to serve up three days of delicious feasting, fun entertainment and interactive activities for all the family.
Taking centre stage in Jubilee Square, the purpose-built Woking Shopping Demo Theatre, supported by international culinary innovator Magimix, will be home to 20 free live cookery demonstrations featuring talented and highly regarded celebrity and local chefs.
The festival is set to welcome back, Sabrina Ghayour – the ‘golden girl of Persian cookery’ (The Observer) – a successful author, cookery class and supper club host and regular TV guest presenter on BBC’s Saturday Kitchen.
Other famous faces making appearances include Surrey based Chris Bavin, co-presenter on BBC’s popular Eat Well For Less and Martha Collison, Great British Bake Off quarter finalist, Waitrose food columnist and cookbook author.
Joining the TV line-up will be Laurence Henry, the reigning BBC MasterChef: The Professionals winner and Mark Tilling, chocolatier and winner of the first series of Bake Off Crème de la Crème and contestant on Channel 4’s Extreme Chocolate Makers.
Honouring Surrey’s cream of the crop, the festival will once again showcase some of the region’s finest restaurants and chefs, including Michelin masters Steve Drake, chef patron of Sorrel in Dorking and Tony Parkin, head chef for the Tudor Room at Great Fosters.
Completing the demo stage line-up:
- Rob Kennedy, executive head chef at Wimbledon All Lawn Tennis Club
- Ben Piette, chef patron of London House restaurant, West Byfleet
- Dan Britten, owner of Britten for Food private dining and supper clubs
- Steve Tremblay, executive head chef and owner of Tremblay’s private catering, Woking
- Jack Sturgess, owner of Bake with Jack baking school, Mayford
- Richard Holden, BBQ chef and author
- Lorna Nanda, owner of The Little Indian Kitchen cookery classes and street food
- Hersha Patel, host of YouTube channel Cook with the Little Indian
- Simon Taylor, head butcher and owner of Surrey Hills Butchers, Oxshott
- Victoria Davies, owner of boutique cake school, Victoria’s Kitchen, Mayford
- David Frear, chocolatier and tutor, Woking
- Claire Alexander-Brown, Brady & Brown demonstration chefs, West Byfleet
- Alex Brady, Brady & Brown demonstration chefs, Woking
A visit to the festival would not be complete without a foraging mission among over 80 food and drink traders; all fully stocked with artisan products, freshly prepared dishes and tipples.
To assist, and new to the festival, visitors will be able to ‘augment’ their visit using the festival’s free mobile visitor app, courtesy of Woking based tech company, Aligned Assets. Using its cutting-edge augmented reality technology, the app will provide trader stall details and festival information at the touch of a button.
For visitors wishing to tickle their tastebuds with some extra flavour, the festival will be offering a selection of wine masterclasses and tastings*. Plus, another new addition to the event, pop up dining experiences* at a number of independent venues around the town, including a curry supper club hosted by The Little Indian Kitchen, jazz brunch at The Lightbox and afternoon tea on the terrace at ChristChurch.
Save some space for the free bite-size talks. Hosted by Surrey Life magazine and Hersha Patel, chef and vlogger, a panel of local producers and experts will share their tasty top tips, tricks of the trade and specialist knowledge on a range of subjects, including English wine, brewing, gin distilling, beekeeping, butchery, spices, veganism and more!
Topping off this free to attend gastronomic experience, there’s also a smorgasbord of family entertainment on the menu. Whether it’s getting sticky fingers at the children’s cup cake decorating workshops, creating culinary inspired masterpieces at the arts and crafts workshops, watching the humorous street entertainers, listening to the live music, visitors are sure to be entertained!
For those that like it hot, look out for the Hot Pods live chilli eating competition set to take place in the demo theatre on Saturday 31 August.
Cllr Colin Kemp, Portfolio Holder for Leisure and Culture at Woking Borough Council, said: “Woking Food and Drink Festival is Surrey’s biggest annual free to attend event, hosted on the last weekend of the school summer holidays.
“This popular event offers food lovers and families alike three, free great days out – no one day is the same! With so much going on, it’s easy to see why it has won an array of awards for the last four years in a row.”
More information, including how to book a place on some of bookable activities, will be published over the coming months.
To keep up to date with the latest news and competitions, visit www.wokingfoodfest.co.uk to sign up to receive the festival’s e-newsletters.
Woking Food and Drink Festival 2019 is sponsored by Woking Shopping, Magimix and Celebrate Woking.
The festival is also kindly supported by #WeAreWoking, Something Big, Surrey Life magazine, Headline Design and Print, Beaverbrook Hotel & Spa and Aligned Assets.
(* Some festival activities will be subject to ticket fees or charity donations.)