Thousands flock to Malton Food Lovers Festival over Jubilee Bank Holiday

The  Jubilee Bank Holiday weekend saw a very regal return of Malton’s much-loved Food Lovers Festival as tens of thousands flocked to the town to revel in the foodie festivities.
Thousands of visitors flocked to Malton's Food Lovers FestivalThousands of visitors flocked to Malton's Food Lovers Festival
Thousands of visitors flocked to Malton's Food Lovers Festival

As one of the country’s largest free-to-enter food festivals, and Yorkshire’s flagship foodie occasion, this year’s Spring Festival brought more than 40,000 visitors to the town to experience the event, which led to the late Antonio Carluccio dubbing Malton as “the Food Capital of Yorkshire”.

The spring festival was the first of two Food Lovers Festivals lined up for this year with the event returning in the summer over the August Bank Holiday weekend.

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Staying true to form, the spring Malton Food Lovers Festival served up more than 120 of Yorkshire’s finest artisan food and drink producers as well as street food vendors offering dishes from across the Commonwealth.

There was also a delicious buffet of local culinary talent performing demonstrations and giving insightful ‘Sofa Chats’ on the Yorkshire Baker Main Stage all weekend long, and of course, there was a great atmosphere with live music and fun for the whole family.

Most notably, Saturday’s itinerary saw The Guardian’s acclaimed food journalist and author, Felicity Cloake, share some of her culinary secrets during her Red Sauce, Brown Sauce book signing and Q&A, as well as archaeologist and University of York Professor Dr Penny Bickle, who transported festivalgoers back in time with her fascinating demonstration on ‘prehistoric cheese’.

One More Croissant for the Road author Felicity said: “It's my first time at Malton Food Lovers Festival and I've been blown away! There are so many people, so many stalls selling incredible products, and I think it's great.

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"I would definitely come back and make a weekend of the festival - potentially with some walks thrown in to work up an appetite to eat my way around the whole place!"

Highlights of the festival included demonstrations and talks from a range of Yorkshire brands including Go Indian Spices, The Country Cook, Yorkshire Pasta, Feversham Arms, Malton Brewery, MakTok Sauces, The Corner Grill House in York and more, alongside Gilly Robinson of Malton favourite, The Cook’s Place. Gilly took to the stage to create a Malton-inspired Jubilee Afternoon Tea to celebrate the 70th Anniversary of her Majesty the Queen’s coronation, using exclusively locally sourced ingredients.

This year’s headline sponsor, Yorkshire Baker, got involved in feeding the masses at the festival with its lovingly crafted pies and pastries.

The brand hosted a series of pop-up sessions over the weekend in partnership with a number of local businesses including Driffield-based Colemans Yorkshire Cider, and Circular Malton & Norton. The bakery’s innovation team ran hourly demonstrations from Malton’s legendary cookery school, The Cook’s Place, which saw hundreds of delectable pies created (and soon-after devoured) across the weekend.

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Also sponsoring this year’s spring festival was Dutch Barn Orchard Vodka, the new spirit created by Ellers Farm Distillery, located in Stamford Bridge. Dutch Barn Orchard Vodka was labelled the Official Spirit of the Malton Food Lovers Festival and served up samples of its products, including Dutch Barn Orchard Vodka and Small Batch Spirits range to festivalgoers all weekend-long at the Dutch Barn Vodka Garden Lounge & Kitchen.

Tom Naylor-Leyland, festival director said: “Well, what a way to celebrate the Queen’s Jubilee – three full days of Yorkshire’s very best food and drink in the heart of Malton!

“It’s wonderful to see so many people as passionate as we are about their food, who love to discover small businesses and locally made products that taste delicious. For us, there is no better atmosphere than the Malton Food Lovers Festival."

The summer Malton Food Lovers Festival returns from August 27 to August 29.