A Sunday Brunch host, social media baker, and a MasterChef champion are among the celebrity chefs who will appear at this year’s Bishop Auckland Food Festival.
The popular Durham County Council-run festival will return to Bishop Auckland on Saturday 12 and Sunday 13 April, for a weekend of sizzling street food, delicious desserts and fun-filled family entertainment.
Across the two days, visitors can try produce from over 140 independent traders selling everything from burgers and savoury snacks, cakes and sweet treats, to jams, pickles, breads and a range of distillers, juices, coffee, tea, and ales.
And while festivalgoers enjoy their goodies, they can be entertained by a range of family performers and visit the main cookery stage, which will feature demonstrations from an exciting line-up of celebrity chefs.
Appearing at the festival on Saturday will be chef and Sunday Brunch co-presenter, Simon Rimmer.
Simon has presented and cooked on a variety of shows, including Tricks of the Restaurant Trade; Something for the Weekend; Win It, Cook It; Breaking into Tesco’s and Eat The Week.
He also hosted the podcast Grilling, where he chatted to world-famous chefs about their past experiences in the industry, and shared cooking tips along the way.
Simon has written and published five books, including the recent Sunday Brunch Cookbook, and regularly contributes to food magazines including Delicious, Olive, and BBC Good Food Magazine and Vegetarian Living.
Aside from presenting, Simon is the owner of restaurants in the North West of England and Dubai, in which he cooks every week.
Also taking to the cookery stage on Saturday is food writer, photographer and blogger Jane Dunn, also known as Jane’s Patisserie.
Jane launched Jane's Patisserie ten years ago and, in that time, has amassed 2.5 million followers across her social media channels.
She found her love for baking when she was a child experimenting with the baking recipes and notes that were passed to her from her grandmother. Deciding to follow her passion for baking, Jane enrolled at the Ashburton Chef's Academy and graduated in 2014.
She began blogging full time in 2018 and has since appeared on This Morning, with her recipes appearing in magazines and newspapers.
Her first book, Jane's Patisserie, became the fastest selling baking book and she has gone on to publish Jane's Patisserie Celebrate, Jane's Patisserie Every day and Jane's Patisserie Easy Favourites.
Saturday’s stage will also feature demonstrations from MasterChef 2024 champion Brin Pirathapan.
After starting his career as a veterinary surgeon, Brin decided to take the leap into the food industry and rose to lift the coveted MasterChef trophy, in what was described as the best final in twenty years by judge John Torode.
Brin has taken a deep dive into the culinary world and is now a food content creator and private dining chef. He aims to educate the world on delicious home cookery alongside showcasing his fine dining skills.
Although he plans to leave veterinary behind, Brin’s surgical intricacy is still visible in the delicate and technical dishes he produces.
Simon, Jane and Brin will be joined by crowd favourite and TV presenter Chris Bavin, who returns as host.
Chris co-presents BBC One’s popular series Eat Well for Less? alongside Jordan Banjo and is a regular on The One Show.
He’s also presented the recent programme Aldi’s Next Big Thing, as well as Tomorrow’s Food with Dara O’Brian, Food: Truth or Scare with Gloria Hunniford, and was a judge on Britain’s Best Home Cook with Mary Berry.
Cllr Elizabeth Scott, Durham County Council’s Cabinet member for economy and partnerships, said: “As one of the region’s biggest food events, Bishop Auckland Food Festival has become a true staple in County Durham’s cultural events calendar. Not only does it attract thousands of people to the town across the weekend, but it also gives our appearing traders and local businesses the opportunity to benefit from the increased footfall and grow their customer base.
“We know many people look forward to our food festivals, so we’re excited to kick off the countdown to Bishop Auckland’s with the announcement of our first line up of celebrity chefs.”
For more information about Bishop Auckland Food Festival and to stay up to date on the latest announcements, visit www.bishopaucklandfoodfestival.co.uk
