Fourth Course for Fantastic Food and Drink Festival

15th August 2013

An allotment garden in the heart of Sheffield, a celebrity cook-off against the clock and a dazzling demonstration from Great British Bake Off runner up James Morton - just some of the highlights as a festival for foodies everywhere returns to the city.

Sheffield Food Festival returns for a fourth helping next month - from Friday 20 September to Sunday 22 September - with a menu of tasty treats that promise to make it the most successful yet. This year highlights include a festival allotment complete with potting shed and seed planting areas in Town Hall Square and a pop-up pudding club in the Winter Garden joining popular regulars like the festival picnic in the Peace Gardens, culinary masterclasses at Sheffield Hallam University and Fargate's festival kitchen. There will also be a number of competitions, including From Field to Fork to Photograph, a photography competition which highlights the journeys made by food from the place where it is produced to the place where it is consumed. Meanwhile the One Pot Vegetable Garden invites school children across the city to submit their own one-pot gardens together with their favourite vegetable recipes. Festival classrooms include a children's chocolate workshop, Rupert Rowley from Baslow Hall's kitchen garden and a headline slot from James Morton, who finished second in the Great British Bake Off. The Shetland-Islands born baker will also be signing copies of his new book Brilliant Bread during his two appearances at the festival. Festival goers will have their tastebuds tickled with a cognac masterclass by Sheffield Hallam Professor Gareth Morgan, as well as sessions on Cheeses Of The North and Pork And Perry. And broadcasters Toby Foster and Paulette Edwards will put their cooking skills to the test in a cook-off live on BBC Radio Sheffield, this year's festival media partner. Organisers of the festival, run by Sheffield Hallam University in partnership with Sheffield City Council, say they are hoping to eclipse last year's festival, which saw 184,000 attend the three day event. Festival champion Niki Baker from Sheffield Hallam University said: "Sheffield truly deserves its reputation as the food capital of the north. This year we are promoting sustainability, localism and green values, showcasing the very best in cooking and culinary knowhow from the Sheffield City Region and beyond. "Old favourites like the festival picnic will make Sheffield city centre into a giant food hall, while we are delighted to have secured James Morton for two demonstrations. James is without a doubt one of the brightest baking talents in the country and his display is not to be missed." Councillor Isobel Bowler, Cabinet Member for Culture, Sport and Leisure said: "The increasingly popular Sheffield Food Festival returns for a fourth year with a mouth-watering menu of food-related events. Last year's festival weekend celebrated Sheffield's huge variety of culinary delights. -With the new Indoor Market opening on The Moor soon, there will be more options to use fresh food than ever.  We are very pleased to be working closely with Sheffield Hallam on this excellent event again this year." For more details and a full programme of events, go to www.sheffieldfoodfestival.org