Seaham Food Festival - here's what's on the menu

Two popular TV presenters are among the first celebrity chefs to be announced for Seaham Food Festival.

The Durham County Council-run festival will return to Seaham’s coastline on Saturday 3 and Sunday 4 August, with two days packed with celebrity cookery demonstrations, street entertainment, and a spectacular selection of food from hundreds of the region’s traders.

Organisers of the festival have announced the Saturday line up of celebrity chefs who will be serving up a storm of delicious dishes during their cookery demonstrations.

Among those to take to the stage is popular TV chef and author, Rosemary Shrager.

Rosemary endeared herself to the nation when she took part in ‘I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here' where she proved she could cook just about anything, anywhere.

Since her time in the jungle, Rosemary has been involved in a number of fun food programmes including Netflix's Best Leftovers Ever - judging some crazy leftover combinations in the USA – and Fishing Scotland's Lochs and Rivers for Channel 5.

Most recently, Rosemary has appeared as a chef mentor in ITV's Cooking with the Stars.

Rosemary has also made her name as an author, publishing six cookery books as well as three cosy crime novels - The Last Supper, The Proof in the Pudding, and her latest, Too Many Cooks.

Rosemary will be sharing Saturday’s stage with long-standing TV chef and presenter Phil Vickery.

Having been part of This Morning for over 22 years, Phil is one of Britain’s most well-known chefs, presenting both live and pre-recorded cookery items. He often presents his cookery segments from locations far and wide, such as Grenada, Turks and Caicos, The Great Barrier Reef, and Goa.

Phil has appeared on BBC’s Holiday, Ready Steady Cook, and Proof of the Pudding, and has had two series on ITV: Phil Vickery’s Pudding Club and Save Money: Good Diet, for which he also wrote the accompanying cookbook.

Having written 19 books, Phil is a prolific cookery author. He also specialises in gluten-free products and recipes and is the National Food Ambassador for Coeliac UK.

Also returning is Bishop Auckland’s Mike Bartley, MasterChef contender and a favourite at the region’s food festivals.

Mike is currently working to open his own restaurant on Newgate Street in Bishop Auckland, which will offer an affordable tasting menu with a focus on foraged and locally-grown produce.

He plans to host several former Masterchef contestants at bi-monthly events where a selection of their dishes will be added to the menu for one weekend.

He is also working as a private chef and provides meal preparation services to elite sportspeople based in the North East.

Cllr Elizabeth Scott, Durham County Council’s cabinet member for economy and partnerships, said: “We are excited to be able to announce the celebrity chefs for Seaham Food Festival. To me, this officially marks the countdown to the festival and we’ve kicked off the announcements with a fantastic line up for Saturday.

“As one of the region’s biggest food festivals, thousands are expected to flock to Seaham over the two days, not only bringing an economic boost to the appearing traders but to businesses local to the area. I hope people are getting ready to make the trip to the seaside for a summer weekend celebrating all things food.”

Mike, Phil and Rosemary 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.

The line up for Sunday’s celebrity chefs will be announced soon.