General Features

British bangers, North Sea-caught fish and sumptuous chocolate creations are just some of the treats set to excite gourmets' palates during the Norwich And Norfolk Food Festival.

It's the third year that the event has run - and with the county boasting both a coastal and rural geography, the festival is brimming with some of the tastiest ingredients Britain has to offer.

Restaurant special offers, demonstrations, talks and farmers' markets are just some of the things lined up to promote local produce until Sunday, 21 October, 2007.

Event highlights

Highlights include an evening with wine-loving celebrity chef Keith Floyd at Norwich Playhouse on Monday, 15 October, while master craftsman Gary Hunter will provide something sweeter the next day at Norwich City College with his stunning chocolate displays.

The popular Moveable Feast also returns on Tuesday, 16 October to challenge and delight foodies with big appetites. Organisers will lead guests on a mystery tour of the city's restaurants - switching venues after each course.

Local seasonal produce is the focus of a masterclass with the host of ITV's recent Coastal Kitchen series and Wells' Crown Hotel chef Chris Coubrough.

He'll be demonstrating his seafood-based menu before passing over the oven gloves to the awaiting budding chefs in the City College kitchen on Saturday, 20 October.

Richard Knights helps Stephen and Nicky

The Great Norfolk Sunday Roast is also back, with a selection of restaurants and cafes taking part - but for those who are as intrigued in the health benefits of food as its taste, there's a programme of talks.

The UK's only publicly-funded food research centre, based in Norwich, is presenting the lunch-hour talks from 1pm at Norwich's Assembly House from 15 to 19 October.

Topics include the relationship between diet and health and the causes and preventions of food allergies.

Radio cook-off

Hundreds of people enjoyed foody-fun at The Forum during the opening weekend of the festival, including BBC Radio Norfolk presenters Nicky Barnes and Stephen Bumfrey.

The duo helped to launch the event on Saturday, 13 October with a Ready, Steady, Cook style challenge between the station and Radio Broadland.

In front of a packed audience at The Forum, and guided by Lavender House chef Richard Knights, Nicky and Stephen made mouths water and clinched the vote with a pan-fried beef fillet on spaghetti squash and a Binham Blue cheese-stuffed mushroom.

The sweet-toothed were also impressed with the cooks' brioche apple tart with butterscotch sauce and honeycomb ice-cream.

A sweet feast of scones

Scoffing scones

The heat rising in a busy kitchen would probably be enough to see an amateur off, but Nicky returned for more foodie feats on Sunday - sampling 38 cheese and plain scones.

Nicky joined the judging panel for the home-baked scone competition at Wroxham Barns - and after a day scoffing she was impressed by the quality but slightly overwhelmed.

"I can safely say I never want to eat a scone again or, at least, not until next year's Norwich And Norfolk Food Festival," joked Nicky.

"What was impressive was that home-baking is alive and well in Norfolk. The standard was very high and there were some impressive entries."

For a full list of events, dates and details go to the official website: