Who we are and what we do:

York Festival of Food and Drink is a 'not for profit' organisation, providing a 10 day city-wide event to promote local and regional food and drink.

Monies raised, from market stands and ticket sales, help to cover the costs of the community programme.

  • Its focus
    To transform food culture in York and North Yorkshire by promoting local food production.
  • Alongside
    Independent York food retailers, with quality wines from around the world, plus whisky and other traditional quality beverages, we will put our Festival in and around York's unique historic venues.
  • Its purpose
  • To educate minds and palates in a variety of non-threatening and fun ways, which include taste workshops, cookery workshops, lunches, dinners and demonstrations. The Festival has a mission to educate both children and adults about cooking, nutrition and other food issues like food miles, fair-trade and the realities of farming.
  • The Festival wants to re-establish the dining table as the focal point of family and social cohesion.
  • To draw attention to York as a gastronomic gateway to the wealth of tastes and flavours that can be found in Yorkshire.
  • To recognise our Food Heroes, who are the chefs and suppliers in the area, and/or supporters of the Festival, who share its values.
  • The Festival naturally seeks to promote the restaurant scene of York, but also has a wider aspiration to help transform the city in the early evening, by encouraging eating, arts and social activity in the city centre between 5 and 7pm.

Join the Festival's Friends - Have a stake in its future
The Festival is a ˜not for profit" organisation that needs the support of the city and its visitors to prosper. Would you like to make a contribution to the future of the Festival?

If you share some of its objectives, please consider joining the Friends of the Festival - membership also comes with a range of benefits:

The Festival generates
Up to 150,000 visitors over the 10days, from all over the country and International media coverage

Other Websites
www.gourmetyorkshire.com

Festival Directors volunteer their time because they are passionate about our products and want to share their skills and knowledge. Michael Hjort is the Chair and also the artistic Director. He is an independent chef restaurateur (Melton's & Melton's Too), nominee of BBC Food and Farming awards, White Rose Awards and UK TV Food Local heroes.

Other Festival Directors are: Sarah Barber, Hazel Hart, Kim Robbins, Sarah True, Debbie Waite (Festival Organiser) and Cllr, Andrew Waller

Visual images can be seen on http://www.yorkfoodfestival.co.uk/FestivalGallery.htm