SUFFOLK’S BIGGEST FOOD FESTIVAL RETURNS – SEPTEMBER 23 & 24, 2023

A STELLAR LINE-UP OF CHEFS AND SUFFOLK FOOD AND DRINK PRODUCERS TO DESCEND ON
SNAPE MALTINGS, PLUS A HOST OF EXCITING NEW ADDITIONS TO THE ANNUAL CELEBRATION
OF SUFFOLK’S CULINARY SCENE.

The 2023 Aldeburgh Food and Drink Festival returns this September for two days devoted to
celebrating the inspiring, diverse and ever-growing Suffolk food and drink scene. Now in its 18th
year, the Festival proudly showcases the multitude of home-grown producers Suffolk has to
offer, as well as honouring the county’s culinary and agricultural heritage.

In the picturesque riverside setting of Snape Maltings, renowned chefs will host masterclasses,
there will be food demonstrations over two stages and the grounds will be filled with more than
140 stalls from Suffolk’s big-name producers, as well as rising stars of the local food and drink
producing industry.

Exciting new additions to the Festival for 2023 include:

– Award-winning Suffolk chocolatiers Pump Street Chocolate will be taking over the
Hoffmann Building, with talks and chocolate tastings every hour, on the hour. The
beloved small-batch, bean-to-bar chocolate brand will give visitors an insight into the
chocolate-making process and a chance to sample their celebrated chocolate bars,
hot drinking chocolate and soft-serve chocolate ice-cream.

– The Family Area is now bigger than ever, with kids’ cookery classes (including fish
classes from chef CJ Jackson aka Fish Boss) and demonstrations for budding chefs;
tractors and agricultural equipment to explore; and a new free Festival Workbook for
Under 16s featuring recipes, a producer trail and more.

– Aldeburgh’s prestigious restaurant The Suffolk will be hosting a barbecue in their
brand-new festival eatery along the quay.

– The buzzing Street Food area returns, with more vendors than ever before. A new
cocktail bar from Suffolk cocktail company Niche has been added to the mix of
mouth-watering offerings for visitors across the weekend.

The Festival Main Stage attracts some of the biggest names in the UK food scene, with the
2023 line-up featuring:

• Thomasina Miers – co-founder of Wahaca restaurants, food pioneer, chef, writer,
and honorary Festival Patron.
• Pierre Koffmann – internationally acclaimed chef.
• Jeremy Lee – British chef and chef proprietor at Quo Vadis, London. He has
previously been head chef at the Blueprint Café for eighteen years and is a regular
face on TV cookery shows.
• Cyrus Todiwala OBE of acclaimed Indian restaurant Café Spice Namasté.
• Dave Wall – Chef Patron at Suffolk’s The Unruly Pig, named best gastropub in the UK
in the Estrella Damm Top 50 Gastropubs in 2022.
• George Pell – Director of The Suffolk in Aldeburgh and L’Escargot in London.
• Nicola Hordern – award-winning head chef at Southwold’s The Canteen.

A selection of incredible local chefs will also be showcased through the weekend. 2023 also
sees the return of the Passion For Seafood Stage which focuses on Suffolk’s thriving industry
of seafood caught, prepared and sold on the East Coast. The stage is a celebration of Suffolk’s
many sustainable seafood businesses and will include live cooking demos, talks and seafood
street food.

Over the weekend, the food demonstrations and talks on both stages will be more informal than
before. No booking is required, they will be every hour, on the hour, free to all visitors.
The 2023 line-up of Masterclasses (which require separate booking and payment) includes an
Adnams cocktail class, kimchi-making with Jeong-un Creagh of Korean Kitchen, Two Magpies
Bakery co-founder Rebecca Bishop on dough-making, Pump Street Chocolate, “Fish Boss” chef
CJ Jackson, and TV chef Cyrus Todiwala OBE of acclaimed Indian restaurant Café Spice
Namasté.

Over 140 producers of food and drink businesses from Suffolk will be exhibiting at the Festival
this year, offering everything from fresh, organic vegetables, locally-produced honey, awardwinning drinks from a range of East Coast breweries and distilleries, handcrafted chocolates,
celebrated Suffolk cheeses and bread, plus so much more. The Festival prides itself on being a
place where locals and visitors to the area can discover and support the abundance of
established and emerging businesses who are producing innovative and original food and
beverages throughout the region. Vegan and restricted-diet foods will feature throughout the
festival offerings.

Aldeburgh Food and Drink Festival President, Lady Caroline Cranbrook, said: “The Aldeburgh
Food & Drink Festival is now well established as one of the very best in the country, famous for the
quality, quantity and variety of its locally-produced food and drink, its friendliness – and for the
beauty of Snape Maltings where it is held. It has proved to be a highly successful and very
enjoyable way of introducing visitors to Suffolk’s wonderful food and drink, to the people who
produce it and to the land from where it comes.”
Katherine Manning of Suffolk Meadow Ice Cream said: “Aldeburgh Food and Drink Festival is the
highlight of our year, giving us a unique opportunity to showcase what we can do. We love being
able to interact directly with all the amazing visitors and local chefs. It is such a great source of
inspiration for future product development and partnerships!”

For further information and to book tickets, please visit www.aldeburghfoodanddrink.co.uk
DATE: Saturday 23 September, 9.30am – 5pm, Sunday 24 September, 9.30am – 4pm
TICKETS: £10 in advance, £12 on the day. Under 16s go free
VENUE: Snape Maltings, Snape, Suffolk IP17 1SP
INSTAGRAM: @aldeburghfood
PRESS ENQUIRIES: press@aldeburghfoodanddrink.co.uk

Image Credit – Aldeburgh Food and Drink