Heaton Park Food and Drink Festival returns for its fifth edition this August, bringing two days of food, drink and live cooking to the park. At the centre of this year’s programme is a packed Cookery Theatre line-up featuring 12 chefs, bakers, nutritionists and culinary educators from across Greater Manchester and beyond.
Hosted in partnership with Great British Bake Off’s Makbul Patel, the demonstrations cover everything from bread sculpture and Indian home cooking to Caribbean sauces, Italian comfort food, sustainable British produce and ambitious patisserie. Each session will offer practical tips, techniques and recipes, with appearances from established restaurant chefs alongside familiar faces from Bake Off.
Saturday’s programme includes professional chef Sumith Babu, who will create freshly baked bread sculptures while sharing the ideas behind his ready-to-cook Indian food business, Nourish. Great British Bake Off semi-finalist Gill Howard will demonstrate the pastry, cake and pie skills that made her a favourite on the show, while cookbook author Suki Pantal will explore affordable Indian dishes built around family recipes and regional flavours.
Italian chef, television personality and cookbook author Tony Alberti will share his approach to rustic, home-style Italian cooking, while Ameven founder David Broxton will put a fresh spin on classic dishes using techniques developed alongside Michelin-starred chefs. The day’s line-up is completed by pâtissier Babna Choudhury, known for intricate bakes, unusual flavour combinations and her work teaching the next generation of bakers.
Sunday opens with three-time Great Taste Award winner Barrington Douglas, who will showcase the Caribbean flavours behind his relaunched range of sauces and barbecue seasonings. Sean Noonan, Head Chef at Mercure Blackburn Dunkenhalgh Hotel & Spa, will focus on seasonal British produce, followed by chef and educator Brian Mellor, whose Dad’s Kitchen and Garden project aims to make cooking more accessible and build confidence in the kitchen.
One of Manchester’s most influential chefs, Mary-Ellen McTague, will also take to the stage. The Eat Well MCR founder and Chef Partner at Pip will demonstrate her thoughtful, low-waste approach to cooking with high-quality British ingredients.
Clinical nutritionist Eva Humphries will offer straightforward, science-led advice on making whole foods more achievable, while Junior Bake Off champion Fin Woodward completes the programme with the baking and cake-decorating skills that saw him win the competition in 2019.
The Heaton Park Food and Drink Festival takes place on Saturday 1 and Sunday 2 August 2026.
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