Manchester Food and Drink Festival 2022: events on programme for 25th anniversary event unveiled

Manchester Food and Drink Festival 2022 has announced events for this year’s programme as the celebration of cuisine marks a quarter of a century.

The 25th anniversary of the festival takes place from this week and it will celebrate the best of local food and drink once more.

The heart of the action will be in Cathedral Gardens, with the Festival Hub becoming home to an array of street food traders, bars, and artisan producers as well as the venue for masterclasses and takeovers.

Here’s some highlights of what has been announced for the food and drink festival and how you can pick up tickets.

What’s on at Manchester Food and Drink Festival 2022?

The festival hub will be free and will be open from Thursday 22nd September – Sunday 25th September and then again from Thursday 29th September to Sunday 2nd October from midday to 11pm.

The two long weekends will see the first Fire Pit Takeover in the festival’s history, with chefs coming to cook over the flames and the likes of Caroline Martins, founder of the Sao Paolo project, Robert Owen Brown and Francisco Martinez from Fazenda all bringing their best barbecue flavours.

Some of Manchester’s best-loved chefs will also be joining the Festival Hub to lead cooking masterclasses on the opening weekend, but the details of the programme are yet to be announced.

On Saturday 24 September the hub will be hosting the Octopus Cookbook Confidential demo kitchen with a full day of demos and panels featuring the likes of Kate Humble and Lia Leendertz talking about outdoor and seasonal eating, Edd Kimber discussing puddings and Jeremy Pang showcasing Chinese cooking.

The Octopus Cookbook Confidential is free to attend but places are limited and need to be booked here.

The Artisan Food Market will also take place across the duration of the festival, opening 15 to 18 and 22 to 25 September from midday to 7pm. Some of Manchester’s finest food and drink producers, including New Market Dairy, The Flat Baker and Dghnt, will be there.

Activities will also be taking place across Manchester city centre during the festival. New Century in the NOMA District will be celebrating its restoration with the Wine and Fizz Festival on 16 and 17 September with retailers from across the North West. Tickets for that are available here, priced at £15.

The festival is also teaming up with restaurants across the city to put on a £25 for 25 years menu collaboration. Northern Quarter favourite District will be creating an exclusive £25 drinks pairing menu to compliment their Thai cuisine and Embankment Kitchen are creating an exclusive £25 menu.

Other restaurants taking part include Vietnamese place Mi and Pho, Three Little Words, Shoryu Ramen, Tast and Society, with more to be announced over the coming weeks.