Four television stars are set to headline a popular seaside food festival this summer.
Former contestants from MasterChef and the Great British Bake Off have been announced as the first round of celebrity chefs due to headline Seaham Food Festival.
The popular coastal food fest is to return on Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 August, bringing back a sensational lineup of food and drink traders, family entertainment and live music to the County Durham coastline.
The Durham County Council-run festival will feature its signature open-air cookery theatre, where a host of well-known faces will be enticing audiences with mouth-watering cookery demonstrations across the two days.
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The first celebrity chef announced for Saturday’s cookery stage is MasterChef 2023 Champion Eddie Scott.
Eddie overcome fierce competition to fulfil a lifelong cooking ambition of becoming MasterChef UK Champion, where he got to showcase his signature style.
Eddie grew up in a family who loved to cook great food. Childhood summer holidays were spent touring around France and it was on these adventures that Eddie discovered his love of classic regional French cuisine.
Eddie’s cooking is also inspired by his family’s Indian Punjabi heritage.
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Eddie will be joined on Saturday by Great British Bake Off 2022 winner Syabira Yusoff.
During her time in the tent, Syabira surprised and delighted the judges with her unusual flavour combinations and imaginative bakes.
Syabira moved to the UK ten years ago from Malaysia to pursue a PhD in Genetics and Genome Biology at the University of Leicester.
Her experience as a researcher and her scientific knowledge helps her to understand the physics and chemistry of baking. She loves to experiment in the kitchen, working out the most exciting flavour combinations.
And for budding vegan bakers, Freya Cox will also be taking to the cookery stage.
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Twenty-one-year-old Freya has a passion for vegan baking which she showcased last year as the Great British Bake Off’s first-ever vegan contestant.
Having dreamed of entering the tent from the first series, her hope is that she’ll show the British public that delicious baking can be plant-based.
Her first recipe book ‘Simply Vegan Baking’ was published last year, and shows that vegan baking can be just as delicious, if not more so, than 'regular' baking.
And they’ll be joined by crowd favourite and TV presenter Chris Bavin, who returns as host.
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Chris co-presents BBC One’s popular series Eat Well for Less? alongside Jordan Banjo and is a regular on The One Show.
He’s also presented Tomorrow’s Food with Dara O’Brian, Food: Truth or Scare with Gloria Hunniford, and was a judge on Britain’s Best Home Cook with Mary Berry.
Seaham Food Festival is just one of the many cultural events taking place in County Durham this year, cementing Durham’s position as the ‘culture county’ and demonstrating the county council’s ongoing commitment to cultural-led regeneration.
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