HUNDREDS of people converged on the Baltic Square, at the Gateshead Quays, at the weekend to savour the ingredients of a range of appetising foods and drink.

More than 40 speciality food and drink producers joined forces with leading regional bodies for the first Northumbria Food Festival.

Most were members of the newly-formed marketing agency, Northumbria Larder, and the majority of the stallholders regularly attend farmers' markets in the region.

Celebrity chef Brian Turner, surrounded by food drawn from throughout the region, was on hand to demonstrate his cookery skills.

The festival was partly a celebration to mark the end of the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak and was also an opportunity to forge stronger links in the food chain between town and country.

Labour's european agriculture spokesman Gordon Adam said: "I have long declared my support for farmers' markets and, believe me, in the North- East we have some great ones.

"This type of event is good for the countryside as it raises its profile.

"And it is good for Gateshead to be showing off its excellent quayside in such a way."

He added: "We all should know that we have some great produce here in the North-East, and I hope that this market becomes a regular fixture in much the same way as such markets do in continental cities."