Industry News
Top TV chef to headline Seaham Food Festival
TV presenter, chef and culinary author John Torode MBE has been announced as the headline chef at this year’s Seaham Food Festival.
The Durham County Council-run festival will be back on Seaham’s coastline on Saturday 2 and Sunday 3 August, offering a weekend full of tasty treats from the region’s traders, family-friendly entertainment and inspiring demonstrations from celebrity chefs.
Organisers are excited to announce the straight-talking MasterChef judge and co-host as the festival’s headline chef.
John will be taking to the stage on Sunday (3 August), to prepare delicious dishes for visitors from the festival’s cookery theatre.
As well as being known for co-hosting and judging BBC One’s MasterChef and Celebrity MasterChef, John is also a regular guest chef on ITV’s This Morning, where he appears both in the studio and out and about on location with Torode on the Road.
John also co-hosts alongside his wife, Lisa Faulkner, on ITV’s hugely popular John & Lisa’s Weekend Kitchen, with John and Lisa’s Instagram cooks also being some of the most watched cookery segments on social media.
After more than 40 years in the food industry and nearly three decades on TV, John was awarded an MBE in 2022 for outstanding services to food, broadcasting and charity.
Cllr Lyndsey Fox, Durham County Council’s Cabinet member for economy and partnerships, said: “We’re looking forward to welcoming John to Seaham Food Festival this summer. John’s a huge name in television and his demonstrations will no doubt be a real highlight on the Sunday.
“We’re expecting thousands of people to flock to Seaham over the course of the festival, which will bring a huge boost to the 120 traders appearing at the festival, as well as local businesses in the area. And, with Seaham now one of the region’s biggest food festivals, we hope visitors are looking forward to coming together to celebrate a love of all things food, by the beautiful coastline.”
Details of other celebrity chefs attending Seaham Food Festival will be announced soon.