A host of the UK’s most prominent chefs will be joining the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) for its first Festival of Flavours, a new ‘plot-to-plate’ extravaganza, happening at all five RHS gardens, from 30 September.
Vibrant world dishes overflowing in flavours from the garden will be prepared live using freshly picked ingredients by chefs such as Asma Khan, Raymond Blanc OBE, Nisha Katona MBE, Ching He Huang MBE, Cyrus Tadiwala OBE DL, Atul Kochhar and Clodagh McKenna.
A schedule of talks, demos, tastings, workshops, garden tours and seasonal activities, is planned for each RHS Garden which will aim to demonstrate how anyone can grow a range of flavours in the garden, on a balcony or in a window box.
Highlights at each RHS Garden, where there will be food and drink stalls, include;
RHS Garden Bridgewater (Salford, Greater Manchester): Fri 30 Sept – Sun 2 Oct
African flavours will be showcased by TV chef Lerato Umah Shaylor and Mowgli Street Food founder and regular BBC, ITV and Channel 4 food expert Nisha Katona will be cooking-up Indian dishes using ingredients picked straight from Bridgewater’s 1.7-acre Kitchen Garden.
Further cookery demos with ‘veg-evangelist’ Kathy Slack, family recipes from Syrian refugees and GYO talks from Jason Williams aka ‘The Cloud Gardener’ who grows a range of food on his 18th floor balcony, are among the highlights. Click here for more information.
RHS Garden Hyde Hall (Chelmsford, Essex): Fri 30 Sept – Sun 2 Oct
Celebrity chef Cyrus Todiwala will blend classic French and Indian cuisine and the Cinnamon Collection’s Rakesh Nair plans to showcase Indian fine dining.
RHS Hyde Hall Head Chef James Curtis regularly cooks with produce grown in the Global Growth Veg Garden and will demonstrate world dishes. Click here for more information.
RHS Garden Rosemoor (Devon, Torrington): Sat 1 Oct – Sun 2 Oct
Chefs from Tineke Cooks will show how to make delicious autumnal dishes from what you find in a hedgerow, guided tours of the Orchard will happen every day and an array of flavours from around the world will be available to taste from local street food vendors.
The ‘King of Big Veg’ and author Gerald Stratford will be doing a talk on growing vegetables and will tell his story of how he become a Twitter sensation after posting a picture of his home-grown potatoes. Click here for more information.
RHS Garden Wisley (Guildford, Surrey): Weds 12 Oct – Sunday 16 Oct
Chef, author and TV presenter, Clodagh McKenna, will be cooking with ingredients grown in her small organic farm and the globally renowned Raymond Blanc will be cooking seasonal dishes with his team from the Raymond Blanc Cookery School.
TV chef Ching He Huang will demonstrate British Chinese cuisine and Asma Khan, one of the UK’s most prominent female chefs and star of Netflix’s Chef’s Table, will be cooking Indian dishes.
Writer and chef Manju Malhi will showcase her ‘Brit-Indi’ style and the twice Michelin-starred Atul Kochhar will share culinary delights from the Punjab. Click here for more information.
RHS Garden Harlow Carr (Harrogate, Yorkshire): Saturday 22 Oct – Sunday 23 Oct
Multiple Masterchef participants will cook up world recipes with locally grown ingredients, including the 2022 winner Eddie Scott, 2022 runner-up Olayemi Abimola Adelekan and Afsaneh Kaviani – the 2012 finalist on a mission to spread her passion for Persian food.
The cookery theatre will be packed all weekend, there will be numerous trade-stands and street-food vendors and ‘Kiddycook’ workshops for families.
