Flood of New Yorkers hoped for at Melton food festival after newspaper accolade

The show, which this year is scheduled for October 6 and 7, was flagged up by the big-selling daily newspaper alongside events in Italy, for chocolate, France (peppers), Australia (Aboriginal food) and the Turks and Caicos Islands (Caribbean food and wine).

Describing the Melton event it writes: “The Melton Mowbray Food Festival in Leicestershire, England, is happening for the 15th time this year in the namesake town’s historic livestock market.

“Here, close to 200 purveyors proffer tastes of the region’s top food and drinks, including pork pies, cheeses, fudge and ales. There’s also a street food area where Sri Lankan, Singaporean and other varieties of Asian food can be had.”

The event, alongside May’s artisan cheese fair, Piefest in July and ChocFest in November, has helped consolidate the town’s reputation as the UK’s rural capital of food.

Matthew O’Callaghan, from the Melton Mowbray Food Partnership, which organises the food festival, was delighted with New York Times coverage.

He said; “What an accolade.

“The fact that we’ve even got to the notice of the New York Times is amazing itself.

“We’ve worked hard in Melton to build up our four events, with the food festival being the oldest and, really, the flagship of them all.

“I am looking forward to greeting New Yorkers to the festival later this year.

“If they show me their plane tickets, they can get in for half price for having made such an effort to get here.”