AFTER winning a silver medal for Wallingford Food Festival 2014, director Paul Bellchambers is cooking up a mouth-watering programme to get the gold in 2015.

Japanese, Brazilian, Indian, Italian and French cuisine will all be on the menu at this year’s feast over the weekend of May 16 and 17.

Professional chef Mr Bellchambers, of Moulsford, hopes to have more than 65 local butchers, bakers, farmers and chefs promoting local food, telling people where to get it and what to do with it.

He said: “We want to open people’s eyes to the fact that local food is good. It is so easy to find really great bread, cheese, drinks and vegetables that are better quality and fresher than supermarkets, and haven’t done the same food miles.”

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Wallingford Food Festival won silver in the 2014 Tourism South East’s Beautiful South Awards in December, in the category Tourism Event of the Year.

More than 5,000 people flocked to the two-day event.

Mr Bellchambers said: “For me that was great because it validates what we are doing – we’re obviously doing something right.

“Gold obviously wasn’t to be this year, but hopefully in 2015.”

Mr Bellchambers, pictured, said he was happy visitor numbers had steadily increased from 1,500 in 2010 when he launched the festival.

He did not want the festival, held at Bridge Villa Camping and Caravan Park, Crowmarsh Gifford, to get any bigger, just to attract more visitors. And to do that he is launching a new website in January with more information about stall holders, chefs and recipes.

For further information visit wallingford foodfestival.

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