Food lovers from across the UK have descended on Malton this Bank Holiday Weekend as the historic town hosts three days of the most delicious food Yorkshire has to offer.
The Malton Food Lovers Festival is one of the top free to enter food festivals in the country and the self-proclaimed food capital of Yorkshire has the best food producers in the county displaying their wares.
The event is organised by Visit Malton and brings a "massive" economic boost to the region.
Mark Brayshaw is the Head of Visit Malton and told GB News: "The Food Lovers Festival is our jewel in the crown. It's our biggest event of the year, it's been going 15 years and it's essentially a celebration of Yorkshire's finest produce.
The event is organised by Visit Malton and brings a "massive" economic boost to the region
GB News
"It's a massive economic boost for the region. Ryedale has about 50,000 residents that live here and we bring in 42,500 people just on this weekend.
"Yorkshire's a fantastic brand name and this celebrates Yorkshire produce, so if you're from another part of the country and you want to know what Yorkshire's all about, this is the place to do it."
There’s more than 120 stalls and street food vendors at the event showcasing local produce at its finest.
Lee Dawson is the Owner of family business the Gourmet Scotch Egg Company and has been selling his produce at the Malton Food Lovers Festival for the last six years.
He has six different flavours of scotch egg at his stall and showed GB News the runny yolk within the traditional British food staple, with the free-range egg and pork both locally sourced.
"This is one of our scotch eggs and it's just perfectly oozing there, beautifully," Lee said.
"The scotch egg originated from Whitby in North Yorkshire and being from Yorkshire myself, I think that's just great."
Fellow Yorkshire business Ryan Jepson Cheeses offer a wide range of fresh cut cheeses along with handmade biscuits and have been attending Food Lovers Festiva without fail for the last 15 years.
Andrew Varley works at the family business and told GB News: "The Yorkshire cheeses we've got - we have the Yorkshire black, we have the Ogden gold and Wensleydale.
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There’s more than 120 stalls and street food vendors at the event showcasing local produce at its finest
GB News
"More and more people are buying local, which is helping us, but the small businesses need as much help as they can get."
The main stage at the festival is a hub of culinary excellence with demonstrations from award winning chefs.
Gilly Robinson is the owner of Cooks Place Cookery School and said: "We will be showcasing all Yorkshire produce and Yorkshire chefs, so every hour on the hour there's something happening.
"We're surrounded by farmland and we're only 20 minutes or so from the coast so really there couldn't be a better position.
"Everything that's made locally, sourced locally, harvested locally is what we ask the chefs [on stage] to use.
"One of our great success stories of this area is the Yorkshire Pasta Company. Who knew that you could make pasta with Yorkshire wheat and Yorkshire water and it would just skyrocket?
"So it's things like that, watching the producers get bigger and bigger and watching them become successful and promoting the area."
Hordes of hungry visitors have travelled far and wide to get here to sample tasty treats and enjoy what the weekend has to offer.
One man travelled from the West Midlands and told GB News: "We've come from Telford but we've made a holiday of it so we've stayed the week. It's just a really nice atmosphere, everyone's very friendly, there's a lot of stalls, there's a lot of choice.
The main stage at the festival is a hub of culinary excellence with demonstrations from award winning chefs
GB News
"Just the friendliness of the people is what draws me here more than anything, and the food is just a bonus."
Couple Erica and John travelled to the event on a coach trip for the day from Cleethorpes in North East Lincolnshire.
"It was nice coming up on the coach and seeing all the countryside around it," said Erica.
"I'm looking forward to having a look at the pies and everything like that and having a good look around and having a taste of the food and the drink."
One mum had come with her daughter from London to sample all Malton had to offer and told GB News: "We're enjoying the food, sourcing some local ingredients, meeting some local artisans and just having a nice day out."
But for others, the drink on offer is more alluring than the food, with one Sheffield woman telling us: "I drink more than I eat, so I'm going to find some gins."
With so much food on display, it’s no wonder the gourmet street party is dubbed Yorkshire’s Foodie Glastonbury.
Malton’s three day family foodie extravaganza runs from May 25 to May 27 and more information can be found HERE
