Organisers of the country’s biggest celebration of food and drink have announced MasterChef 2019 winner Irini Tzortzoglou will join their star-studded London Foodies Festival.
The TV cooking champion will add a sprinkle of Greek flavour to the 10th anniversary event taking place in London’s Syon Park over the May Bank Holiday Weekend 25-27.
The 61-year-old, who came out top in the BBC contest’s first ever all-female final, will showcase her culinary skills honed by her childhood on the island of Crete.
Also appearing in the Chefs Theatre will be actor John Partridge who played Christian Clarke in EastEnders and was crowned Celebrity MasterChef 2018 champion.
Headlining on the music stage will be super-group Boyzlife featuring Westlife’s Brian McFadden and Boyzone’s Keith Duffy.

Joining them will be renowned Queen tribute band Flash and a variety of emerging local bands and soloists.

Festival director Sue Hitchen said: “We are thrilled to announce Irini Tzortzoglou will join our London line-up. We loved her on MasterChef and it’s a scoop to secure her for our milestone anniversary event in London.
“We promise our festival visitors the crème de la crème and along with the star names there will be a host of local culinary and musical talent as part of a packed programme of family friendly attractions.”

And Irini is counting the days. She said: “Winning MasterChef has been one of the best experiences of my life and being invited to Foodies Festival is just one of the many great things to come out of this journey. I am so thrilled to be able to cook some dishes inspired by MasterChef live and to share my top cooking tips with you all!”
For the second year running, the festival is supporting Musicians Against Homelessness (MAH) with tickets raising money for UK-wide homelessness charity Crisis.

Brian McFadden said: “Keith Duffy and I are delighted to bring our Boyzlife tour to Foodies Festival, where we’ll be performing many of our favourite Boyzone and Westlife hits. It’s a perfect day out – wonderful food, summer sun and music everybody knows and loves.”
The 2019 Foodies Festival will dish up more than 200 exhibitors and award-winning artisan producers. Attractions also include a Street Food Village, Cakes and Desserts Theatre, Kids Cookery School, Healthy Living Area, Chef’s Theatre, Vegan Beer Tent and Dog Arena with fun competitions as well as chilli eating contests, Food and Drink masterclasses. Also new are canine-friendly sessions with wine guru Pippa Penny.
John Partridge, who appeared Foodies Festival Edinburgh last year, will cook a vegetarian dish from his new book.

Also appearing in the Chef’s Theatre is Norfolk’s Richard Bainbridge, who won the 2015 Great British Menu series on BBC2 before returning as a judge.
Top chefs from London’s finest eateries will also demonstrate their skills. They include José Pizarro, star of the London tapas scene, Arnaud Stevens of Plate in Shoreditch, Andrew Cole of Richmond-upon-Thames’s Bingham Riverhouse, Guillaume Gillian of Bòkan Canary Wharf and Santosh Shah from Indian restaurant Baluchi.

Also on the menu is Italian chef and author Giancarlo Caldesi of Caffe Caldesi in Marylebone along with a hearty helping of top tips from vegan chef and author Katy Beskow, aka Little Miss Meat Free.
For tickets and further information, please visit www.foodiesfestival.com or call 0844 9951111.