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Call out for local chefs and vans for Festival of Thrift

EAGER professional chefs, ambitious home cooks and van-owners are being sought to take part in Darlington’s Festival of Thrift at Lingfield Point.

The brand new national festival will be held on September 21 and 22 and organisers are looking for creative minds to transform vans into bustling mini-restaurants.

Each ‘Bistro Du Van’ will seat up to six people in an upcycled van and provide festival goers with an exciting thrifty dining experience.

Simon Preston, who is spearheading the food element of the festival, explained how it will work.

He said: “This is a really fun idea and we’re looking for volunteers to run their very-own thrifty themed pop-up restaurants.

“We’re also looking for van, campervan and caravan owners to lend us their vehicles for the weekend. If people both own a van and would like to cook then that’s even better!

“The pop-up restaurateurs will have a thrifty budget to theme their interiors and each restaurant will have sittings running every hour throughout the day.

“We’ll provide advice and guidance on menus to the chefs taking part and all the equipment that is required.”

Alexander MacMurray who runs Canteen, a deli café, at Darlington’s Lingfield Point, explained how the festival fits in with the business park’s philosophy – and good cooking!

He said: “Festival of Thrift is all about recycling, upcycling and creating wonderful things out of simple ingredients.

“From running our catering business and the café at Lingfield Point we’ve realised the importance of low food mileage, the greatness of local food and how much fun it is to be creative with what you eat.

“We’re looking forward to seeing what people will bring to their ‘Bistro du Van’ and showing that thrifty cooking can be great fun and extremely tasty.”

John Orchard, a director of Marchday owners of Lingfield Point said: “Festival of Thrift is shaping up to be a really exciting event.

“Food is an essential part of any festival and alongside markets, exhibitions and performances we’ve got a huge variety of everything from street food to the foraging trips that will be a part of the festival experience.

“In this region we have some fabulous chefs and cooks and this is an opportunity for them to really showcase their skills.

“Festival of Thrift is all about having fun while learning new skills and new ways of living and we can’t wait until it arrives at Lingfield Point.”

If you are interested in taking part in Bistro Du Van contact Simon Preston at simon@graceonline.co.uk

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Lottie King .