Top chef Delia Smith backs The Norfolk Food Festival

Smith said: "I am proud and honoured to be a patron of such an important project. Years ago when I was doing Look East, I got to know a lot of food producers in Norfolk. "There is a great tradition here of eating good food especially home cooking. Here at the football club we are plugging away and trying to do our bit to make Norfolk the epicentre of good food and wine in the country." The EDP Bidwells Norfolk Food Festival will take place from September 1 to October 3. Highlights of the event include a Moveable Feast in Norwich on September 28 where over 600 diners will enjoy their three course dinner in three different venues; the Battle of the Bangers on September 25 when the county's top butchers battle it out to see which has the tastiest sausage as voted by the public and the Tallest Jelly competition for schools across the county on October 1. Festival chairman Richard Woolliams from Bidwells said: "This year we have extended the festival to run for just over a month and we will see hundreds of different events taking place from tastings in farm shops and with small producers to dinners cooked by leading chefs in the county. "The month long schedule of activity will also see some smaller food festivals coming in this year under the one umbrella of the Norfolk Food Festival including the North Norfolk event at Holkham Hall on September 4 and 5." Other patrons backing the festival are actor and presenter Stephen Fry and celebrity chef Galton Blackiston. A guide to many of the events will be published at the end of August and full details are available on the website at www.norfolkfoodfestival.co.uk.