Greater Manchester is hosting a weekend of food festivals from August 22 to 23, with celebrations of Thai, Italian and Indian cuisine taking place alongside film screenings and a street food awards heat.
Thai and Italian celebrations
Platt Fields Park will host the Magic of Thailand festival, described as a celebration of Thai culture and cuisine. The event includes street food, Thai beer, traditional music and dancing, eating competitions and Muay Thai boxing matches. A Buddhist monk blessing and a children’s play area are also planned. Tickets start from £6 for adults.
At Cathedral Gardens, Neapolitan institution Salvi’s will host its Festa Italiana celebration, one of the biggest Italian festivals in the UK. The weekend will feature street food stalls, cooking demonstrations, live music and pasta-making workshops.
Indian street food and film screenings
On Sunday, August 23, Bundobust will hold its annual appreciation day for Vada Pav, the deep-fried potato dumpling street food snack served in a bread bun. The snacks will be sold at Indian street food market prices of just 30p, and for the day only will include popular Indian cheese Amul inside them, just as they do in Mumbai. They will be available all day at the Manchester Piccadilly and Oxford Road stores.
Manchester’s SCENE festival will feature a host of TV and film screenings across the weekend, including premieres and panels. On Saturday, an Ab Fab-a-thon will show iconic episodes alongside drag parodies, with special screenings of RuPaul’s new movie Stop! That! Train! and the 90s film Clueless. On Sunday, there will be a Heartstopper event with Alice Oseman, plus a full series screening and panel discussion of It’s A Sin.
Street food awards and other events
Stockport will host the Northern Heats of the British Street Food Awards on Sunday, August 23, with the public getting a say in who makes it through. Over 25 traders will attend the event, run by Foodie Friday at Stockport Market, featuring familiar faces, northern favourites, live entertainment and family-friendly fun.
Additional suggestions include Lewis Capaldi playing Wythenshawe Park on Saturday, August 22, and a Harry Potter drone show at Haydock Park, featuring iconic moments from the movies lit up in the skies by 1,200 drones.
