The five-day food and drink celebration attracted an international audience of over 20,000 visitors to the site in George Square, with over 2,000 people revelling in the free talks and demonstrations.
The Food Festival, which is supported by EventScotland, VisitScotland and Scotland Food & Drink as part of the Scotland’s Year of Food and Drink 2015 featured food stalls and a variety of artisan producers.
Sharon Burgess, Managing Director of Assembly Festival Ltd said: “We didn’t really know what to expect but the turnout proved there is a huge appetite for a free festival celebrating Scottish food and drink. Even the poor weather didn’t dampen the spirits!”
The Food Festival, which ran from midday until midnight saw a constant flow throughout the day and the site was busy with families, couples dining out and tourists keen to taste what Scotland has to offer.
“We couldn’t be more delighted with the outcome and we are already looking at what we might be able to do next year”, said Sharon.
Fiona Richmond, Project Manager, Scotland Food & Drink said: “The inaugural Edinburgh Food Festival has been a huge success, offering a programme of engaging talks and the opportunity for all ages and interests to discover a wide variety of excellent Scottish producers. Delighted to have been involved in the first event of many and the strong start can be developed yet further for 2016.”
In addition to the food stalls, a ticketed programme of evening entertainment was on sale. The programme included Edinburgh-based comic and restaurateur Hardeep Singh Kohli and the cutting edge cabaret show Le Haggis, as well as award winning Scottish fiddler, composer and producer Aidan O’Rourke and the all female four piece folk band, The Poozies.
More information on the festival can be found at www.edfoodfest.com. To keep up to date with the latest news follow @EdFoodFest on Twitter.
