‘UK’s first’ Yorkshire pudding festival coming early next year

Food festival will celebrate all things related to the prized Yorkshire pud

(iStock)

A food festival dedicated to Yorkshire puddings is coming to the UK in early 2020.

The list of annual gastronomic festivals that take place in the UK is expansive, with food and drink items that receive dedicated events including chillies, gin and beer.

However, up and until now, there has been one very notable, quintessentially-British omission.

On Sunday 1 February, The Yorkshire Pudding Festival is due to take place at Kirkgate Market in Leeds City Centre, described by the organisers as the “UK’s first”.

The event organisers are calling on Yorkshire pudding traders to get involved with the event, which is being sponsored by Leeds-based brewery Northern Monk.

“The festival will host a range of food vendors creating their take on the humble Yorkshire Pudding, mixing, stuffing and smothering them with a delicious array of home cooked dishes from around the world,” the organisers state on ticketing website Eventbrite.

They say the event will be a “celebration” of the Yorkshire pudding, “an essential part of the nation’s roast dinners”.

The festival, which is free to attend, will take place from 10am to 4pm.

Ben Vollans, director of Ink Events Company, conceived the idea for the Yorkshire Pudding Festival after realising that one did not exist.

“It’s definitely one of many things that has put Yorkshire on the map,” Yorkshire-born Vollans told Lonely Planet.

“It’s a really diverse dish. As a kid, I grew up eating the leftover ones as pudding with fresh berries and ice cream for pudding.”