The universal cookery & food festival 2016 invites chefs to step out of the kitchen and reconnect with the land to learn about the latest developments in farming, seasonal produce, local sourcing and foraged food. The unique food festival celebrates its fifth year of inspiring chefs on Tuesday 20 September at the new venue of Laverstoke Park Farm in Hampshire.

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Chefs will also discover exciting new cooking techniques and trends from the live demonstrations and debate topical issues with an impressive line-up of expert speakers.

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In addition, the dynamic programme features a Laverstoke farm tour, taking in the vineyard, soil lab and the famous Laverstoke Buffalo, hands-on foraging expeditions and an inspirational farmer’s market and sponsors’ innovation zone. New for 2016, the Great Taste Market will showcase some of the country’s finest, award-winning producers.

Against the incredible backdrop of Laverstoke Park Farm, the 2,500-acre farm that leads the way in biodynamic and organic farming methods in the UK, delegates will interact and share ideas and learnings with farmers, foragers and growers, plus suppliers, industry insiders and fellow chefs.

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Topics up for discussion include:

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•   Ethics, organics and sustainability: Is organic production really sustainable in a foodservice market? Does organic necessarily mean sustainable, more ethical or tastier?

•   Local heroes: Celebrating the best of the local culinary talent and farming.

•   French revolution: How the food revolution in the UK was started many years

  ago by some of the industry greats from France, a trend that continues today.

•   The pudding club: A celebration of the country’s pastry chefs.

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 Dead in the water bath?: Have we seen the end of molecular gastronomy or is it going from strength to strength?

The impressive line-up of speakers includes:

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•   Jody Scheckter, Laverstoke Park Farm

•   Daniel Clifford, Midsummer House

•   Angela Harnett and Luke Holder, Limewood Hotel

•   Ashley Palmer Watts, The Fat Duck Group

•   Claire Clark

•   Graham Hornigold, Hakkasan

•   Will Torrent

•   T ommy Banks, Black Swan at Oldstead

•   Douglas McMaster, Silo

•   Luke Matthews, Chewton Glen Hotel & Spa

•   Claude Bosi, Hibiscus

•   Bruno Loubet, Grain Store

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Event directors John Feeney, Lee Maycock and Ian Nottage comment: “We are very excited to be taking the universal cookery & food festival to Laverstoke Park Farm and we are sure our festival goers are going to be blown away. It really is the perfect venue for us, as the farm pretty much ticks all the values around the festival tree logo. The bio-dynamic and organic ethos around how they farm with respect for the soil, animals and environment is amazing and yields fantastic results.

“Five years on, the universal cookery & food festival vision is an incredible, ever- growing success, and a highlight of the chef calendar. Chefs value the opportunity to connect with where the ingredients they work with start out from, and also with each other. We have a fantastic programme lined up for September and, as ever, the only problem facing our festival goers is that they are spoilt for choice as to what to see and do on the day!”