Richard Allen is Head Chef at Harvey Nichols’ Fourth Floor Restaurant in Leeds. Richard brings Yorkshire a global perspective his menus are influenced by time spent in Australia but more recent his passions have returned home. Richard is passionate about Yorkshire produce he says, "The centrepiece, which drives our menu, is local ingredients or products with a strong story of provenance. I want my customers to know exactly where the ingredients have come from and I can guarantee this"
Richard has led judging panels for both local produce competitions and regional cooking. His kitchen has won a wide reputation for training young chefs.

Christine Austin

Christine Austin is wine writer for the Yorkshire Post. Resident of York and Louis Roederer Regional Wine Writer of the Year 2006, Christine has advised the York Festival for a number of years. Her annual Champagne Tasting is a major fixture at the Festival.

Jeff Baker

Jeff Baker abandoned his Michelin Star to go it alone in York. For 10 years Jeff was Head chef at Pool Court in Leeds city centre.
On launching J Bakers in York Heff said “We have some of the world’s leading food suppliers in Yorkshire and I am determined to give them a platform of recognition. We will be using suppliers such as Round Green Farm for our Venison Casserole, Inshore for our Whitby Crab Ravioli and Scott's of York for Galloway Beef in our Steak, Egg & Chips. I will be highlighting to our customers where our produce is from – and you can be guaranteed it will be local!”

Fiona Bird

Fi Bird who lives in Kirrimuir, Scotland. Fiona was the winner of Scottish Masterchef and a finalist in the overall UK Masterchef
Fi is a self-taught passionate cook, with an approach to food based on knowledge of tight budgets and limited time. Campaigning for healthier diets and for cookery teaching at Primary schools, she writes articles and recipes extensively for several newspapers and magazines, including Green Parent, Organiclife and Tastes of Britain. She is a member of the Guild of Food Writers, and also develops recipes for Tern TV.
Fi and Dr Stephen Bird are the founders of Stirrin'Stuff, which works in partnerships to educate children about food. Stirrin'Stuff is committed to sustainable development and ethical best practice.

Otto Bocca and Heidi Wilson

Ottavio Bocca and Heidi Wilson, the owners of York Le Langhe run York's answer to Valvona & Crolla. they have just moved from Goodramgate to larger premises at Peasholme Green in the shadow of the Bar Walls. Visit of their fabulous deli, great café or wonderful Italian wine.

A guest Lancastrian producer! Here's what the Guardian had to say about this famous producer
"Goosnargh (pronounced Goosner) is a village near Preston with a reputation as a centre of anatine excellence. The Goosnargh duck is a white-feathered, yellow-beaked cross between an Aylesbury and a Peking. "They're majestic creatures, very content and very easy to rear," says duck breeder Reg Johnson, whose ducks are kept not in a pond but in a large barn, with troughs and nipple feeders so that they can drink and get their heads wet. It is an old wives' tale that ducks need to swim to live and Johnson says that if he let the ducks onto water they would become diseased. These Goosnarghs are "harvested" at 56 days old and hung for up to 48 hours, which increases the meat's flavour."

Rachel Green has made a name for herself by her passionate and committed championing of British produce. She has several television series under her belt – from ITV Yorkshire’s Flying Cook and World on a Plate, to Kill It Cook It! Eat! On BBC3 and Farm of Fussy Eaters on UK TV Style.
A farmer’s daughter from Lincolnshire, her family have been farming in the county for 14 generations, "Food production is in my blood," she says, "I grew up helping to collect eggs, lamb the ewes, vine the peas."

Rob Green

Rob is Chef proprietor of Green's of Whitby a restaurant & bistro, situated on the Abbey side of the swing bridge. Rob is one of those luck Chef's who can choose seafood fresh from the quayside every morning. Passionate about the other great produce around Whitby the restaurant is also able to feature prime local meats and game. This access to produce along with h is talent have helped to take Green's' status to not only one of the finest restaurants in Whitby, but one of the finest restaurants in North Yorkshire.

Karen Hardwick

With over 20 years drinks trade experience, most of it in the wine trade, Karen is the person restaurants, hotels and retailers turn to to train their staff. Due to demand she now hosts more informal and extremely popular food and wine events every month in York at Melton’s Too. She has been a tutor for the Wine and Spirit Education Trust for 8 years, holds the prestigious WSET Diploma and now teaches to Advanced level both at home and abroad.
With a relaxed and approachable style Karen’s aim is quite simply to ditch the jargon, demystify wine and give consumers the confidence to try different wine styles.

www.northernwineacademy.co.uk

Top chef, Paul Heathcote is a champion of British regional food. Heathcote trained for 12 years with Raymond Blanc at Le Manoir Aux Quat' Saison and has subsequently built up a diverse portfolio in the north-west of England.
Paul's flagship restaurant at Longridge is supplemented by both the Simply Heathcotes and Olive Press restaurants in both Lancashire and now in Yorkshire at Leeds.

Michael Hjort

Ashley and Kelly McCarthy run the Sun Inn at Cotlon, Winners of: Excelle Pub of the Year 2008 and numerous other awards, the Sun is a classic Yorkshire gastropub. Ashley is a Festival regular and experienced demonstrator.

James Mackeenzie

Dorchester trained Stephanie Moon, was Yorkshire Life Chef of the year 2005 and Executive Chef for the 2 AA Rosette Clocktower Restaurant at Rudding Park in Harrogate. A keen demonstrator and competitor Stephanie is an regular at Yorkshire Events and Festivals, not only because of her strong presentation but also because of her keen interest in regional food. Most intriguingly this is displayed in Rudding's Yorkshire Tapas!

Andrew Pern

Andrew Pern is chef-proprietor of the Star Inn at Harome, near Helmsley in North Yorkshire. The Star is currently one of just eight pubs in the UK to have a Michelin star.
With his wife Jackie, Andrew has expanded to add rooms, a gourmet village shop and deli, an upmarket tearoom at Scampston, and a butcher’s shop in Helmsley.

See www.thestaratharome.co.uk for the restaurant and www.blackpuddingandfoiegras
.co.uk for information on Andrew's latest book.

Robert Ramsden

Robert Ramsden was head chef at the General Tarleton for some time and is now a key player for Delifresh Limited. Robert has supported the festival for some years and says, "The York Food Festival is a fantastic festival promoting and networking many of our counties true producers.
  I like to think of the festival as the Roots of Yorkshire, for the customer to meet the producer over the space of a week is a fantastic idea.
From the event every year I gain excitement and flair . The festival has become a  must on any food loving persons calendar. This year is going to be amazing"  

Scholes

Scholes, a family run farm since 1967 is now managed by the innovative brother and sister team, Richard and Rachel Scholes. They farm 2,500 hectares in the beautiful Yorkshire Wolds and this year have become the UK’s first commercial growers and producers of Frozen Flageolet Beans. Primarily growers and packers of potatoes and arable crops, they are now branching out into new distinctive specialist vegetables. Scholes are also growing the North’s biggest crop of Chicory and many varieties of Squash for the UK market. Their business combines traditional values with a progressive attitude and vision for the future.

Peter Sidwell

York 's own Peter Sidwell, now of the Good Taste Cafe in Keswick is an up and coming name in foodie circles. His recent book 'Simply Good Taste' got rave reviews and he was recently in the news cooking a three course meal on the summit of Skiddaw as part of the Keswick Mountain Festival.

Sharmini Thomas

Sharmini Thomas has been teaching Indian cookery for Adult education for past 10 years. Due to the growing interest and popularity of Indian cuisine, she is now conducting two sessions a week.

Whitby Catch

The Whitby Catch is the new and exciting seafood outlet in Whitby. Whitby is a traditional fishing port which, for generations, has been recognised as one of the premier homes of quality fresh fish products in Great Britain and the European Community.
The Catch aim to stock only the best available, with over 120 different fish products available daily.
Their premises at 1 Pier Road, Whitby, is just over the road from the Whitby Fish Market Come. It is worth visiting to see the display alone- a seafood connoisseur's dream- even non fish eaters will be impressed and be tempted to try something new.