A host of top Manchester chefs are heading to Platt Fields park this weekend for a ‘Harvest Festival BBQ’ to raise money for those in food poverty across the city. The event is being hosted by Manchester Urban Diggers (MUD) and chef Mary-Ellen McTague, and happens on Saturday and Sunday at the park’s ‘market garden’.
The Saturday (September 17) starts at 12pm, is free entry to all and will feature a host of family-friendly activities all day organised by MUD. There will be apple pressing, forest school activities, drop in crafts like pottery and wheat dollies, a bar, a farmers market, music and a harvest show that anyone can enter.
Mary-Ellen, who’s worked for the likes of Heston Blumenthal at the multi-Michelin-starred Fat Duck and at Manchester restaurants like Aumbry and The Creameries, will also be showing off her BBQ skills cooking over coals on the day.
Meanwhile, the Sunday will host a special fundraising banquet at the market garden. Mary-Ellen will be cooking alongside Rachel Stockley, former head chef at Baratxuri, Isobel Jenkins from Isca in Levenshulme, and Flawd’s Beth Hammond.
They’ll be using produce grown in the market garden, along with ‘gleaned produce’, excess fruit and vegetables that have been harvested then donated. Tickets for the banquet, starting at 2pm and winding up at 5pm, cost £42.
“I’m thrilled to be working with MUD again to put on an Eat Well fundraiser in their beautiful market garden,” Mary-Ellen said. “We’ll be doing a family barbecue all Saturday afternoon using gleaned produce, and on the Sunday, we’ll be working with some of Manchester’s best chefs to create a three course harvest feast.”
Money raised will go directly to Eat Well MCR, the non-profit organisation co-founded by Mary-Ellen. It started during the first pandemic lockdown, and brought together restaurants in Manchester, such as Albert’s Schloss, Hawksmoor, District and Bundobust, to use their surplus food to feed those in food poverty across Manchester.
You can buy tickets for the banquet here.
Eat Well MCR delivers up to 1000 free meals per week, and since starting has provided a staggering 70,000 meals so far.
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