Edinburgh Food Festival to reopen this weekend as Fringe live events return

Edinburgh Food Festival is set to return this weekend, kicking off Assembly’s festival season.

Having been cancelled along with all programming for Edinburgh’s Festival Fringe last summer, the free ten-day festival will return to George Square Gardens from Friday, July 23 until Sunday, August 1.

The festival, which began in 2015, is supported through Scotland’s Events Recovery Fund delivered by EventScotland.

After a year’s hiatus, Festival Fringe live events will return to Edinburgh from Thursday, July 29.

In addition to food and drink to enjoy in the Gardens, the Edinburgh Food Festival will have a curated selection of market stalls so that visitors can take their favourite tastes of Scotland to enjoy at home.

Vendors at the festival will include The Fat Flamingo, Moskito Spanish Bites, Prime Street Food, Mana Poké, Paddle and Peel, Jarvis Pickle, Alanda’s and Chick + Pea.

Dani Rae, General Manager at Assembly Festival, said: “We’re delighted to be back in George Square Gardens preparing for our summer of festivals once more.

“The hospitality and cultural industries are closely intertwined, and the Edinburgh Food Festival has served as the perfect entrée to our Gardens experience since 2015.

“It has been a real pleasure to welcome back so many of our food and drink partners this year – and we cannot wait to see guests enjoying themselves at live events again!”

Organisers say the Gardens have been designed from the ground up to ensure the safety of visitors and staff.

Capacities in the outdoor and indoor venues have been reduced to enable physical distancing measures to be put in place.

All payments at the box office, food outlets and bars will be contactless to avoid unnecessary cash handling and there will be additional cleaning as well as hand sanitisation stations located throughout the Gardens.

Paul Bush OBE, VisitScotland’s Director of Events, said: “I am delighted to see more event organisers taking the cautious steps needed to allow them to deliver familiar experiences for everyone to enjoy in person and the Edinburgh Food Festival is another great example of the industry adapting to an everchanging situation while prioritising the safety of its audience.”