Thousands enjoy flavour of Southsea food festival

The popular two-day event, organised by Portsmouth City Council, returned to Palmerston Road and brought together flavours and culinary dishes from all around the world.

The family festival featured hundreds of street market stalls from across the region, with traders serving up a wide variety of global cuisine, including Thai, Caribbean, Italian and, closer to home, pie and mash.

There was also plenty of free tasters, demonstrations from chefs and live music organised by the Wedgewood Rooms, Albert Road. The event was managed by Love Southsea on Saturday and the Hampshire Farmers Market on Sunday.

Daniela Carr, owner of Sea Food and Eat It, has had a stall at the food festival for a number of years. She said: ‘Street food is becoming more popular and that’s such a great thing as the food is freshly cooked in front of customers.’

Andre Guedeney, owner of Andre’s Food Bar on Osborne Road, had a food stall at the festival for the first time.

He said: ‘Our place has been running in Southsea for over 20 years but this is the first time we have ever taken part. It’s been great. The event gets bigger and better each year and it’s really good for Southsea in general.’

Graham Reed, from Tipner, and Sammy Christer, of Gosport, attended the festival on Saturday.

Graham said: ‘There’s such a huge amount and range of food to choose from. The atmosphere is great.’

Matt Smith, from Portsmouth, said: ‘There’s such a variety of food on offer and the event brings people together and promotes local businesses.’