Earlier this week, the 5pm Dining blog bumped into the organisers of this weekend’s Foodies Festival in Edinburgh.

They were in a jovial mood with ticket sales looking very healthy. I’ve just checked the weather forecast for the weekend and it’s looking fair.

Now, we’re not in the prediction game but we reckon that all of this means that the event at Inverleith Park is going to be busy.

Big Deal offer

If you want to buy tickets in advance, we are running a Big Deal on day tickets for tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday. Snap ’em up.

Last year’s record-breaking tenth anniversary festival welcomed over 38,000 visitors. As a result, Foodies has once again increased the size of its Inverleith Park operation.

Highlights of this year’s festival include Scotland’s top chefs cooking in the Chefs’ Theatre, a Vintage Tea Tent; an Artisan Producers Market; the Giant Pimm’s Teapot and Rum Bus; a Cake & Bake Theatre; the Kids’ Cookery School and a Live Music Stage.

Street Food Avenue

Always popular is the Street Food Avenue. To celebrate the Olympics being held in Brazil, there is a special focus on Brazilian street food including traditional Brazilian BBQ and Rio’s favourite dish: feijoada made from black beans, salted pork, trimmings, smoked sausage and jerk beef – all cooked in a traditional clay pot.

Foodies Festivals is running ten summer festivals this year with events stretching from Brighton To Edinburgh.

Head Chef Brian Grigor of Michelin-starred Number One at The Balmoral joined Foodies Festival earlier this week to officially launch this weekend’s festival at Inverleith Park 5th – 7th August.

Ahead of his demo in the Chefs’ Theatre, head Chef Brian created a unique Michelin-star ice-cream inspired by The Balmoral’s signature dish of smoked salmon, horseradish and caviar.