PREPARE your tastebuds for a culinary extravaganza as the 12th Lancashire Food Festival comes to Accrington next weekend.

The festival will see foodies from across the county flocking to the town hall to sample and buy food, with traditional Lancashire foodstuffs selling alongside more exotic and international treats.

There will be cookery demonstrations, children’s workshops, wine tasting and a festival café.

And as if that wasn't enough celebrity chef Gino D’Acampo will be making an appearance on Saturday to perform two cookery demonstrations and sign copies of his book.

Born into a Neapolitan family, Gino inherited his grandfather’s (a head chef) love of cooking and started out cleaning the pizza oven of a restaurant in Naples. At 15 he went to catering college and developed his skills through the kitchens and restaurants of Europe, before coming to England aged 20.

Gino now owns his own import and distribution company, Bonta Italia, and works as development consultant chef for ready-meals manufacturing companies.

He said: “I’m really looking forward to coming to the Lancashire food festival and meeting with local producers and sampling fresh, local produce. The fresher the ingredients, the easier it is to make good food. This is the foundation of good Italian cooking.”

Also on hand to run the children’s foodie workshops on Saturday will be food festival favourite Philippa James. She will also be demonstrating ways to “feed the family” in the cookery theatre on Sunday.

Two of the area’s main tourist attractions have also embraced the food festival and will be offering something special for the weekend.

At Oswaldtwistle Mills visitors can watch sweets being made in the traditional way at Stockley’s Sweet Street (visit www.o-mills.co.uk) and the Haworth Art Gallery is serving free Lancashire oat cakes and cheeses with Lancashire tea.

The festival is organised by Leisure In Hyndburn with support from Made in Lancashire, Oswaldtwistle Mills and Hyndburn Borough Council.

Last year’s festival, which featured TV’s Hairy Bikers, won the best tourism event of the year at the Lancashire and Blackpool Tourism Awards.

The festival runs from Saturday, April 4 to Sunday, April 5. For tickets call 01254 380293. Visit www.lancashirefoodfestival.co.uk for more details.