'Queen of Cossack cuisine' Leeza will exhibit at Clitheroe Food Festival

The festival, on August 10th, will showcase the fare of over 100 of the best food and drink producers in the North, among them the "queen of Cossack cuisine" Leeza Murina, of the Russian Food Company, whose piroshki pies are feted by food enthusiasts and celebrities across the UK, including radio personality Chris Evans, who poured praise on them on air.

Piroshki pies are a Russian delicacy handcrafted from light, buttery dough, with 90 per cent less fat than traditional pastry and featuring unique fillings, such as sea bass and cod, salmon and cream cheese and chicken with cranberry and walnut.

Leeza Murina is a sixth-generation baker, who can trace her pie-making lineage to 19th Century St Petersburg.

As well as Leeza’s piroshki pies, the free-to-enter festival will showcase a feast of food bursting with flavour from some of the region’s best artisan producers, including:

● Biltong beef and outdoor-reared Bowland pork

● Beetroot gravadlax and organic ‘Bob’s knobs’

● Devil pie and spicy ‘weaping reaper’ sauce

● Cherry Bakewell gin and peanut butter hummus

Stuart Carefoot, chairman of Ribble Valley Borough Council’s community services committee, said: “The Clitheroe Food Festival showcases some of the best food and drink in the North, and we are delighted to welcome the Russian Food Company, which has cooked up a national reputation for combining authentic Russian savoury pie-making with modern British taste.”

Leeza Murina added: “I believe the Clitheroe Food Festival is the best in the country and am delighted to be taking part.

“I will be bringing my best piroshki, including a new vegan pie that is flying off the shelves!”

This year’s festival will also dish up a huge dollop of street entertainment, including the plate-flipping and napkin-sculpting slapstick of the Comedy Waiters, ‘daring deeds with dishes’ of Culinary Capers and madcap comedy of gingham-clad Dinner Ladies Rita and Freda. The popular Mad Science will set up a series of fun stations featuring demonstrations and hands-on activities throughout the town centre and there will be non-stop live music.

The Clitheroe Food Festival is organised by Ribble Valley Borough Council and sponsored by Bowland Brewery and Fort Vale Engineering. You can find the Russian Food Company at the festival’s marquee site on the Clitheroe Market Car Park.