Chefs and celebrities at Eden's Harvest Food Festival

James Wong

Ethnobotanist James Wong is best known as a presenter on Countryfile and for his award-winning BBC TV series Grow Your Own Drugs. He's coming to Eden on 6 October, where he’ll give a talk about the origin and the use of spices, showcasing some of those that grow in our Rainforest Biome. That evening, James will be offering an educational talk, Incredible Edibles, revealing the astonishing array of rare, exotic and luxury foods that can be grown by even the least green-fingered among us. Please book for this event.

Dan Lepard

Artisan baker, food writer and journalist Dan Lepard is Britain’s leading bread expert. He writes a weekly baking column in the UK’s Guardian newspaper and has just published his latest book Short & Sweet. Eden will be the first venue to stock it, where Dan will be available for a limited number of book signings on 3 October. At 3pm that day he’ll also showcase his newest innovative recipes, share his thoughts on the benefits of well-made, artisan bread, and offer some of his own bread to taste.

Michael Smith

Australian chef Michael Smith heads up the kitchens at the award-winning Porthminster Cafe in St Ives, Cornwall. He’s also been the driving force behind the vegetable garden tucked away behind the beach, whose fresh produce is actually served up in the restaurant. On 5 October at 3pm Michael will be doing cookery demonstrations at Eden, showing the public how to make an exclusive recipe that he has developed using fresh, local ingredients.

James Crowden

James Crowden is a Somerset-based author and poet. He has written several books, including Ciderland, in which he takes us on a tour around the beautiful and fragrant West Country orchards, and Cider – The Forgotten Miracle, a witty investigation into the history of farmhouse cider. James will be sharing more of his apple poetry at Eden at 2pm on 1 October. Read James’s Cider Haiku, on the Eden Project Blog, to get in the mood.

Norman Musa

Penang-born Norman Musa is executive chef of Ning restaurant, Manchester, where he also leads Malaysian cookery classes. He has attracted crowds at food festivals around the UK and is a well-known TV personality in Malaysia. On 7 and 8 October, at 3pm, Norman will be doing public cooking demonstrations at Eden, in association with Malaysia Kitchen, bringing to life home-grown herbs in creations like Roti Jala, Chicken Gulai and the classic Malay curry.

Sanjay Kumar

Bengal-raised, Cornwall-based chef Sanjay Kumar is passionate about fresh, community eating. His experience ranges from cooking for the King of Saudia Arabia to serving up delicacies at Falmouth's oldest hotel, the Greenbank. Chair of Cornwall’s Slow Food group, he makes frequent appearances at food festivals in the South West, including the Newlyn Fish Festival and Bristol's Love Food Spring Festival. He will be giving a cooking demonstration at the Eden Project at 3pm on 4 October.

Clive Cobb

Former advertising creative director and photojournalist, Clive Cobb is owner of Town Mill Bakery. These organic artisan bakers, with restaurants across the South West, make bread the old fashioned way. Eden recently teamed up with Clive to re-invent the way our food is prepared, cooked and presented. He’ll be taking part in the Great Eden Bake-Off on 1 October at 3pm, an afternoon of bread, baking and banter.

Jorge F Boni

Head baker at Lyme Regis's Town Mill Bakery, Jorge has previously worked in bakeries around the world, including France, where he trained to become a Master Baker, Germany, the USA and Australia. He'll be taking part in the Great Eden Baker-Off on 1 October at 3pm, an afternoon of bread, baking and banter. Get a taste of what's to come in this video of a day in the life of the Eden Bakery.

Tom Hazzledine

Best known for Baker Tom’s bread, which supplies hotels and restaurants across Cornwall, Tom Hazzledine is working hard to change the preconceptions of bread being bad for us. During the Great Eden Bake-Off on 1 October, Tom will be encouraging people to rediscover bread in its many various forms, styles and flavours and realise that it can actually be good for you – as well as incredibly delicious.

Richard McGeown

Restaurateur Richard McGeown, who trained with the likes of Gordon Ramsay and Raymond Blanc, is heading up Cornwall’s Bread & Wine, a brand new restaurant serving locally sourced food in a centuries-old, vaulted barn. The place is also home to Cornish Vineyards, and Richard hopes to bring a giant grape press to Eden’s Harvest Festival, which members of the public can help to tread.

Susan Hudson

Susan Hudson runs workshops in Suffolk and Norfolk, teaching the craft of real bread making. She is heading to Eden’s Harvest Festival with her husband William, who heads up East Anglia Food Link, a not-for-profit organisation working to create a more resilient food system. They’re bringing a beautiful wooden flour mill all the way from Norfolk, where visitors will be able to get in some traditional milling practice and then make some delicious bread using it.

Colin Tudge

Biologist and writer Colin Tudge is an expert on sustainable food systems. His latest book is entitled Good Food for Everyone Forever. On 5 October he'll be in debate with archeobotanist John Letts, discussing food security, and how local wheat production can play a role in taking us towards self-sufficiency, in the face of uncertainty about climate, fertiliser and fossil fuel.

Phil Harrison

Manager of Eden’s new Bakery, Phil has been a baker since the age of 17. He’s had experience of creating the likes of pies, cakes, sweetbreads in a bakery in Cardigan, as well as working in a traditional artisan boulangerie in the middle of a Britanny village. Phil will take part in the Great Eden Bake-Off on 1 October, an afternoon of bread, baking and banter. Read a profile of Phil on the Eden Project blog.