To mark national ‘Eat what you want day’ (Saturday 11th May), HullBID has announced the dates of its annual Yum! Festival of food, drink and music. The event will run in Hull city centre from Thursday 8th to Saturday 10th August.

Following the success of last year’s event, Yum! is back and set to be bigger and better than ever. Celebrating all things local, there’ll be events and activities for all the family including the Yum! Emporium – a bustling market full of local produce and samples to get those taste buds tingling.

The Main Dish will be a stage in Queen Victoria Square that will play host to mouthwatering live cooking demonstrations from local chefs, food contests and local students showcasing their cuisine. Children will be able to take part in a teddy bears' picnic and make their own healthy fruit kebabs in the Vegetable Patch.

Not to mention the Real Ale and music festival that will run into the evening, sit back, relax, sup on one of Yorkshire’s finest independent real ales and listen to Hull’s local musical talent.

Members of the public will have the chance to get involved in the festival more than ever this year, with vegetable growing competitions, ‘cook offs’, recipe swap, a food trail around the city centre and a donut eating competition – it could get messy.

Kathryn Shillito, HullBID City Centre Manager, said: “Yum! has proved a huge success over the last three years and we want to build on that this year. We have so much on offer in our great city, many talented local chefs and delicious eateries, so it’s great to celebrate all things local.”

Events and activities will be announced over the coming weeks, keep in touch, ‘like’ us on Facebook.com/yumfoodfestival or follow us on Twitter @yumfoodfest