THE crème de la crème of global culinary talent is set to descend on East Lancashire for a fiesta of food.

Preparations are being made for the 15th annual Obsession festival at Northcote, in Langho, which will see 25 chefs, with 27 Michelin stars between them, cook up delicious dishes.

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This year’s event also marks the 30th year that Nigel Haworth, chef patron at the restaurant, has been in business.

Obsession 2015 will bring an exceptional line-up of local, national and international talent to East Lancashire, including Italians Enrico and Roberto Cerea, Jacob Jan Boerma, who runs Restaurant De Leest, in Holland and American-born Chinese chef Ken Hom, who was appointed honorary Officer of the Order of the British Empire for services to culinary arts in 2009.

Northcote’s Lisa Allen, who also has a Michelin star, will be cooking up foodie delights alongside Margot Janse and Angela Hartnett for the Girls’ Night Out evening on February 3.

And guests will be treated to a Taste of Portugal when Dieter Koschina, Vitor Matos, Jose Avillez and Miguel Laffan step up to the pass.

Each of the chefs will create a unique menu, custom made to showcase the very best of Lancashire’s and the North West’s fresh, local produce.

It means that Nigel has had to order in specialist ingredients, including 5kgs of Périgord truffles, which cost around £900 per kilo, and has had to source 2,500 wasabi flowers, so that £10,000 of the petals can be used by Australian chef Shaun Hergatt.

Nigel said: “I am really excited about Obsession this year.

“It has been a big journey to get it all organised. We have chefs flying in from all over the world and we have had to get all of the food orders in.

“But I am looking forward to the whole thing. I just want to get it going.”

Nigel, who trained as a chef at Accrington and Rossendale College, was awarded a Michelin star in 1996.

He will be cooking twice during Obsession, once alongside Shaun Rankin, Glynn Purnell and Kenny Atkinson to create the Great British Menu on February 6.

He will then close the sold-out festival, which will see 120 guests fill the Northcote dining room on each of the 15 nights, with a five-course meal, preceded with champagne and canapés the following evening.

Nigel said: “I decided to do this global event because it is 15 years of Obsession and 30 years of business.

“We will see how it goes this year before thinking about whether we will do it again.

“Fifteen nights is perhaps too much and we might go back to doing 10.

“But it is sold out this year and there is a demand for it so maybe we will do it again.”

Obsession runs from Friday until February 7.