CHEFS from around the world were in Bradford at the weekend to make the sixth World Curry Festival the biggest yet.

Tens of thousands of visitors were expected to attend, at the new venue of Lister Park, over the two days, despite wet weather.

The State Minister of Penang in Malaysia, Dato Abdul Malik Kasim, and renowned chef Noor Il Karim, travelled to Bradford to be part of the grand opening.

Helping to open the event on Saturday, Bradford Council leader David Green said the city was world renowned for its food, but the links it was making with Penang "went beyond our love of curries."

Cllr Green said: "We are working on real trade and commercial links and talking about joint ventures to create jobs and wealth in Bradford and Penang, and elsewhere. It is important that we see this is something a lot bigger."

He said Bradford had been the UK curry capital four times in a row and was going for a fifth, adding: "Sorry, Glasgow and Birmingham, you are going to come second again."

The Festival's founder and chief executive officer, Zulfi Karim, said the two days of "gastro diplomacy" was about people coming together and sharing food, ideas and cultures.

He added: "Food is one of the things that brings us all together. I am absolutely proud of the city for providing the cuisine that we do and the links we make globally."

The festival had a sobering start with news of a tragic accident when a crane collapsed in the Holy city of Mecca, killing more than 100 people, and a minute's silence was observed at the opening ceremony, which was also addressed by former television presenter Christa Ackroyd, who was described by Mr Karim as an "ambassador" of the festival.

Mr Karim said the scale of the festival, at its new venue, made it the biggest and grandest so far, with something for everybody.

Attractions included a cooking school, featuring a number of chefs including Rahila Hussain, a previous winner of ITV's Food Glorious Food, who was giving cookery lessons to the public, including families.

She said: "We are teaching them to how to deal with herbs and spices and trying to give parents, and their children, the confidence to cook properly. It's important they know how to cook and we hope we can pass on the skills and knowledge that they need."

Visitors could take advantage of a number of street food stalls, including Thai, Malaysian and Punjabi, while a traditional Malaysian tea vendor was demonstrating his skills.

Mr Karim said there was a huge shortage of Asian chefs and he hoped the festival would change people's perceptions.