Tastes from distant continents and food produced in Thanet will be just two attractions of the Isle’s third and biggest and best World Food Day on Thursday, October 16.

Admission will be free to Margate’s Winter Gardens from 10am-3pm for an event packed with interest and activities.

There will be special guest speakers, food tasting and displays, cookery demonstrations, freebies and plenty of delicious products to buy.

Craft demonstrations, art displays, community and trade stands will all be part of the day with more than 30 exhibitors.

It has been organised by Thanet Fairtrade Initiative and Thanet council in a combined effort to keep Thanet a Fairtrade Island. The Co-Op is also a main backer of WFD.

The theme this year is world food security and the challenges of climate change and bioenergy.

Special guest speaker will be Trinidadian Rose Rajbansee who has flown in from the Caribbean. She is area president for the Associated Country Women of the World for Central and South America and the Caribbean.

She will be supported by Anthony Curwen, managing director of the Quex Park Estate Company and Quex Museum Enterprises and the Co-Ops’s Debbie Mitchell.

Tesco Extra’s community chairman Dennis Hart will be taking part.

Participating primary schools are Salmestone, Garlinge and St Gregory’s along with Ellington School for Girls and Dane Court.

Foodies can sample Thai and Indian food, waffles, pancakes, speciality breads and preserves.

There will be a Fairtrade fashion show and a cooking demonstration by Thanet College chefs.

St Nicholas Court Farm will be selling potatoes and advice on a healthy lifestyle will be provided by the East Kent and Coastal Primary Care Trust.

Thanet Coast Project will be promoting sustainable fishing and marine conservation.

TFI chairman Tammy Stewart-Jones said: “There is not a competition between Fairtrade and local products. Fairtrade supports communities in the developing world and local communities as well.

“I think more people understand the need for Fairtrade because if we are feeling the financial pinch in the UK where we have good education and decent healthcare paid for, they can imagine how much worse it is in developing countries.”

For more information on Fairtrade activities in Thanet, visit www.thanetfairtrade.org.uk