FOODIES gave Bournemouth its first serving of street grub at a new event today.

Fifteen caterers dished up a variety of cuisines at the Winter Gardens car park canteen.

Delicacies such as salt beef sandwiches, gourmet grilled cheeses, jerk chicken, and paella were among the dishes visitors feasted upon.

Organiser Tom Slaughter said: “I’ve been a one-man band organising this for the last six months. I have seen how successful these street food events are in London, Liverpool, Leeds, Birmingham, and Manchester and I thought it was high time we had one in Bournemouth.

“There’s been a great atmosphere and some great caterers, so if this event is successful I hope to bring it back to Bournemouth from May to August this year.”

Irene Smith and Steph McPhie, otherwise known as Pothead and Panface, were serving their home-spun recipes at the event.

“This is our first street food festival,” said Mrs Smith.

“We’re each serving a different dish, so we’re having a bit of a cook-off. I’m serving fruity, spicy chicken, which is my own recipe. We never cook by the book.”

Josh, a script-writer at Bournemouth University said he saw the event on Facebook, so he came down to check it out.

“I was really hungry and I really love food. You see a lot of street food events on TV and it looks good here. I’ve already had a salt beef sandwich and a slice of pizza and I’ve only been here ten minutes.”

Eat Street Bournemouth will be running until Sunday, February 1 at 2-11pm each day. There will also be three bars serving drinks and a DJ after 6pm.