The fourth Taste of Edinburgh festival kicked off in the capital on Friday, with as many as 20,000 foodies expected to descend on Inverleith park throughout the weekend.

Six events will take place across the three-day festival, with gastronomes from across the capital getting the chance to cook alongside top chefs for the first time this year.

More than 100 fine food and drink exhibitors will be on hand to ply their wares while celebrity chefs including Nick Nairn, Rachel Allen and Jean Cristophe Novelli take wannabe chefs through their paces.

A dozen top Edinburgh restaurants will also be on site, with those attending the festival able to buy sample sized dishes for a fraction of the chef's normal prices. A selection of fish, meat and vegetable dishes, as well as desserts, will be served up from the temporary kitchens of restaurants including Centotre, Cucina, Tony's Table and Hotel Du Vin.

Nick Nairn, who is running this year's Cook School, told STV News: "It's a fantastic opportunity for people to come and try restaurants, just a little bite-sized sample without actually having to go and splash out on a whole night out.

"It's also a great opportunity to come and meet like-minded people, who enjoy eating, who enjoy the joie de vivre, a glass of wine or a glass of champagne and the Edinburgh sunshine. It's become quite a social event but there are other things, like the demonstrations, a fantastic line-up of chefs this year, real diversity."

It is the fourth time the Taste Festival has been held in the capital and the second time it has been hosted by Inverleith Park. And top chef Nick Nairn reckons 2010 will be the biggest and best yet. He added: "The great thing about events that have a bit of longevity, that have been here for a while, is they start to develop a bit of stature, they get a bit of a critical mass behind them so you can attract big names like Giorgio Locatelli and Jean Christophe Novelli. And we've got Aldo Zilli coming up from London so there's some great names.

"And for the first time, you'll have a chance to actually do some proper cooking here. There's a cookery school where you can go along and actually cook a dish and eat it. And thank you very much to Edinburgh Environmental Health for working out that one!

"But the guys from my school are running a cook school here, so you've the chance to cook, to watch top chefs in action, to sample from restaurants and it's all here in one site. So I'll bet it's going to be the busiest year yet."

Edinburgh City Council's Festivals Champion, Councillor Steve Cardownie, said: "It's fantastic. It's another part of our festival programme, a festival of food, with fantastic chefs, the best food, the best wine, hopefully great weather and a fantastic setting so we're hoping it's going to be a great success.

"I'm quite happy to taste anything quite frankly. I'll be taking part in some wine tasting, there's some foreign beers here, and we even have a kids corner this year to keep the little ones amused so there's something for everybody."