Australia’s best food festivals

Taste of Melbourne

Every year Taste of Melbourne attracts thousands of food-lovers who come to soak up the sunshine and a drink or two as they pick their way around stalls offering eats from the city’s most interesting restaurants. It’s back this November with local heroes MoVida’s Frank Camorra, Adam D’Sylva of Tonka and Philippa Sibley of Albert St Food and Wine leading the charge.

Taste of Sydney

Taste of Sydney, which returns next March, sees some of the city’s top restaurants (previously including Porteño, Popolo and Three Blue Ducks), producers and culinary personalities come together for four days of good food, cold drinks and fun in Centennial Park. Bring it on.

Sydney Italian Wine Festival

Speaking of vinous good times, Sydney’s first all-Italian wine festival launched in November, featuring more than 280 regional Italian wines, masterclasses with the likes of GT wine editor Max Allen and eats by Italian superstars such as Alessandro Pavoni of Ormeggio and Giovanni Pilu of Pilu at Freshwater.

Orange FOOD Week

Held in April, Orange FOOD Week (FOOD being an acronym for ‘food of Orange district’) showcases the best produce of the region over 10 days through the likes of foraging expeditions, day and night markets and a 100-mile dinner, which features produce sourced within 100 miles of Orange and cooked by local chefs.

Rootstock

Sydney’s first artisanal wine and food festival, Rootstock, kicked off with a bang in February, and it’ll be back the same month in 2014 for an expanded two-day event. There will be wine workshops with some of the biggest names in natural wine, food and coffee masterclasses, a produce market, evening festivals and, last year’s biggest hit, the Orange Wine Bar.

Noosa International Food & Wine Festival

Possibly the most unabashedly hedonistic of the food festivals, and definitely the biggest of the regional events, Noosa’s party each May still retains its personal touch thanks to the continued work of festival director and local restaurateur Jim Berardo. If you want to see the world’s top chefs in boardies and bikinis (not always a good thing), the Noosa International Food and Wine Festival is the festival for you.

Melbourne Food & Wine Festival

Two decades on, Melbourne Food & Wine Festival is firmly positioned as the premier Australian spot on the international food and wine calendar. In March 2014 it’s all about water, with highlights including the World’s Longest Lunch on the banks of the Yarra, a masterclass set on the Victorian coast and superb seafood from the likes of Christopher Kostow from California’s Meadowood, Ángel León from Aponiente in Spain and Australian favourites Dan Hong (Mr Wong) and Peter Gilmore (Quay).

Sydney Good Food Month

Good Food Month, Australia’s biggest food festival, brings together top local and international chefs, restaurants, producers, and food and wine authorities for four weeks of culinary events. Among them are talks with food experts and big-name chefs (Noma’s René Redzepi was this year’s biggest star), pop-up restaurants, collaborative lunches and dinners, and the Night Noodle Markets. Back next October.

Savour Tasmania

Dégustation dinners, nose-to-tail masterclasses, wine weekends and gastronomic discussions – each May Savour Tasmania explores the stellar food and wine offerings of the island state with the aid of both local and international chefs, as well as some of Australia’s leading wine experts.

Margaret River Gourmet Escape

Want a side of scenery with your festival? Now in its second year, the Margaret River Gourmet Escape this month brings together some of the hottest international chefs (Heston Blumenthal, Sat Bains and Julien Royer of Jaan, to name a few) along with a host of the nation’s top food and wine personalities for three days of sunset beach barbecues, winery lunches and collaborative dinners all set against the region’s stunning natural beauty.

Kangaroo Island Food Safari

Not your average food festival – South Australia’s KI Food Safari takes you right into the heart of Kangaroo Island’s rich culinary culture through farm and winery visits, fishing expeditions, cooking demonstrations, and tonnes of good eating and drinking. The luxe accommodation at Southern Ocean Lodge doesn’t hurt either.