Taking place in Adelaide, South Australia from April 27 to May 4, 2014, Tasting Australia is the largest and most significant food and wine festival of its kind in the South Pacific region, and one of the top festivals in Australia. Showcasing the very best of its culinary landscape—food, wine, beer, artisan curators, epicurean culture, chef personalities, and more—the 2014 event focuses on the legacy and unique origins of South Australia’s food and wine culture, and honors the history and personalities behind the culinary experiences throughout the state.
Since 1997, Tasting Australia has been held every other year in South Australia’s charming capital city of Adelaide. The event attracts food professionals from across Australia and the world, including renowned chefs and restaurateurs, as well as top brewers and winemakers—along with nearly 50,000 food-loving consumers.
The eight-day Tasting Australia festival—centered on Adelaide and regional South Australia—celebrates a theme of “Origins” focusing on introducing and honoring local food products, wines and their producers, and offers attendees the chance to interact with hospitality professionals, renowned chefs, and local food and wine personalities.
Curating the 2014 Tasting Australia program are Maggie Beer—South Australia’s own Alice Waters—and local celebrity chef, Simon Bryant, who has honored the region’s bounty of produce for decades. This bold new team is assembling an interactive program that teaches attendees about the regions, history, and culture of the gastronomy of South Australia and how the state has evolved into a modern culinary destination for Australia.
The festival’s “Market Place” serves as the hub located in the center of Adelaide and features a workshop kitchen, cooking school for kids, and a beautiful festival garden. Visitors will have the choice of nearly 50 events to attend, including food and wine-pairing classes, a food industry summit centric on economic and ethical issues, as well as the following:
· Regional Farmers’ Markets – The Tasting Australia events begin and end with a collective farmers’ market, which includes farmers from across South Australia’s fresh produce-yielding regions including the Barossa Farmers’ Market, Adelaide Showgrounds Farmers’ Market, and Willunga Farmers’ Market to share the best of their exceptional local harvests and creative dishes.
· Regional Tours – Tasting Australia does not stop in Adelaide. Attendees can take a day trip to the Barossa Valley to sample world-renowned wine and meet the makers, or tour the Ligurian honeybee farms during a food safari on Kangaroo Island, to name a few.
· Origins Dinner – Ten talented chefs cook three-course meals, each featuring South Australia’s finest produce complemented with the best examples of regional wines.
The Tasting Australia 2014 program provides a great platform to showcase its unique offerings to the world. The event aims to draw attention to the legacy of South Australia and its culinary offerings passed on by previous generations and inherited through its food culture. It is a festival to celebrate the community brought together around food, wine, and their creators and offers a great opportunity for food enthusiasts around the world to be inspired by culinary delights, cooking techniques, and share the passion with gourmands in the industry and beyond.
Photo courtesy of hern42.
Jessica Festa is the editor of the travel sites Jessie on a Journey (http://jessieonajourney.com) and Epicure & Culture (http://epicureandculture.com). Along with blogging at We Blog The World, her byline has appeared in publications like Huffington Post, Gadling, Fodor’s, Travel + Escape, Matador, Viator, The Culture-Ist and many others. After getting her BA/MA in Communication from the State University of New York at Albany, she realized she wasn’t really to stop backpacking and made travel her full time job. Some of her most memorable experiences include studying abroad in Sydney, teaching English in Thailand, doing orphanage work in Ghana, hiking her way through South America and traveling solo through Europe. She has a passion for backpacking, adventure, hiking, wine and getting off the beaten path.
