Food festivals in Australia
I’m building a list of food festivals around Australia, I especially love the quirky and fun regional events that showcase local produce. Please support these wonderful foodie events by visiting a couple of festivals this year.
If you have a festival suggestion email me at info@eatwelltraveloften.com.au
Queensland
Stanthorpe Apple and Grape Festival |28–29 February 2020
The biennial festival is a celebration of the Granite Belt region’s produce and booming wine industry. Around 70,000 people attend what is arguably Australia’s leading harvest festival.
Noosa Eat and Drink Festival |14-17 May 2020
Australia’s top chefs and winemakers converge in the seaside town of Noosa for an incredible line-up of brunches, dinners, cocktail parties and food trails.
Panyiri Greek Festival | 23-24 May 2020
Australia’s biggest and longest running Greek festival in South Brisbane, starring the flavours of Greece and a line-up of authors, chefs, speakers and home cooks; as well as the dancers, singers and stars that will make the fourth weekend in May taste extraordinary – fried halloumi, honey puffs and dolmades by the plate full.
Indie Spirits Tasting | May 2020 TBA
The Indie Spirits Tasting is hosted by Australian Bartender magazine. The event is a showcase for craft distillers from around the country as well as boutique distributors bringing in interesting indie brands from around the world.
Relish Fraser Coast | 6 June 2020
Set along the Mary River, you can indulge in food and beverage matching sessions, listen to leading foodies as they share the fruits of their work, and learn from talented chefs who provide the unmistakable stamp of the region in every dish. The Relish Food and Wine Festival is set in Maryborough’s heritage streetscapes and riverside parks.
Taste Bundaberg Festival | 12-13 June 2020
Held across the month of June each year, Taste Bundaberg Festival is an invitation to discover a region built on the back of agriculture, supplying 25% of Australia’s fresh produce. Bundaberg’s reputation as a newly-discovered foodie paradise is growing fast.
Scenic Rim Eat Local Week | 27 June – 5 July 2020
Scenic Rim Eat Local Week celebrates the food and farmers of the Scenic Rim through an impressive range of events, from farm tours to cooking classes to producer dinners, with opportunities to meet the farmers and taste their wares. The program includes the Winter Harvest Festival.
Brisbane Good Food Month | July 2020
A month-long event that celebrates all things food and drink, in partnership with Brisbane’s best restaurants, food businesses and world-class chefs.
Brisbane Night Noodle Markets | 24 July – 4 August 2020
For two weeks, the Night Noodle Markets turn South Bank into an after-dark playground of all Asian cuisines and specialty street food.
Regional Flavours | 18-19 July 2020
Experience the Sunshine State on a plate at Regional Flavours. Queensland’s premier free food and wine festival is held in Brisbane’s picturesque South Bank Parklands. Producers from across Queensland share their wares at the market, which boasts more than 80 stalls.
Ekka – Royal Queensland Show | 7-16 August 2020
Queensland’s agricultural show attracts 400,000 people each year to a mammoth food and farming festival. Foodies can enjoy everything from fine dining and Insta-worthy food to classic show favourites like the dagwood dog and strawberry sundae.
Taste Champagne Brisbane | 17 August 2020 (check for dates in other major cities)
Taste Champagne is a grand tasting in which guests are invited to stroll at their own pace between houses, growers and cooperatives. In 2019, Taste Champagne Australia showcased 214 cuvées from 78 houses.
Kingaroy BaconFest | 21-23 August 2020
Enjoy a ‘pig day out’ at the Kingaroy BaconFest. This three-day sizzling food festival in Queensland’s beautiful South Burnett celebrats the versatility of bacon, putting Australian pork on centre stage. Discover the joy of bacon fries and chocolate dipped bacon, attend a bacon eating competition, and learn from the best with cooking demonstrations.
Taste Port Douglas | 27 – 30 August 2020
This four-day food festival offers delicious and memorable food experiences by leading Australian chefs. Long lunches, gourmet BBQ’s, live music, wine tasting, and the award-winning restaurants and fresh produce that Port Douglas is famous for.
The Curated Plate | August 2020 (dates to be announced)
A four-day food festival in Maroochydore on the Sunshine Coast, that brings together the region’s finest produce and producers, with the best chefs in the Australian and international dining scene. The program offers exclusive culinary events that span the region and showcase the unique local artisans.
Blackbutt Avocado Festival | 12 September 2020
Blackbutt holds Australia’s only Avocado Festival, with cooking demonstrations and the famous avo-toss. At the Avo Grow Tent there are demonstrations and talks by experts so you can learn about avocados from fertilising and grafting and pest-control – leaving you with a better appreciation of those yummy avocados and helping you to grow your own.
Moreton Bay Food and Wine Fest | 12-13 September 2020
With stunning Moreton Bay as the backdrop, enjoy top-notch bites and sips, along with a flavour-packed program of entertainment. Chefs, winemakers, brewers, producers and restaurateurs showcase Moreton Bay’s produce. Unique dining experiences, tastings, pop-up bars, cooking demonstrations and a beach tipi bar; a free event along Redcliffe Foreshore.
Capricorn Food and Wine Festival | 24-27 September 2020
The premier event for Central Queensland, showcasing all things food, wine, beer, spirits – against the backdrop of the Fitzroy River in Rockhampton. Over four days and nights, the Festival hosts signature dining experiences, food and wine master classes, cooking classes and food and wine exhibitors.
Oktoberfest | October 2020
Brisbane Showgrounds transforms into a German town as it hosts Australia’s largest Oktoberfest celebration, rated as one of the top 10 Oktoberfests outside of Germany. Pork knuckles, bratwurst and apple strudel, with all the German-brewed beer you could want.
Good Food & Wine Show Brisbane | 23-25 October 2020
A great day out for food and wine lovers. Wander the show floor and sample from hundreds of local and international exhibitors, chat to winemakers and distillers and hear their stories, join a masterclass and watch your favourite celebrity chefs cook live on-stage.
Reef Feast Palm Cove | October 2020 TBA
With a focus on the tropical lifestyle and unique regional produce, enjoy the Longest Lunch on Friday, feast and dance under the stars on Saturday and head to the markets on Sunday. Created and managed by wonderful volunteers.
Straddie Oyster Festival | November 2020 TBC
Treat yourself to a day in the sun sampling the best oysters and seafood Straddie has to offer.
Chinchilla Melon Festival |18-21 February 2021
Chinchilla is known as the ‘Melon Capital’ of Australia. The Melon Festival is held biennially and includes events such as melon skiing, melon iron man, melon bungee, pip spitting and melon tossing.
Tasmania
Tasmanian Wine Festival | 22-23 February 2020
A chance for wine lovers to discover the very best of Tasmanian wine and food in amongst the beautiful Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens in Hobart. Follow the trail through the Garden’s to find Tasmania’s best wine makers, giving you rare insights to their wine and the winemaking process.
Flinders Island Wild Weekend | March 2020
A very special weekend… held in the middle of the famous Flinders Island crayfish season:
* Fri 13th Mar – Mon 16th March, 2020
* Fri 20th Mar – Mon 23rd March, 2020
Bushwalks and sundowner swims, a gin taste and tour at the Furneaux Distillery, freshly cooked cray ready to serve at the Cray Shack. Cocktails on arrival… and delicious local produce across the entire weekend. My idea of heaven.
King Island Long Table | 2-7 April 2020
A five-day event that showcases what King Island has to offer from paddock to plate. Including, farm tours, kitchen sessions and a four- hour long lunch. An extremely popular event for food lovers of beef, game meats, cheese, seafood and local fruit and vegetables.
Everything is gathered and you get to meet with the growers and then help along with the chefs, before enjoying a long, lazy lunch.
Many activities are included in a rare opportunity to see ‘behind the scenes’ of life on King Island. Definitely worth the trip.
Flinders Island Food & Crayfish Festival | 15-19 April 2020
Flinders Island is a hidden gem floating off the north-eastern tip of Tasmania that offers the perfect mix of food, adventure, relaxation and people.
This year’s festival is about local food, local people … great stories and will be packed with culinary adventures to suit all tastes and ages. Tour the wineries and distilleries and chat to the makers producing wine, gin, vodka and whisky.
Top chef and Flinders Island frequent flyer, Jesse McTavish is back for the fifth time this time with colleague Scott Stevenson who will be joining three generations of Aboriginal female chefs in the kitchen to whip up a unique long table event you can only get in Bass Strait.
Dark Mofo Winter Feast | June 2020 (coincides with the Winter Solstice)
Dark Mofo is the provocative midwinter festival by the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA). Celebrating dark and ancient pagan rituals — music, art, food, and film explore the links between ancient and modern mythology, dark and light, birth and death.
The gothic banquet is one of the signature events of the Dark Mofo festival that draws crowds of up to 18,000 people a night. Expect long tables surrounded by a massive array of stallholders who dish up their world-class food and drinks. Or gather around a pit fire outside while listening to an array of musical performances.
Dark Mofo Winter Feast takes place on Hobart’s waterside docks.
Huon Valley Mid-Winter Festival | 10-12 Jul 2020
One of the premier festivals on the Tasmanian festival calendar is the Huon Valley Mid-Winter Festival, a three-day pagan-inspired celebration of the apple history of the region. If you haven’t dressed up and sung at apple trees in the dark recently, then this festival is an experience you must embrace!
The festival is run annually by Willie Smith’s at the Apple Shed and draws on the traditions of cider-producing regions of south-west England. The main event, the wassail, takes place on Saturday night and involves a ritual performed by Morris dancers from all over the country. Think fire, banging pots, singing and gunshots.
The festival beckons visitors from near and far with a perfect melding of irresistible local food, wine, beer and – of course – cider, warming bonfires, mesmerising folk music, dancing and storytelling.
Bicheno Food & Wine Festival |21 November 2020
The produce is unapologetically East Coast Tasmania, wine, cider, beer, spirits and the food. All the taste and wonder that clean air, pristine water, and untarnished soils can deliver. The location is literally seaside, looking directly over Waubs Bay, out to sea.
The Taste of Tasmania | End of December 2020 (date tbc)
Tasmania’s biggest food and wine festival adds flavour to the end of the year in the city of Hobart, celebrating the state’s famous produce and fine food in a carnival atmosphere on the city’s docks. Last year the festival showcased 98 small to large food and beverage producers, as well as local artists and musicians. The festival runs over New Years, and overlaps with the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race.
Festivale | 5-7 Feb 2021 Festivale is Tasmania’s premium summer event, a 3-day celebration to showcase Tasmanian food, beverages and entertainment. Held annually, Festivale attracts around 28,000 patrons and takes place on the first weekend of February in Launceston’s iconic City Park. Taste the best Tasmanian produce, cool climate wines, beers and entertainment, with master classes and chef cooking demonstrations.
