The Noosa International Food & Wine Festival just celebrated its 10-year birthday, and what a party it was! Australia’s premier food event pulled out all stops to mark the occasion, with an amazing line-up of local, national and international chefs, food personalities, winemakers and first class entertainment. Visitors to the festival were spoilt for choice, with a diverse selection of cooking demonstrations, panel discussions, lunches and dinners, food and wine tastings, lifestyle events, concerts and much more – all taking place in stunning locations.

Seafood Lunch on Noosa Main Beach

With Mother Nature turning on her best, the crowds gathered and a good time was had by all, as can be seen by this selection of photos taken at the festival:

The gates are open!

Entrance to the Festival Village

The Asian Food Trail lunch is one of the most popular events of the festival and sells out almost immediately. Taking place at Garnisha Spice Farm at Boreen Point, our lunch was cooked by a stellar line up of chefs, including David Thompson, Martin Boetz, Christine Manfield and Poh Ling Yeow.

Asian Food Trail Lunch
With chef David Thompson, getting a preview taste of his amazing curry. That’s Christine Manfield in the foreground.

With David Thomson

Poh Ling Yeow, David Thompson & Martin Boetz, preparing our banquet

David, Poh & Martin

Plating up the Drunken Chicken, one of the many dishes we enjoyed at the Asian Food Trail

Drunken Chicken

One of the many lively panel discussions, this one was titled “Eat, Play Travel – must-do food destinations”

Panel discussion

The culinary exhibition in the Grand Marquee included the finalists and winners of the delicious Produce Awards and offered tastes of a diverse selection of products. There were some beautiful cheeses on offer.Cheese tastings

It also provided an opportunity to taste some lesser known foods, such as this Umi Budo, an edible seaweed

Umi Budo

Other tastings included a vast selection of seafood and meats, including this beautiful Charcuterie

Charcuterie

One of the highlights of the festival for me was a new event, the Seafood Feast on the Beach. Taking place on stunning Noosa Main Beach in the Barefoot Marquee, we were encouraged to take our shoes off as we arrived and let our toes enjoy the soft golden sand. I happily obliged!

Beach Barefoot Marquee

We were treated to a phenominal selection of seafood dishes – check out the menu!

Seafood Feast Menu
BBQ Glacier 51 Toothfish and Salsa Creosa – quite possibly the most beautiful fish I have ever eaten

Toothfish
Kinkawooka Mussels with Black Pepper & TomatoMussels

Raw Mooloolaba Bincho Tuna & Yellow Fin Tuna, fresh Kolophon Capers, Preserved Lemon & Oil

Tuna with capers, preserved lemon & oil

Time for some wine tasting! There were some excellent wines represented at the festival including one of my favourites, Bay of Fires from Tasmania. Their Chardonnay is delicious!

Wine tasting

The festival offered a fantastic line-up of entertainment, including Martini Club, Queen Bohemian Rhapsody tributeand Timomatic. This photo is taken from the Gala Opening Night – Edible Music. In a collaboration of food and music, the Queensland Virtuosi Orchestra, flautist Jane Rutter and soprano Taryn Fiebig were supported by ten of the world’s best chefs including Tetsuya Wakuda, Carlo Cracco and Andre Chiang cooking on stage.

Opening Gala night

Rubbing shoulders with the who’s who of the culinary world and enjoying first-class food and wine in beautiful Noosa – what more could a foodie ask for? Congratulations to Festival Director Jim Berardo and his Organising Committee for putting on yet another fabulous festival.

With Jim Berardo

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One Comment

  1. Great photos! I was lucky enough to be at the festival too, it was all good but the highlight for me was the cocktail party on the beach. Such a stunning location

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