TASTING AUSTRALIA - TEN YEARS... AND GROWING

Tuesday December 13, 2007

The countdown has begun to the sixth biennial Tasting Australia festival of food, wine and beer to be held in Adelaide in October 2007, with a great line-up of international and Australian culinary professionals ready to take to the stage and the stoves.

Celebrated Indian-born screen actor and food author, Madhur Jaffrey will be making a welcome return visit to Adelaide to celebrate the event's tenth anniversary.  The US and UK-based star of television food shows and familiar face on a variety of Merchant Ivory movies was Tasting Australia's first Patron in 1997 and as the acknowledged Queen of the Curry, brings her wealth of experience and love of Indian food to the festival. 

From Ireland, TV chef Rachel Allen will be making her inaugural appearance at the Festival.  Ms Allen is a professional cook whose popular cookery series on BBCTV have made her a household name among food lovers throughout the UK and Ireland.  She also teaches at the famed Ballymaloe Cookery School.

A favourite at Tasting Australia is highly respected food authority Dun Gifford, founding director of the Boston-based food think tank, Oldways Preservation and Exchange Trust, an organisation devoted to promoting healthy eating and to encourage sustainable food choices.  Mr Gifford will be making a significant contribution to the festival's major conference event, The Adelaide Food Summit.

International celebrities and Tasting Australia favourites including Rick Stein, Antonio Carluccio and Nick Nairn are among those hoping to confirm attendance in the New Year.

Many of Australia's top chefs and TV presenters will be taking part in more than fifty events for the media, food and drink professionals and food-loving public, among them Gabriel Gate, Alla Wolf-Tasker, Will Studd and Serge Dansereau.

To be held from October 13 to 20, 2007, the next Tasting Australia will be our sixth event and promises to be our most comprehensive.  It began in 1997 so it seemed appropriate that the theme for 2007 is Ten Years... and Growing.  There will be a strong focus on youth and the future, with aspects of the event looking at growing our young people and of course there will be an amazing array of truly Australian gastronomic experiences for the food lover at large.

As a departure from previous festivals, Tasting Australia 2007 will begin with a major public celebration, the LifeStyle FOOD Channel Feast for the Senses on Saturday October 13 through to Sunday October 14 along the Adelaide Riverbank precinct beside the River Torrens. This will be a curtain raiser for the festival and a chance for visitors to meet some of our top producers.

During the week to follow, there will be a wide variety of mouth-watering opportunities at more than 40 major events.

The South Australian Museum will be the venue for a Tasting Australia Festival Village, where such events as The James Squire Food, Beer and Wine Writers' Festival and the Adelaide Food Summit will be held.  This major forum will cover such food-related issues such as nutrition, food and exercise, the effects of food additives, fast and slow food, cookery education, marketing to children and the role of the media in consumer food choices.
 
The Miele Rich Traditions cooking classes, to be held at the Hyatt Regency Adelaide, will be a new feature of Tasting Australia, allowing the public to have hands-on experiences of preparing and enjoying foods and cuisines from around the world with respected professionals.

For the professionals, the LifeStyle FOOD Channel Australian Regional Culinary Competition will be held at the tafeSA Regency Campus, giving the nation's regional chefs and apprentices an opportunity to compete in this unique national contest.  And Le Cordon Bleu World Food Media Awards, the equivalent of the foodie 'Oscars', will recognise the cream of the world's food and drink publishing at its Awards presentation night on Saturday October 20 at the Hyatt Regency Adelaide.

For further information please contact:
Michele D'Aloia
Public Relations Manager, Events South Australia
Tel: +61 8 8463 4695
Mob: + 61 0417 837 896

Tasting Australia is owned and managed by Events South Australia, a division of the South Australian Tourism Commission.