Launched in 1993, the annual Melbourne Food and Wine Festival is one of Victoria’s hallmark events. Each March the festival celebrates Melbourne and Victoria’s vibrant food and wine culture. 2012 will celebrate the 20th year anniversary of the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival and will be held over 2– 21 March 2012.
Operating on a not-for-profit basis, the festival’s charter is to promote the quality produce, talent and lifestyle of Melbourne and Victoria, and to reinforce Melbourne as the food and wine capital of Australia. Since its beginnings with a small program of events, the festival has grown to become known for iconic events including Langham Melbourne MasterClass, World’s Longest Lunch and Cellar Door at Southgate.
The festival is managed by a board of management and is supported by a small team who are responsible for the coordination of its iconic events, in close collaboration with Victoria’s food and wine industry.
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Entering its 20th year, the Festival’s prestigious reputation attracts the world’s biggest culinary and wine personalities to its door to participate in a program that also showcases Victoria’s own celebrated chefs, restaurateurs, winemakers, sommeliers, producers and artisans. In an unprecedented 20 days, the 2 – 21 March 2012 will mark the 20th anniversary celebrations for the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival. The 20 day-long feast will look back on the achievements of the past and enjoy the abundant food and wine Melbourne offers two decades on.
The Melbourne Food & Wine Festival commenced in 1993 with a simple program of 12 events. Since its inception it has grown annually, the Festival attracts food and wine experts from across the world, including world-renowned chefs and winemakers, growers, purveyors, authors, food and wine commentators and critics to present alongside some of Australia's best.
Celebrity food critic Matt Preston was previously the festival’s sole creative director, the 2009 Melbourne Food and Wine Festival being his last.
The 19th Melbourne Food and Wine Festival attracted more than 350,000 fun-loving foodies across more than 250 events over 11 delicious days.
The Festival was bookended by two hallmark events:
2011 International talent included: Nigella Lawson (UK), Elena Arzak (Spain), Roy Choi(USA), Margaret Xu (Hong Kong), Pedra Miguel Schiaffino (Peru), Atul Kochhar (UK), Rachel Allen (Ireland), Telmo Rodriguez (Spain), Zakary Pelaccio (USA), Jean-Guillaume Prats (France), Chris Salans (Indonesia), Warren Gibson (NZ), Thorsten Schmidt (Denmark), Anna Hansen (UK), Brett Crittenden (UK), Bompas & Parr (UK), Angela Hartnett (UK), Alexa Johnston (NZ), Hisako Ogita (Japan)
2011 Australian talent included: Stephanie Alexander, Maggie Beer, Will Studd, Gabriel Gaté, George Calombaris, Mary Calombaris, Ben Shewry, Philippe Mouchel, Anna Gare, Jude Blereau, Paris Cutler, Cath Claringbold, Rosa Mitchell, Anthony Ross, Sally Wise, Alla Wolf–Tasker, Adrian Richardson
In 2010, the Langham Melbourne MasterClass line-up includes chefs David Chang (Momofuku, New York), Massimo Bottura (Osteria Francescana, Modena, Italy) and Claude Bosi (Hibiscus, London), and winemaker Gaia Gaja (Angelo Gaja’s daughter).
Beyond Langham Melbourne MasterClass, the festival has announced that its hallmark World’s Longest Lunch will celebrate Melbourne’s Chinese heritage and the return of Heat Beads Hawkers’ Market to Queen Victoria Market, featuring tasting plates from a dozen top Asian restaurants. Simultaneous to the World’s Longest Lunch in Melbourne, the community of Marysville will host one of 19 Regional World’s Longest Lunches one year on from the Black Saturday bushfires. The event forms part of the festival’s program of more than 70 regional events.[1]
The festival will also grow and install an urban food-producing garden – ‘Metlink Edible Garden’ – in Melbourne’s City Square, exploring the food city dwellers can grow in their suburban backyards and the produce strengths of Victoria’s regional ‘backyard’.
In 2009, the Festival hosted international culinary luminaries who numbered 30 Michelin stars among them, including The Fat Duck’s Heston Blumenthal (3 stars), The French Laundry’s Thomas Keller (7 stars) and Noma’s Rene Redzepi (2 stars), as well as world-class winemakers such as the Rhone Valley’s Michel Chapoutier and Champagne’s Sophie and Pierre Larmandier.
The Festival continues to receive both local and international acclaim. Recent domestic award wins include the Melbourne Airport 2008 and 2009 Victorian Tourism Awards [2] in the category of ‘Major Festivals and Events’ and 2008 Melbourne Awards in the category of ‘Community Division – Contribution to Profile’; international award wins include 2008 International Festival and Events Awards Gold for ‘Best Festival Program’.
On Melbourne:
"Melbourne reminds me why I do what I do, why I enjoy all this food-related stuff." Chef Heston Blumenthal, The Fat Duck (Bray, UK) [3]
"I’d rather eat in Melbourne than Paris." US chef, author and television personality Anthony Bourdain
"Melbourne is the foodiest city in Australia. We are all food-mad, we have the best produce, the best coffee, the best cocktails, the best ethnic eating, and the best home cooks... Every great country has one city that is its foodie heart, its ‘stomach’. In France, it is Lyons, home to the bouchons, women-led bistros. In Italy, it is Bologna, home to pasta, prosciutto, parmigiano. In Australia, it is Melbourne." Jill Dupleix, Melbourne Food and Wine Festival Creative Director – Global
On Melbourne Food and Wine Festival:
"The Chicago Tribune named this particular festival as one of the five things you should do before you die." Chef Damien Pignolet, Bistro Moncur (Sydney, Australia)
"For a piece de resistance in a city obsessed with food, little beats the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival." Global travel guide, Frommer’s (who in 2009 published the festival among its 300 Unmissable Events & Festivals Around The World[4] ).
"The Festival is what the Victorian public is all about, food, family fun. It’s my favourite time of year." Chef Shane Delia, Maha Bar & Grill (Melbourne, Australia) and business partner to George Calombaris
"Melbourne Food and Wine Festival is a real part of the Victorian community because... it’s inclusive and broad based, offers diversity." Chef Christine Mansfield, Universal (Sydney, Australia)
"Frankly I’ve never seen a festival so genuinely embraced by such a diverse audience. Food has the capacity to engage and link people and the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival delivers that sense of engagement in spades – from high end haute cuisine to local events in small rural communities." Chef Alla Wolf-Tasker, Lake House (Daylesford, Victoria)