IN Food

If you love your food and wine, there are two festivals you definitely want to be at in July.


We all know West Australians love their food. We’re also spoilt to be able to enjoy some of the finest produce on land and from the ocean.


So what better way to enjoy it than match it with some of the country’s best chefs, cooks, wine makers, sommeliers, patissiers and cheese makers? As fresh produce and the finest purveyors of how to turn it into something delicious come together in one place, it will be nothing short of heavenly.


First up, the Good Food & Wine Festival is three days of food and wine indulgence perfect for gourmets and interested amateurs to weekend barbecue fanatics and those who just love tasty food.


WA’s favourite butcher, Vince Gareffa returns to demonstrate how to choose, cut and cook the best local meat while you’ll learn plenty from the sommeliers at the Riedel Decanter Bar.


One of this year’s highlights is sure to be the new Private Dining Room which offers an exclusive and sophisticated dining experience for 16 people per session. Meet some of your favourite celebrity chefs who will prepare a beautiful three-course meal, followed by an insightful Q&A session.


Guaranteed to be mouth-watering is Andrew Fielke’s Tuckeroo Cooking School where you’ll smell, taste and learn about some of Australia’s finest home-grown ingredients. Also new this year are cheese master classes from Lyndey Milan, which are situated in the brand new Cheese Alley pavilion. Whether you want to assemble a mouth-watering cheese platter or create cheese harmony on your palette, these sessions are the answer to your cheese-loving prayers.


The celebrity theatre is the place to see live demonstrations of gourmet recipes and discover industry tips and tricks from well-known faces and names. Among others, you’ll see Manu Feildel, George Calombaris, visiting British chef Ainsley Harriott and patissier Adriano Zumbo.


Adriano dreams up, experiments and creates all the sweet stuff his five Sydney outlets sell. Credited with restoring the croquembouche to fashionable, Adriano says he gains inspiration from just about anywhere. One of the most obvious is his cake 'Marry Me, Ed' which is named after a good-looking friend who is always being asked out.


This was the kid who ran amok in his parents’ supermarket, gobbling all the sugar and sweets he could find. Adriano says that’s what gave him his sweet tooth and the desire to eventually become a patissier who used his love for mixing interesting ingredients to create amazing desserts rather than making cream buns and lamingtons forever.


“I started my apprenticeship at 15 in a bakery and really liked it,” says 30-year-old Adriano. “I realised I really liked putting different flavours together, experimenting and being creative. I pushed myself to create and realised that I really wanted to do something different.


“When I started there wasn’t a lot of interest in pastry but now it has a big following and people are trying all sorts of things.”


Later in July, the Mundaring Truffle Festival will feature truffle-themed dishes, exhibitions and master classes to inspire and tantalize the taste buds. The two-day festival features the Perth Hills Wine Show, truffle master classes, how to match truffles with the right wine, a long table lunch, food stalls and demonstrations.



The Good Food & Wine Show is at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre from July 13 – 15.
Tickets from Ticketek. The Mundaring Truffle Festival is on July 28 & 29 with tickets through BOCS.