UnWined 2011

The November 2011 UnWined festival was a wine lovers' heaven and a food lovers' paradise when it came to sampling fresh Gascoyne produce from the cooking demonstration stage.  

Held over two days the festival showcased West Australian wines and all Gascoyne produce.  65 marquees were set up as mini stalls for wineries and Paul and Rochelle Shain from Desert Bloom made the trek from Carnarvon to sell their creamy coffee and icy treats for the weekend.

Four local growers and Loveapple supplied produce for the cooking demonstration stage, Panorama catering and display stalls.  Some pictures are below and an audio on the right hand column.

The Serious Bean coffee cart
Paul Shain, Peter Manifis (wearing one of Paul's tomatoes) and Don Hancey
Panorama catering tent

2011 Long Table Lunch a sell out

Just over 120 people attended the Long Table Lunch on the majestic lawns at Brickhouse station on Friday the 19th August. 

The lunch was hailed a success by Iron Chef Matt Stone who even gave an impromptu speech to the audience on his views of buying local and within season. 

With food snobs such as Rob Broadfield from The West and John Lethlean from The Australian newspapers attending the lunch there will be write ups in both papers on what they experienced whilst they were here. 

This included a tour of four top Carnarvon plantations, a seafood factory and salt mine - all served up to them for the lunch to demonstrate the Gascoyne region's  paddock to plate mentality.

Chef Don Hancey and Panorama Catering cooked up delicious local food.

 

Long Table Lunch
Crab w Cured Morels' Cucumber, Coriander, Hi-Way Plantation Chilli and pea puree
John Susman from Fisheads, Sydney
Mel Foxley. Rob Broadfield, Tanya O'Connor and Matt Stone

2010 Events

On Friday the 20th of August, Jo Bumbak (from Bumbak's) provided the plantation setting for the inaugural Long Table Lunch, which was hosted by the Carnarvon Growers Association and Gascoyne Food Council as an industry networking event. 

Director of the 'Herdsman' Dennis Cerinich, Basil Gotsis from Fresh Provisions, the Perth Market Authority, Chamber of Fruit and Vegetables and Buy West Eat Best representatives were all guest speakers at the 80 strong crowd that attended the lunch.

The key messages from the lunch were that buyers are looking for more quality than quantity, work together to iron out gluts and oversupply in the market and don't prostitute your products.

On the Saturday morning the Gascoyne Growers Markets came alive with local chefs preparing 'tastings' of regional produce for market-goers to sample.  There were a number of entertainment acts including Sky Spencers School of Dance and the 'Awkward Silence' band.  Then it was off for a nap in the afternoon to prepare for the annual Taste of the Gascoyne Cocktail Party.

More information about previous Taste of the Gascoyne events is available here.