Celebrating Local Produce.
This year marks the 22nd year of the Orange F.O.O.D Week, celebrating of the local produce of the shires of Orange, Cabonne and Blayney. The annual event brings together the farmer, the chef and the foodie alike, in sharing the food experience.
The 10-day spectacular comes together again from 12 – 21 April2013, making it one of Australia’s longest running food events.
The city of Orange, located 3.5 – 4 hours drive west from Sydney in Central West NSW, provides the perfect picturesque landscape and quality local produce to support and lend its name to this fantastic event. The FOOD in F.O.O.D week stands for Food of Orange District. Ironically, Orange is too cold to grow oranges, but other produce are local favourites including apples to stone fruit and berries, and of course grapes that are producing some very high quality wines.
The ever-growing reputation of fine food and brilliant wine from the “food basket” of NSW is built on the backbone of local produce, passionate people and cooking mastery – and this is exactly the focus of FOOD Week this year. It is shaping up as the biggest event yet, with the gathering of both connoisseurs and novices culminating in over 100 food and wine related events.
Over 10 days, the public can come along and meet the farmers, chefs and hospitality staff who encapsulate the passion of this thriving industry. The spirit of the festival is celebrating the gastronomic delights available throughout the region.
This year, FOOD Week will open with a fantastic night market in Robertson Park. This showcases a sample of the vast array of local food and wine available during the week and all year round.
More adventurous foodies can embark on “Forage”, a 3.5km moveable feast on a walk through beautiful countryside and vineyards. The trail is punctuated with wine and food stations every 500m or so. Ticket holders can enjoy six courses from Borenore to Nashdale, cooked by some of the finest chefs Orange has to offer.
For the less adventurous, the 100-mile dinner brings together 300 diners on the village green in Molong, showcasing food and wine from seven local towns.
Sunday Producers’ Market and the F.O.O.D Train are just two of the plethora of intriguing events in the 2013 program.
Food Week is set to grow in size from 2012, so get in early as tickets sold out within several days last year.
For program details, merchandise and to book tickets on line, visit the event website at: www.orangefoodweek.com.au
Story by Sheryl Allen