Melbourne Food and Wine Festival 2012

Editorial

Elasticise your waistband now in preparation for the nation’s greatest gastronomic glut. The heat is on and our most reliable loaf is rising again. The Melbourne Food and Wine Festival has been kneading its mission and proving the dough of our expectations for two decades now and they’re celebrating in grande bouffe style.

Throughout the year, MFWF changes the face and the plates of our culinary town with regular and regional events. Throughout our glorious early autumn, we can expect a crescendo. This is a time not only for faintly-obsessive foodies but for those with interests in sustainability, nutrition and community events.

But, of course there will be culinary stars who dazzle. At the time of writing, the MFWF is teasing us with the merest glimpse of its anniversary glitz; but what a peek. Hello David Chang of Momofuku. Hola to Lennox Hastie, an ex-pat Aussie charring up a barbecue storm in Spain. And, speaking of outdoorsy excellence, Ed Mitchell of North Carolina’s The Pit comes to preach on the proper use of fire.

Expect all the usual events: the Longest Lunch, Cellar Door and Farm Gate and Family Foodie Day. And, anticipate a growing fascination with the tastes that have migrated to Melbourne across the decades.

And, expect to keep that elastic working hard.

SM King, Citysearch