Foodie facts

Melbourne is Australia's culinary capital and has the numbers to prove it. Get the facts behind Victoria's love of all things food.

• Melbourne has more than 3,500 restaurants and serves up cuisines from more than 70 countries.

• Melbourne Food and Wine Festival is the largest of its kind in the world. The festival hosts more than 200 events and attracts around 300,000 people each year.

• Victoria is home to 21 different wine regions, more than 699 wineries, 380 cellar doors and nearly 160 craft breweries.

• On average, Melbourne imports 30 tonnes of coffee beans each day – enough to make 3 million daily cuppas. 

• The volume of Melbourne's coffee-bean imports has increased by around 780% in the past decade.
• The 'Magic' is a special coffee order – a double ristretto topped with steamed milk and served in a five-ounce cup – invented in Melbourne.
• In 2016, the New York Times caused a stir when it declared the world's best croissant was found at Lune Croissanterie in Melbourne, nearly 17,000kms away from Paris.

• An estimated 2,000 farmers sell their produce each month at genuine farmers markets across Victoria.
• Established in 1853, The Duke of Wellington Hotel is Melbourne's oldest licensed pub.
• Victorians are mad for footy and pies, with 17,000 meat pies sold at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Grand Final Day. 
• Melbourne's Chinatown is the longest continuous Chinese settlement in the western world founded by Chinese prospectors in 1851, with an enduring legacy of Chinese restaurants to match. 
• Australian food icons like Vegemite, the Freddo Frog and Fosters Beer were all invented in Melbourne.