One of the tastiest highlights on Melbourne’s major events calendar is the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival. Spread across ten days, it’s a massive celebration of the city’s, and the state’s, innovative and effervescent food and wine scene.
What started out in 1993 as a small festival with just a dozen events has blossomed into an incredible celebration that attracts 150,000 people and a suite of famous chefs like Nigella Lawson and Ben Shewry to its hundreds of wide-ranging and unique events.
One of the flagship events is The World’s Longest Lunch (as well as The World’s Longest Brunch), which is curated by a different chef every year. Take your seat at the 600-metre table in the superb Kings Domain and enjoy the ultimate al fresco dining experience with fellow food lovers.
The festival features signature programs like Crawl and Bite, which are super-fun, small-scale food crawls around a neighbourhood, and the Global Dining Series, where renowned chefs collaborate with different restaurants for a fantastic night of creative fusion. There are also a whole bunch of special events, from the likes of a celebrity sausage sizzle to a hands-on pizza party, barbecue cooking classes and sake workshops to a First Supper by Guy Grossi at THE LUME. Curated local tours across suburbs near and far are a delicious way to discover the diverse cuisines of Melbourne, or you could just hang out at the festival hub at Federation Square and check out the kooky pop-ups and all the delicious snacks and products from Victorian producers.
As the summer wanes and autumn comes to the fore, it’s the perfect time of year to get out and explore the tastiest side of the state, discovering new flavours, restaurants and ideas at the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival.
