Good Food Month preview

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Yesterday saw the launch of Good Food Month, a feast of food-related events to be held across Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra later in the year. The launch was held at the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) in Brisbane and it wasn’t hard to pull a crowd, with Ferran Adrià as the special guest.

The chef, whose elBulli restaurant in Spain was named the best in the world numerous times before it closed in 2011, spoke long and passionately about his approach to food. You can read more about what he had to say here.

GOMA executive chef Josue Lopez was given the task of designing the food served at the launch, and he certainly did the Sunshine State proud. “It’s just great how he’s put Queensland on a plate this morning,” said festival director Joanna Savill.

One gorgeous creation after another emerged from the kitchen, beginning with cute little “lollipops” made from Lockyer Valley carrots. The playful theme continued with Noosa spanner crab brandade served between “kettle potato chips”, Queensland wagyu bresaola with egg yolk “pearls”, truffle pecorino nests and little bowls of spiced blood pudding with slow-cooked egg and chorizo.

Native produce was incorporated into two awesome sweets. One had Davidson plum marshmallow and chocolate cake covered with a layer of white chocolate, and the other, “Tim Tams” made with wattleseed and Daintree vanilla.

Function food never tasted so good!

www.foodwinetravel.com.au Ferran Adria, El Bulli, Joanna Savill, Good Food Month, Spanish restaurants, Tasting Australia, GOMA executive chef Josue Lopez.

Brisbane is joining Good Food Month this year for the first time, the event having originated in Sydney before expanding to Melbourne and Canberra in the last few years. An initiative of Fairfax Media in partnership with Citi, the festival highlights the creativity, diversity, quality and innovation of each city’s food talent, with signature events including Night Noodle Markets, Shoot the Chef, Let’s Do Lunch and Hats Off Dinners.

Good Food Month will be held in Brisbane in July, followed by Sydney and Canberra in October and Victoria in November.

Festival director Joanna Savill says it’s a great way of celebrating Australian food. That Australia’s food scene is so good is not a cliché, she says. “We all know it; we all live it.”

Hawker-style stalls at the Night Noodle Markets, part of the Crave Sydney International Food Festival.

Last year 1.5 million people attended more than 1,500 events, with 600,000 attending the Night Noodle Markets alone. (Have a look at my blog post on the 2012 Night Noodle Markets in Sydney to find out more about this cool – or should that be hot & spicy? – event.) I’m so looking forward to checking out Brisbane’s first Night Noodle Markets, to be held at South Bank’s Cultural Forecourt from July 17-27.

Full program details will be available at www.goodfoodmonth.com closer to each event.

Brisbane’s event in July will coincide with the launch of the third Brisbane Times Good Food Guide.