Melbourne foodies will wholeheartedly agree with the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Major Events, Steve Dimopoulos' recent remarks placing Victoria as "the nation's food and wine capital.”
When referring to the 2024 edition of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival, Anthea Loucas Bosha, CEO of Food + Drink Victoria backed up the sentiment by announcing "an additional 250 events, which takes our program to more than 400 events across Melbourne in March, officially our biggest program in years.”
The collaborations happening throughout the event bring some of the world's best Chefs together with local talent, celebrating Melbourne’s pastry and baking world, plus "a wild pop-up dinner starring award-winning Chefs, more than 200 special events designed by Melbourne’s incredible hospitality community and of course, our signature World’s Longest Lunch,” Anthea says.
The Melbourne Food & Wine Festival is presented by La Trobe Financial and supported by destination partner Visit Victoria,
Choosing just five highlights of the Special Events program was too hard, so we stuck to eight:
The much-loved Cray Cray Returns celebrating the mighty crayfish at Yakimono.
Wines matched not just with food, but with dance at Perfect Pairing – a wild dancegustation across four wines and four dances, fresh from a sold-out season at the 2023 Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Explore the culinary reaches of bio-art and the future of food in Art Meat Flesh with the Science Gallery at the University of Melbourne.
Eat dumplings, drink tea and admire fine ceramics and exquisite antique furnishings in a private (and snack-enhanced) tour of the Johnston collection at Dumplings, Tea, Chinoiserie.
Take a trip to Malta – or at least the Maltese food that author Julia Busuttil Nishimura and Chef Jacqui Challinor grew up with – as they take the cuisine of their shared heritage as the inspiration for a one-off dinner at NOMAD.
Step inside the world’s largest digital art gallery and right into the life of the greatest creative genius the world has ever known, as Guy Grossi cooks a tribute to Leonardo da Vinci at The Lume at The First Supper.
Celebrate Nowruz, Persian New Year, and share in the saffron and barberry-garnished family recipes and traditions of people newly arrived from Northern Iran at Free to Feed.
One of the city’s hottest new pizza spots, Magma, mines the nostalgia of your favourite 80s and 90s Pizza Hut-style experiences in a buffet extravaganza at its Pizza Buffet Revival Spectacular.
The event will kick off with the return of festival favourites, including the World’s Longest Lunch, led this year by Andrew McConnell (Gimlet, Cumulus Inc, Cutler & Co, Supernormal), one of the nation’s most lauded culinary talents; and the World’s Longest Brunch, presented by Cocobella, with new-wave Indian food champions Harry Mangat (Biji Dining), Helly Raichura (Enter Via Laundry) and Mischa Tropp (Toddy Shop).
The 2024 Melbourne Food & Wine Festival
runs March 15-24; for full program and all ticket sales visit mfwf.com.au;
you can also follow
MFWF on Instagram for regular updates.
