Bonfires, celebrations and the best Tasmanian produce will heat up Hobart’s harbour for this year’s Winter Feast.
Discover Culture, The Guardian, June 2014*
Last year, underneath a cloak of darkness, City of Hobart/Dark Mofo’s Winter Feast sent thick, mouth-watering aromas of blazing barbecues high into the Hobart sky, drawing foodies from all over to the city. This year it returns to kick off the eons-old winter solstice celebrations in an even greater style.
Inspired by cultural traditions around this astronomical event, Winter Feast aims to turn the idea of a food festival on its head and encourage visitors to lose themselves in the rich atmosphere and multi-sensory experience. “I suppose it is a little bit of a post-modern feast,” says Winter Feast director Gill Minervini. “But we’re doing it in a very Tasmanian way - sharing food, stories, being entertained and gathering down on the waterfront area with fire and fantastic food.“
Also a creative director for City of Sydney, Minervini has witnessed first-hand how the role of food has changed within festival programming. “When I started doing events 30 years ago, food was always tacked on as an after thought,” she says. “What is happening now is food events are being taken beyond just being about the food.” Which is certainly her goal with Winter Feast; there will be communal dining, performances and a 60 foot carnival ride installation called the Ferris Wheel of Death. “It’s theatrical, but it is about the food and the harvest,” says Minervini. “We’re thinking about Tasmanian produce and the best way to show it off, communal sharing and celebration.”
To head up the spread, Minervini has invited chefs Jared Ingersoll formally of Sydney’s Dank Street Depot, Alex Herbert of Bird Cow Fish-fame and Breakfast & Stuff at Sydney’s Eveleigh Markets, and South Australia’s Duncan Welgemoed of Bistro Dom and co-curator of Adelaide Festival’s Lola’s Pergola. “Each of them have an ethical and sustainable approach to food, with a humane sensibility,” says Minervini. “They’ll be cooking to showcase the local produce, without it feeling showy in a food expo kind of way.”
If that’s not temptation enough, MONA’s own Philippe Leban and Vince Trim will be firing up a giant barbecue and MONA’s food curator, Jo Cook, has selected over 40 stalls of the best in Tassie fare at MoMa market . All of this will no doubt prove it’s not only cheese, salmon and cider that the Apple Isle does well. “We’ve been seeing some lovely partnerships for the feast,” she says, using Urban Bounty, makers of Bruny Island meat pies and sausage rolls, as an example. They collaborated with Two Metre Tall brewery who famously feed their Black Angus-Wagyu crossbreeds spent grain and hops from the brew. “These businesses are really connected to where the food comes from and many are growing produce, then cooking and selling it,” she says. “So it’s pretty spectacular to have the skills to do that.” As well as an outstanding menu for carnivores, including Matthew Evans’ Fat Pig Farm, there will be vegan and multicultural options aplenty. “We’ve got a lot of different cultures but they’re really small communities,” she says. “These are all pockets of our community, so I wanted to give them presence.” Some special highlights include ex-New Orleans local Honey Child's soul food and Lady Hester’s Middle-Eastern inspired sourdough donuts. There’ll also be a gin bar, an ale bar, and a whiskey lounge where World Whisky Award winners Sullivan’s Cove will release a special barrel just for Dark Mofo.
Cook jokes that this is her attempt to shake up the Tassie food scene, but in all seriousness says Winter Feast is about small business. “It’s about the producers, growers, chefs, farmers, winemakers, whiskey makers… And visitors will get to be up there talking to them,” she enthuses. “Everyone’s out for the same goal, to learn, share, create and help each other. It’s nice to showcase these little relationships.”
To find out more and purchase tickets, visit www.darkmofo.net.au
*Sponsored content for MONA