Melbourne could be showcased at Disney World food fair

[caryrae]

Melbourne on show to foodies
Hamish Heard
Herald Sun

25Jun08


INTERNATIONAL CLAIM: Fresh food lover Misti Dullard at the Queen Victoria Market, which is set to be recreated in Florida.

MELBOURNE will be put on show as one of the world's top food destinations if a bid to recreate the city's laneways and markets at Disney World in Florida is successful.

Tourism Victoria confirmed Melbourne was vying for the right to be featured as one of the world's four great food cities when the biggest food festival on the planet kicks off in September.

The Epcot International Food and Wine Festival attracts more than 1.3 million visitors to Florida's Walt Disney World Resort each year.

Tourism Victoria marketing director Don Richter said Disney had invited Victoria to bid because of its reputation as a food and wine destination.

"This is a great way to showcase Melbourne and Victoria to the world," he said.

The bid includes a plan to recreate Melbourne's laneways at the festival, according to a report to Melbourne councillors.

The laneways would lead visitors past displays of street art and into a main exhibition area where a food and wine tasting area would give visitors a Queen Victoria Market experience.

While the final four great food cities of the world would not be known until the end of this month, the report to council said frontrunners included New Orleans, Copenhagen and Rio de Janeiro.

Other festival highlights will include more than 2000 food and wine seminars and dining events that would feature Melbourne chefs, winemakers and products.

The festival will cost state and federal governments and Victorian food and wine producers nearly $1 million if the bid is successful, according to the report.

Melbourne councillors two weeks ago rejected a request by Tourism Victoria to tip $100,000 into the project.

Cr Fiona Sneddon, the only councillor to vote in favour of the council supporting the bid, said she hoped Melbourne would not miss out because of the decision.

"It's disappointing that my colleagues didn't support the proposal because this type of event is what we need to put Melbourne's hospitality offer on the world stage," Cr Sneddon said.

"It is a known fact that Melbourne breeds innovation in food styles and creativity and we need to keep our eyes on the ball to retain that recognition."

The festival runs from September 26 to November 9

[Ian]

Uh, maybe it's just because I'm not from the area or something but, when I think world class food and dining opportunities, Melbourne, Florida isn't exactly the first place that comes to mind.

Perhaps I'm missing out?

[caryrae]

Melbourne, Australia silly.

[TheRustyScupper]

Melbourne, Australia silly.

1) I didn't know there was another one, other than in Florida.
2) Besides, Melbourne, Florida has an accent I can understand.
3) The only "Barbie" they know is a friend of "Ken".

[big blue and hairy]

Ummmmm.....yeah....it's definitely Australia. Forget the accent, shrimp on the barbie and Fosters...woo-HOO! Of course, a big reason for this would be to show eveyone the Melbourne, Australia has more to offer than that.

[Ian]

Melbourne, Australia silly.

Okay, aside from the fact that I feel moderately silly ( ), I still stand by my original statement, slightly modified.

I don't think of Melbourne, Australia when I think of top dining destinations across the globe.

Rome, Paris, New York, Tokyo ... not Melbourne.

[big blue and hairy]

Okay, aside from the fact that I feel moderately silly (

I've always thought of you as moderately silly

Sorry, couldn't pass that up....

[big blue and hairy]

I don't think of Melbourne, Australia when I think of top dining destinations across the globe.

Rome, Paris, New York, Tokyo ... not Melbourne.

Now for the serious answer. That's exactly why they want to be featured. They want to change opinions...

[big blue and hairy]

According to Wikipedia, Melbourne is Austalia's second most populous city, with 3.8 million residents. Just in case anyone wanted to know...

[SurferStitch]

I don't think of Melbourne, Australia when I think of top dining destinations across the globe.

Rome, Paris, New York, Tokyo ... not Melbourne.

Well, there is already an Italy pavillion, a France pavillion, and a Japan pavillion that will showcase food for the F&WF, so basically why have another one? They want to showcase regions that aren't already well-known and represented is WS. And, New York dining already encompasses all of those types of cuisine (), so again, why showcase it? I think they are trying to expand people's ideas of fine cuisine by choosing regions that most people wouldn't know as being fine dining destinations.

I look forward to seeing what is available in October. We love the F&WF!

[big blue and hairy]

Also, if you read the news release again, it shows how highly thought of the Food & Wine Festival must be. Disney isn't courting them, Tourism Victoria is asking to be in the festival. Pretty cool. I know most of us know how great the F&WF is, but on the other side of the world....

[valjane]

G'day there - valjane's husband piping up here to defend my hometown. Well, not defend, but maybe to enlighten

As a native of Melbourne I might be a bit biased, but Melbourne is renowned in Australia as the 'food capital' of the country and has been featured in (I think) National Geographic Traveler, or some other large travel publication, as one of the ten best 'food cities' in the world. The Queen Victoria Market mentioned in the article is often called out as one of the world's great fresh food markets (and believe me, it's massive and has an incredible variety of food).

The city has an enormous array of quality restaurants, and believe it or not has some of the world's best Thai and Chinese (the Flower Drum restaurant is sometimes rated as the world's best Cantonese restaurant). There is a very large Greek and Italian population that emigrated after WWII who have contributed enormously to the diversity of the city. It also helps to have three or four fantastic wine-producing areas nearby (particularly the Yarra Valley).

Anyway, not to ramble on too much, just trying to let you know there is a good reason why Melbourne would be featured in the festival - forty years ago it was a culinary backwater, but with all the European and Asian immigration and a much more sophisticated populace, I can guarantee that Melbourne is a much better place to eat than you might imagine. The seafood is fabulous, too!

If you google 'Melbourne' and 'food cities' or something similar then you should be able to find articles about it. Thanks for reading

[SurferStitch]

valjane...

Thanks for the info! Now I really can't wait to see what foods they would offer should they get to be a part of the F&WF! I love Thai food!

[Little Round Bale]

DD and I just went to Australia and for two weeks it was wonderful. I would agree that Melbourne is wonderful and offers some delightful food.

[mickeyd]

Hi all,
Well Melbourne, Australia is my home town so I may be biased – but Melbourne certainly is the food capital of Australia and has an international reputation. (which may not extend to the US  )
Melbourne hosts the Melbourne International Food and Wine Festival each year, whichj is one of the largest Food and Wine festivals in the world

It is home to some of the world’s best restaurants, like the Flower Drum, and is attracting several celebrity chefs – Jaime Oliver has a Fifteen restaurant here and Gordon Ramsey is opening a restaurant here shortly.

The Yarra Valley, 40 minutes drive from downtown Melbourne produces some of Australia’s best wines.

[big blue and hairy]

A question to Valjane's husband and MickeyD. What kind of local food could we expect? Obviously the fact that Melbourne has great Greek, Italian and other ethnic restaurants doesn't help here. Other than the stereotypes Shrimp on the Barbie and Fosters, what can we look forward too?

[big blue and hairy]

A question to Valjane's husband and MickeyD. What kind of local food could we expect? Obviously the fact that Melbourne has great Greek, Italian and other ethnic restaurants doesn't help here. Other than the stereotypes Shrimp on the Barbie and Fosters, what can we look forward too?

Just in case this doesn't read the way I intend it. I really am interested in what the local cuisine would be in Melbourne. While I enjoy sarcasm, there is none here.

[valjane]

It's hard to say what sort of local food will be on display - arguably, 'local' would probably now describe the mixture of old-fashioned cuisines (Greek, Italian, Chinese, etc.) that takes advantage of Australian ingredients. That is pretty much was the best restaurants in Melbourne do. It's not all just old-world stuff. There is quite a large market for gourmet variations on old favourites like meat pies and so forth, too, so it probably wont all be international-type foods.

I guess if the city wins its bid, we'll find out!

[big blue and hairy]

I'd like to see it. I'd be interested in the cuisine. The wierd part about these festivals for folks that live in or are familiar with the countries, is just what you were saying. When I was in Ireland, my favorite restaurant in Dublin was a French restaurant. Well, that certainly wouldn't be something you put in a festival as from Ireland. So many citiies are such melting pots.

OK, now that I'm done rambling, I hope Melbourne gets in...

[mickeyd]

Just in case this doesn't read the way I intend it. I really am interested in what the local cuisine would be in Melbourne. While I enjoy sarcasm, there is none here.

I agree with Valjane. It's hard to point to many specific dishes that originate in Melbourne. I suppose Melbourne food could be described as a fusion of various cultures such as Vietnamese, CHinese, Thai, Mediterrainian, Moroccan etc.

There is a big BBQ culture, so perhaps some BBQ dishes. We regularly have BBQ Kangaroo, which if prepared correclty is great. It is very lean meat - but can be tough if you cook it too much (eg well done. Roo is best medium)

Other 'Australian' dishes may include Pavlova (the New Zealanders will argue that it's one of theirs!), Lamingtons or Anzac cookies.

Meat Pies would have to be up there, and perhaps rack of lamb.

Melbourne produces some of Australia's best wine and cheeses, so I'd expect to see some of that.

A new trend here is to incorporate bush spices into dishes, such as Lemon Myrtle, wattleseed and bush pepper. Maybe that could be incorporated. Oh, and macadamia nuts originated in Australia