The Competition sees high profile restaurant and food critics such as Matt Preston “put their cooking where their mouth is” and produce a favourite dish for Festival-goers to critique and judge. Preston takes on the competition with good humour and a flair for cooking great food and enthuses, “There is no better place for a food lover to be on the 14-17th May than in Noosa for the food and wine festival. It’s one of my favourite food events in the world and has been inked in my diary for the last 10 years”.
Matt’s resume is impressive: MasterChef judge and co-host, senior editor delicious and taste magazines, food columnist the taste section of the six News Corp tabloids, award-winning recipe writer, and author of three-best selling cook books. As last year’s winner, Matt is back to defend his title and is joined this year by a who’s who of vocal and often times controversial, well-known food critics including Simon Thomsen (businessinsider.com), John Lethlean & Necia Wilden (The Australian), Elizabeth Meryment (Sunday Telegraph), Lizzie Loel ( The Courier Mail), Dan Stock (The Herald Sun) and Simon Wilkinson ( Adelaide Advertiser).
Each critic is given his or her own food stall at the Festival Village and their dishes can be sampled for $8 per dish. Their dishes will brave the taste test of the discerning Festival goers and compete for the approval (and ultimate terrifying judgement) by crowd applause. The winner is chosen by public acclamation, with a precise decibel reading meter and will receive a trophy and the all-important ‘boasting rights’ of the 2015 title! More importantly, the critics all get a taste of their own medicine, as their dishes endure the harsh but fair critique by the food loving public.
This year there is a deceptively simple ‘Picnic Food’ theme, requiring the competitors to come up with something special that can be produced quickly and serve a large number of hungry ‘judges’. Assisting the critics will be chefs Paul Baker (the botanic gardens, SA), Rhys Connell (Sepia NSW), Matt Merrin ( Jam Corner QLD), Spencer Patrick ( Harrisons QLD), Nick Street-Brown (Coast QLD), Chris Thornton (Mason NSW), and Aaron Ward ( Sixpenny NSW).
Jim Berardo, Festival Director, is not surprised at the popularity of the Food Critics’ Competition and insists it’s all in good fun. “Our Festival goers love a chance to meet the critics in person, taste their food and dish out some honest criticism of their own- and the food critics have to take it on the chin. It’s a fun role reversal and an event that everyone enjoys. And you’d be surprised at the quality of the food that is produced by the critics every year!”
So if you love food and fancy yourself a food critic… or simply want some revenge…now’s your chance!
Only in Noosa can you experience the nation’s premier food, wine and lifestyle event set against the stunning backdrop of Noosa Heads, where you can walk to most events from the festival village, not to mention the local highlights of Noosa Main Beach, Noosa National Park, and the world famous Hasting’s Street. Bump into your favourite chef and mingle with the world’s best in Noosa this May.
“Once again Westpac is absolutely delighted to be part of an event that is so important to not just the local Sunshine Coast community, but to foodies right across Australia. We can’t wait for the 2015 line up, which is set to be bigger and better than ever”. Greg Crocombe, Westpac QLD State General Manager, Retail and Business Banking.
The Noosa International Food & Wine Festival is supported by Tourism and Events Queensland as part of a dynamic calendar of events throughout the state.
Tickets are now on sale and selling fast; view the full event program at www.noosafoodandwine.com.au
MORE INFORMATION:
Virginia Haddon at Davidson communications 0414 275 839, Virginia@davcomm.com.au
or Lou Gleeson at The Noosa International Food & Wine Festival on (07) 5447 5666 or lou@noosafoodandwine.com.au
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