Influential chef Dan Barber, of Blue Hill and Blue Hill at Stone Barns in New York, visits Australia for the first time as a key attraction at next year's Melbourne Food and Wine Festival.

Barber will speak on ethical, sustainable and delicious eating at the Clemenger Auditorium, National Gallery of Victoria, on March 6.

The trailblazing chef has spent the past decade observing farming communities around the globe while researching his book The Third Plate: Field Notes on the Future of Food (The Penguin Press), concluding that America's cuisine needs an overhaul.

In 2009, Barber managed a rare double, being named one of the world's most influential people by Time magazine as well as picking up the James Beard Foundation's Beard Award for Outstanding Chef, which goes to America's top chef. The following year, President Barack Obama appointed him to serve on the President's Council on Physical Fitness, Sports and Nutrition.

The Melbourne event is expected to sell out quickly. Barber's brief spell downunder will also include an event at Adelaide Writers' Week on March 4.

Tickets to Dan Barber's Theatre of Ideas talk in Melbourne ($38 plus booking fee) go on sale at noon on Thursday at melbournefoodandwine.com.au. The full Melbourne Food and Wine Festival program is out on November 18.