Tweed Artisan Food Weekend a delicious success
One Northern Rivers region has put its best foodie offerings on show with the Tweed Artisan Food Weekend.
Food
Don't miss out on the headlines from Food. Followed categories will be added to My News.
One Northern Rivers region has put its best foodie offerings on show with the Tweed Artisan Food Weekend.
The event, co-ordinated by non-profit group Destination Tweed, involved 10 events.
Destination Tweed’s Amy Colli said this began with a launch at the Minjungbal Museum and Cultural Centre in Tweed Heads South on Wednesday.
“That was great because there was a whole heap of community present represented, from local police through to Justine Elliot and the mayor and the Destination Tweed board and it was just really lovely to see council and everyone come together,” she said.
The event was sponsored by Tweed Shire Council and brought to life by the collaboration of food-centric businesses across the shire.
Most of the events sold out, including a morning picnic on the lawn of Husk Distillers at North Tumbulgum on Saturday.
“It’s really great to see collaborations and people come together that want to support our local venues, farmer, chefs, food and beverage producers,” Ms Colli said.
“It’s reassuring when they sell out because it means people want to invest in the Tweed.”
While the Queensland border restrictions have posed challenges for Northern Rivers tourism, she said it was locals from the Tweed, Byron and Ballina Shires who had turned out in droves.
“We’ve probably been one of the first foodie weekend experiences to be happening in the state through this year so that’s great,” she said.
“Combined with that, the Tweed also recently won the Delicious Harvey Norman produce awards for most outstanding region in produce … in conjunction with Gold Coast Hinterland.
“We’ve got such strength in tourism and food and beverages.”
Harriet Messenger from Husk Distillers, also on the board of Destination Tweed, welcomed the response to the event.
“It’s a pretty amazing feat that Amy’s been actually able to pull this event off because it was so uncertain in the lead up,” she said.
“When we were planning this, it was in lockdown and it was a complete gamble as to whether it was actually going to go ahead.”
She said they also had uncertainties about whether enough people would want to attend an event of this kind because of Covid concerns.
“But it’s all come together and the fact it’s been sold out has just been fantastic,” she said.
“It’s very heartening. I feel like we’re on the right track back to normality.”
The Husk event was held in collaboration with Cubby Bakehouse and The Beach People.
Cubby’s Janna Hrastovec said coming together in that way “just made sense” for the three brands.
“We wanted to be involved in some way to showcase the Tweed,” she said.
“It’s exciting to be a part of it.”
The event series has had a strong indigenous focus this year, Ms Colli said.
“Three events out of the 10 have a strong indigenous focus to the ingredients, or the experience, the storytelling,” she said.
“When I hear them speak about food it’s deeply embedded in their culture and how they live and how they look after the land.”
Lunar New Year dishes set to bring fortune and prosperity
With preparations underway for Lunar New Year celebrations across Sydney, here’s what’s happening in your area and the delicious dishes believed to bring luck and prosperity for 2025.
Reason behind shock closure of beloved Byron eatery revealed
The owners of a popular Byron restaurant which abruptly closed without warning and after nearly two decades in business have revealed why the venture had become “unsustainable”.