Foodies ready for a sweet time at the Taste of Tasmania
The Hobart waterfront is about to start buzzing with a hungry horde ready to descend on the Taste of Tasmania’s opening day.
Taste Tasmania
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IT will “bee” a Taste of Tasmania with a difference when people swarm to Hobart’s Princes Wharf for the first day of the festival on Saturday.
The usual food, wine and waterfront views can be expected but this year’s 31st edition will also have a bee theme, demonstrated by the beehive designs in the shed to shiny covering in the Atrium representing bee wings.
Some stallholders have even created one-off products that include honey in the recipe to pay tribute to the theme.
Festival organiser Brooke Webb said the theme for the event, which runs until January 3, was inspired by how everyone works together to get the Taste of Tasmania to work.
“We are creating a metaphoric beehive this year,” Ms Webb said.
“It’s an ideal utopian ecosystem where everything works together and has its own place.”
This year’s festival will also have a greater focus on the local Tasmanian community, which Ms Webb said was inspired from the fires after last year’s event.
“It was the day after the festival last year when the bushfires hit, so for three weeks we were all a community that helped and gave back,” Ms Webb said.
“We are really celebrating that generosity and spirit.”
The 94 stallholders will provide a variety of food types but they are not the only local talent on display.
A total of 225 Tasmanian artists will feature in more than 700 events and activities across the seven day-festival, including 68 local artists that are performing on the ticketed New Year’s Eve event.
Ms Webb said the festival was investing in the state’s talent and is 100 per cent Tasmanian this year.
“More than ever get to know your producer, get to know where your food comes from and who makes it,” she said.
“Get to know the talent that is here in Tassie and experience that real pride of place in Tassie.
“We are proudly Tasmanian and we are doing this for the local community.”
Here’s health … sisters have it down to a tea
NEW flavours will be on offer for those making their way to the Taste of Tasmania this summer, with local business Storm+India one of the many first-time stalls at the festival.
This year’s event will have 28 new stallholders, including the Bellamy family and their organic tea business.
Named after sisters Storm and India Bellamy, the company started five years ago in New Zealand.
The family business returned to its home country and state six months ago and has continued on an organic farm in Longford in Tasmania’s North. The sisters’ mother Dooley Crighton-Bellamy, who was co-founder of Bellamy Organics, also helps out with the business and said the festival would start a new chapter for Storm+India.
“The Taste is a great way to reconnect with our home and show the locals our fantastic product,” Ms Crighton-Bellamy said.
India Bellamy is a plant-based chef and said the drinks on offer at her stall, including hot and cold teas, along with plant-based lattes, will have more benefits than just being tasty.
“We are really into the wellness space,” Ms Bellamy said.
“Every drink has a different quality to help you feel good.
“The Evening Detox is good for managing cortisol in stressful moments and helps you digest food. The Morning Detox is good at energising you and help start your metabolism.”
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