Taste of Tasmania 2019-20: still lots of fun, food and frivolity left to go in favourite festival
A free floating concert will circumnavigate the Taste of Tasmania today, as another festival stalwart explains why his famous product is off the menu.
Tasmania
Don't miss out on the headlines from Tasmania. Followed categories will be added to My News.
OPERA arias delivered on the Derwent and a bit of lighthearted parochialism will be on offer at the Taste of Tasmania today.
Organisers were yesterday celebrating a record New Year’s Eve crowd, with more than 5500 people crossing the threshold for the ticketed event.
Festival director Brooke Webb said she believed the event’s 100 per cent Tasmanian focus was what drew in the record numbers.
“One of the highlights for me was seeing (local musician) Hugo Bladel with a trolley that was turned into a mobile disco unit — he was like the pied piper through the Taste.
“Wherever he went there was an impromptu rave,” she said.
On the second last day of the festival today, patrons will be treated to opera sung from a boat on the River Derwent, as soprano Emma Bourke sings her favourite arias.
In the marketplace area at the festival entrance from 4pm today there will be a culinary battle pitting North versus South.
“We all know and love there is a rivalry between the North and the South in Tasmania — think Cascade versus Boags.
“We’ll have stallholders battling off and the audience will get to decide who is the winning producer and region,” Ms Webb said.
One product noticeably missing for the first time since the Taste started in 1988 has been the tempura mushrooms. Perhaps the most famous dish of the festival since its inception, Festival Mushrooms/Fabulous Tempura Vegetables owner John Caire said the product was no longer on the menu after the two farms from which he sourced his produce were bought out and shut down by interstate company, Costa Group.
“We can’t use any other mushrooms because the core of the Taste is using Tasmanian produce,” he said.
“I realised about five years ago they would eventually close, so we started doing the tempura vegetables in preparation for when we couldn’t do the mushrooms anymore.”
TODAY’S MENU
FORECAST: Partly cloudy, 23C
OPENING TIMES: 11am-11pm, Princes Wharf. Entry is free
DISH OF THE DAY: Northern Thai pork sausages, TummyThai (atrium)
These free range pork sausages are infused with a beautiful blend of herbs and spices and served with a Thai-style salad and sticky rice. $14
DRINK OF THE DAY: Gin and watermelon spritz, Lawrenny Distillery (shed)
This tasty and refreshing beverage combines Ouse-based Lawrenny’s award-winning Van Diemen’s Gin with cold pressed watermelon juice and soda water. $12
Two youths in custody over Bridgewater evade and crash
Two 15-year-olds have been taken into police custody following a three-car crash that closed Bridgewater Bridge on Sunday. The latest.
‘Abominable’: Tasman mayor lashes internet and phone coverage
In the summer months the Tasman Peninsula swells with tourists, Read why the addition of cruise ship visitors is causing serious problems for businesses and locals.