The North Coast Food Festival – Sample – A Taste of Northern NSW – has Australia’s regional food capital buzzing with excitement. The festival, on September 10 at the Bangalow Showground, shares the unique food produce, restaurants and creativity of the NSW Northern Rivers.

A range of produce, health and lifestyle stalls will fill the Bangalow Showgrounds. Twenty two restaurant marquees will serve $5.00 and $10.00 tasting plates between 9:00am and3:00pm, with the best of these greeting the four Sample judges – Joanna Savill, Barbara Sweeney, Belinda Jeffery and Steven Snow – for the test of who will win the prestigious Golden Fork Award.

For only $5.00 festival goers can tuck into Coconut pannacotta with vanilla, pineapple compote and local wild fingerlimes from Katrina Kanetani at Satiate in Bangalow. Or Char grilled local squid, Hayters Hill chorizo and wild rocket with roasted red pepper coulis from Monique Guterres-Harrison from Seaweed Cuisine Byron Bay.

Cooking and lifestyle demonstrations will be held throughout the day, including Simon Grigalius from My Restaurant Rules, Gavin Hughes from The Byron at Byron Resort and Phil Dudman and Julie Ray sharing garden to kitchen tips.

Non-stop live entertainment from Byron’s best bands and performers will fill the air.

Leah Roland from the Bangalow Cooking School will be joined by Perry Hill, Phil Dudman and Julie Ray to deliver exciting cooking classes for both young aspiring cooks and adults. A class for 9 – 16 years will be held at 10:30am ($50), with the adults class commencing at 12:30pm ($90).

Eight of the region’s top Chefs will gather at The Byron at Byron Resort at night to prepare the Sample Gala Dinner for 150 guests, where the winners of the Golden Fork Award will be announced. Chefs include Katrina Kanetani, Perry Hill, Joe Griffin and Gavin Hughes.

Sample Food Festival, Saturday 10th September, 9:00 – 3:00 Bangalow Showground. Entry is free.

Stay at The Byron at Byron Resort – $990 for two nights for two people including two tickets to the Gala Dinner and breakfast daily.  reservations@thebyronatbyron.com.au or 1300 554 362

Festival enquiries including cooking class bookings 0414 925 811 or info@samplennsw.com

What’s hot right now in the world of food? What’s it like to eat at the world’s best restaurant?  And are we all becoming passionate home cooks thanks to MasterChef – or turning into even bigger couch potatoes?

Much loved food authority Joanna Savill will visit Byron Bay next month to deliver a talk Food Trends From Around the World, drawing on her wide experience as a food journalist, broadcaster and Director of the Crave Sydney International Food Festival. Joanna follows Victoria Cosford, Bettina Arndt and David Clark in the sell out Byron at Byron Presents series.

Co-editor of the Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide and respected authority on Australia’s cultural and culinary diversity, Joanna is one of Australia’s most widely respected food personalities. She has been writing about food since the early 1990s andhas contributed to most major food publications in Australia, including The Sydney Morning Herald’s Good Living section, Australian Gourmet Traveller¸ Vogue Entertaining + Travel, Travel + Leisure, Australian Good Taste as well as, internationally, The Financial Times Weekend and The Asian Wall Street Journal magazines.

In her many years with SBS Television she co-authored 10 SBS Eating Guides to eating out and food shopping in 50 different nationalities, and co-created and presented the highly-acclaimed TV show The Food Lovers’ Guide to Australia, still showing in more than 20 countries. She is also the Sydney correspondent for New Zealand’s award-winning Cuisine magazine.

“We live in interesting times,” says Joanna, “where on one hand we are fiercely interested in local and seasonal produce but on the other, people are spending less time cooking at home, despite MasterChef! And although we seem concerned about using local produce, how much of it is actually truly Australian? Wild and indigenous ingredients are huge at restaurants such as Noma in Copenhagen, ranked No. 1 on this year’s World’s 50 Best Restaurants list, but we hardly see them used in Australia’s top restaurants.”

Joanna will discuss food trends from around the world, traditional versus creative approaches and the move toward original, native ingredients. This will be the final Byron at Byron Presents dinner for 2011. The 2012 series will be announced later this year.

Food Trends from Around the World – Dinner and talk with Joanna Savill
7:00pm Thursday August 18, The Byron at Byron Resort and Spa
$65 for two courses, a glass of wine and Joanna
Stay the night from $285.

Bookings essential. 6639 2111 or restaurant@thebyronatbyron.com.au