Sydney Food & Wine Fair
Posted by kathryn in Blogging
Saturday was one of the main events, not only in the Good Food Month calendar, but also in any foodlover’s diary – the annual Sydney Food&Wine Fair. From its origins 16 years ago in the David Jones Food Hall, as Counter Aid, this event has morphed and grown every year to become the primary annual fundraising event of the AIDS Trust of Australia.
More than 100 stallholders, including some of the top Sydney restaurants, donate their time, their produce and their staff. About 40,000 people were expected and the AIDS Trust hope to raise more than the 2005 total of $277,000.
I was there all day as a volunteer – helping set up stalls; answering stallholder questions; delivering produce, ice and drinks and then helping pack up at the end.
I also got to hang out with Cucina Rebecca, who was also volunteering.
It seemed that everyone, from stallholders through to customers, were enthusiastic and determined to have a good time. It was also hard work – I wish I’d worn my pedometer, given how many times I walked around Hyde Park, I’d love to know how many steps I did!
It was a beautiful sunny Sydney day, with the Jacarandas out in full bloom and Hyde Park was chock-a-block full of people by about 11.30am. The Food&Wine Fair is an opportunity to try out meals, wines, cakes and desserts from some of the leading Sydney restaurants, wine makers, bakeries and cafes.
With so much on offer, how do you make a choice? Well, being vegetarian simplified this, as per usual there were only a handful of options to choose from, rather than over 100. Richard met me for lunch and we shared a paneer, chickpea, spinach and mint yoghurt salad from Oh Calcutta and Thai noodles from Longrain.
I didn’t have the time or opportunity to take many photos, but am sure other bloggers will have been there and covered the event more thoroughly. I’ll post links here as they become available:
This was my final GFM event, but to see what other bloggers have been up to, keep an eye on Rebecca’s weekly round-ups.
30 October, 2006
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