Devonport Food & Wine a culinary celebration

A celebration of the Coast’s culinary excellence started today for this year’s new-look Devonport Food & Wine.

For the next 14 days, the Devonport City Council event will take centre stage on the region’s culinary calendar and feature a range of events from high-end dinners and foodie tours, to high teas and free community events.

Devonport Food & Wine Chair, Councillor Lynn Laycock said this year’s Devonport Food & Wine new format was an exciting opportunity to showcase the region’s different seasonal cycles.

As founder of the 11-year event, Cr Laycock said it was important to provide platforms for local producers to shine.

“Splitting the event into two allows the community to celebrate two of our distinctive seasons, autumn and spring, and this year is also the International Year of Fruits and Vegetables,” Cr Laycock said.

“For March, Devonport Food & Wine will focus on harvest time, and the regions’ wonderful producers, while the final two weeks in October will focus on Spring through food, community, and the beginning of a new cycle.”

Cr Laycock said one highlight was the Kids to Farms grant program, which will connect grade 3-6 students to school farms and other identified suitable sites. The Australian Government program is being run by the Tasmanian Farmers and Graziers Association.

She said the Tasmanian School Canteen Association had also come on board to offer opportunities through schools, and students will experience hands on, what is involved in producing the food they eat. 

“Devonport Food & Wine is such an important event that not only showcases our region’s impressive produce, but it also gets our children involved and shows them where and how their vegetables and fruits are produced,” Cr Laycock said.

“It is so important that our children know how to plant vegetables and fruit, harvest and of course how easy and economical it is to prepare meals using what they have grown. It is our responsibility to ensure this happens.”

Among the line-up of impressive events, is private dining with Unearthed Tours.

Co-owner Stuart Ashdown said he is proud to help fly the coastal brand flag for produce excellence.

“Recognising good food is important. Devonport boasts a lot of growers, farmers and producers and we want to help show people what’s here and how they can enjoy high-quality food,” he said.

“We want to get the Coastal brand out there. We want to take people on a journey to see the saffron, the black truffles, and go to the chicken farm and show them how a chef puts all this amazing produce together.

“Since COVID we haven’t really had too many events like these, so it’s a great achievement. I encourage people to get right behind it and come along and see how and why our region’s produce is so good.”

To view the full list of Devonport Food & Wine March events here ^[1].

Photo: All set for this year’s Devonport Food & Wine event are (from left) Devonport City Council Events Officer Maree Brodzinski, Unearthed Tours’ Stuart Ashdown, event Chair and Councillor Lynn Laycock and SeaFM Promotions Coordinator Ariele Ackland.