Melbourne Food & Wine

“Food, for me, is a constant pleasure,” says Nigella Lawson. “I like to think greedily about it, reflect deeply on it, learn from it; it provides comfort, inspiration, meaning and beauty as well as sustenance and structure.”This engagement, this depth of feeling might well be what makes the difference between someone being a keen observer of some tasty things and the author of some very good recipes, and that person being a phenomenon in publishing, an internationally successful broadcaster, and a single-word synonym for good food, good taste and good times: Nigella.It was with great pleasure that Melbourne Food & Wine Festival had Nigella Lawson to lunch at Fed Square in March 2022 and, over three courses and a conversation with her old friend Matt Preston, explored her challenges of the pandemic, the wonders of cooking for one, and the joys of getting out again into the wider world. After all, as Nigella says, “Melbourne is the best medicine”.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It might seem like a crazy idea, but what if we ate our way out of our invasive species problem? Could we turn pests into a new source of food? Are we game enough to? Artist Kirsha Kaechele of Hobart's MONA explores these very questions in her project Eat The Problem, inviting artists and chefs to contribute recipes for everything from rabbit to cane toad to uni. Shannon Bennett, Peter Gilmore and Heston Blumenthal are involved, alongside artists Marina Abramovic, Tim Minchin, James Turrell and more. Their submissions have been compiled by Kirsha in the gorgeously-designed Eat The Problem book and an exhibition of the same name, shown at MONA in 2019. Get a taste for our problem species in this conversation between Kirsha Kaechele and Jill Dupleix, recorded live at the 2019 Melbourne Food & Wine Festival. For more, visit http://mfwf.com.au See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sustainability has become a chief concern of the food world recently. But between looking out for the environment, the community, their staff and their own wellbeing, do chefs and restaurateurs still have the time and energy to cook? Can we do it all? Where should our priorities lie in 2019? An all-star panel tackled these questions earlier this year at Melbourne Food & Wine Festival, with chef and restaurateur Alla-Wolf Tasker (Lake House Daylesford), journalist Jill Dupleix (Nine Newspapers) and James Beard-winning author and chef James Whetlor (Cabrito Goat Meat) each bringing a very different perspective to the topic of sustainability. For more, visit http://mfwf.com.auSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Joe Beef restaurant in Montreal has been described by the late Anthony Bourdain as "a significant part of what makes Montreal dangerous – and delicious – to anyone who loves food". Celebrating Quebecois cuisine in all its richness, Joe Beef and its sister venues are celebrated for their excessive style that bucks contemporary food trends. But in 2018, co-founders David McMillan and Frederic Morin surprised everyone by declaring their sobriety. Along with business partner Derek Dammann, they made a rare appearance outside North America at the 2019 Melbourne Food & Wine Festival to talk about being sober in an industry predicated on indulgence, their latest book Surviving the Apocalypse, and what makes Quebec’s food culture so special. For more, visit http://mfwf.com.au.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.