It was blue skies and sunshine for the first day of the Real Food Festival at Maleny Showgrounds.
There were children jumping over hay bales, crowds lining up for delicious food and other sitting in tents learning about everything from food craft and kitchen gardens to what GMOs mean in our food chain.
Festival Director, Julie Shelton (pictured above) was relatively stress free as the day unfolded and visitors enjoyed all the festival's delights.
Food lovers will find plenty of interest amongst the festival's stallholders. In the Artisan Quarter Woombye Cheese Company will be showing their locally produced award-winning cheeses along with Gympie Farm Cheese who make artisan cow and goat cheese and delicious butter, and Cedar Street Cheeserie who make award winning buffalo cheeses.
You'll also find strawberries, limes, pineapples, the Maleny Pie Guy, dumplings, tacos and Dan & Steph's gourmet sausages.
It all starts again tomorrow from 9am to 4pm. Make sure you pop into the Sunshine Coast Specialty Coffee Roasters Guild tent where you can sample coffee from Montville Coffee, Flying West Coffee Roasters, Sunshine Coast Coffee Roasters, Tim Adams Specialty Coffee, Clandestine Roasters and Pioneer Coffee.
There's also the chance to mix your own blend, with a little help from an expert, and then taste your efforts.
I was amongst the many people involved in the festival today following on from chef and author Christine Manfield in the Eat My Words Pavilion.
Chef Glen Barratt and farmer Craig Hubbard (pictured below) were on stage in the Real Food Kitchen talking about cooking with foraged ingredients.
My picks from the Sunday program line up would be -
- Learning to make mozzarella with Trevor Hart in the Food Craft tent at 10am
- French country cooking with Laurent Vancam, also in the Food Craft tent at 11.15am
- Fair food models overseas with Dr Nick Rose at 11.45 in Food for Thought
- Making Sense of Food Labeling with Dr Sarah Burkhart in Nourishing Ideas at 12 noon.
- And a panel discussion on local food that's too posh to purchase in Food for Thought at 1.30pm
The festival closes around 3.30pm and there will be dancing with Rumba Fuego.
Real Food Festival
Best tip: There's plenty of parking on site with a gold coin donation.
Bottom line: Entry to the Real Food Festival is $20 for adults.
Disclaimer: Ed+bK was a speaker at the Real Food Festival