Official Welcome

Hon John Brumby MP

Premier of Victoria

It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to the 2010 Melbourne Food and Wine Festival. The Festival is a globally acclaimed event showcasing the best of Victoria’s culinary culture over an exciting 12-day program. With more than 250 diverse events featuring some of the world’s best chefs and wine identities, the Festival reaffirms Victoria’s reputation as Australia’s leading food and wine destination. This year sees the return of one of Victoria’s iconic Regional World’s Longest Lunches – Marysville – one year on from Black Saturday. It is a great honour to be working with this resilient community and others towards the revitalisation of our regions.
The Melbourne Food and Wine Festival offers our primary producers, chefs and winemakers an ideal platform to showcase their products to thousands of festival-goers from all over the world. For lovers of food and wine, it promises to whet and satisfy every appetite – I encourage you to come along and taste the best Victoria has to offer.

Tim Holding MP

Minister for Tourism and Major Events

Victoria’s reputation as a world-class culinary destination will be on display again at the 2010 Melbourne Food and Wine Festival. Now in its 18th year, the Festival celebrates the best of our State’s outstanding food and wine culture. Through continued growth and unique activities, the Festival continues to affirm its place as a hallmark event on the prestigious Victorian events calendar.

The Festival offers something for locals and visitors alike, with more than 250 events taking place across Melbourne and throughout regional Victoria. During the Festival, Victoria’s top restaurants and wineries, laneway cafes and rooftop bars are on show, and with more than 100 events under $100, you will be sure to find something to suit your taste and budget. This year’s event also welcomes leading world-class chefs and wine identities to the Langham Melbourne MasterClass, with tickets to these events highly coveted by food and wine lovers. I hope you enjoy the 2010 Melbourne Food and Wine Festival and all the outstanding gastronomic experiences on offer in our great State.

Robert Doyle

Lord Mayor

With many restaurants, cafés, bistros and bars dotted down our laneways and adorning our rooftops, it is easy to see why Melbourne is Australia’s culinary capital. The City of Melbourne is once again delighted to support Melbourne Food and Wine Festival. Featuring an array of events over 12 bustling days, the Festival highlights our city’s love of food, wine and conviviality. This year’s Festival explores a growing interest in food sustainability, which will see City Square transformed into the ultimate food-producing urban plot for Metlink Edible Garden. Look out for other mini-plots as they, too, pop up around Melbourne. We celebrate the wonderful culinary influences of our Chinese and South-East Asian migrant heritage at the Festival’s hallmark World’s Longest Lunch, the eagerly anticipated return of Heat Beads® Hawkers’ Market and an exciting new Dumpling Crawl through Chinatown. Enjoy nibbling and sipping your way around the Festival’s sumptuous selection of the best Australia’s food and wine capital has to offer.

Jacinta Allan MP

Minister for Regional and Rural Development

It is with much enthusiasm that I join in the celebrations of Australia’s pre-eminent food and wine event, the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival. The 2010 program is rich in variety and quality, highlighting the excellence of our food and wine industry. Melbourne events such as Cellar Door at Southgate and Hotshot & Teapot, alongside more than 70 regional events across the state, provide producers with an opportunity to showcase their craft. The program demonstrates the Festival’s commitment to the continued quality, variety and growth of the food and wine industry in regional Victoria. The return of World’s Longest Lunch to Marysville, after a year of hardship for many, is testament to the strength of our regional communities. I encourage you all to join me in sampling our regional hospitality and celebrating the Festival’s diverse program, ranging from high-end fine dining to relaxed al fresco celebrations.

John Haddad AO

Chairman

Once again I am delighted to be a part of Melbourne Food and Wine Festival, winner for the second year running in the Melbourne Airport Victorian Tourism Awards. Now in its 18th year, the 2010 Festival offers a world-class program showcasing the creativity and skills of the passionate people who comprise our Victorian food and wine industry. With well over 100 events on offer for under $100, along with many free events, the program is as accessible as it is innovative. In many ways, this year’s Festival is a reflection of a return to basics in the kitchen (Langham Melbourne MasterClass, Miele Hands-On MasterClass) and growing interest in food sustainability (Metlink Edible Garden). Melbourne continues its love affair with coffee (Hotshot & Teapot) and the peoples’ favourite makes its triumphant return (Heat Beads® Hawkers Market). I look forward to celebrating Victoria’s prosperous food and wine landscape with you at this year’s Festival.