2015 Melbourne Food and Wine Festival program announced: Tickets to all events on sale 21 November

A pop-up artisan bakery rising daily in the heart of the city, a long lunch for 1,500 in Melbourne’s iconic fresh produce market, a rollicking ‘low and slow’ barbecue opening party, and a global discussion on the future of food - just some of the unique ways Melbourne’s vibrant culinary spirit will be celebrated from 27 February to 15 March 2015.

Melbourne Food and Wine Festival (MFWF) presented by Bank of Melbourne will take a journey to new frontiers of flavour in some of Victoria’s most spectacular settings: from famous dining spots to unexpected venues, rooftop bars to hidden cellars, plus extraordinary locations across regional Victoria; it’s a ticket to what food and wine in Melbourne is all about.
Artisan bread will be the rising star of MFWF’s pop-up hub for 2015: Festival Artisan Bakery and Bar. Transforming the blank canvas of Queensbridge Square for the fourth year with a creative one-off project, MFWF will construct a working bakery, workshop space, and wine, brews and coffee bar spreading the tempting aromas of freshly baked bread into the heart of Melbourne from day to night. In addition to a daily program of Australia’s most celebrated bakers, two international guests will share their skills with Melbourne: Justin Gellatly from state-of-the-art bakery and baking school Bread Ahead in London, and Éric Kayser, a fourth generation master baker from Paris with more than 80 Maison Kayser locations worldwide.
Pioneering chef and author Dan Barber (Blue Hill and Blue Hill at Stone Barns, New York, USA) visits Australia for the first time to present at Theatre of Ideas: In Conversation with Dan Barber on 6 March at National Gallery of Victoria for his only Melbourne appearance. A must-attend event for anyone with an interest in food and sustainability, Dan will share insights from his 10-year journey of writing The Third Plate: Field Notes on the Future of Food. Tickets to this one-off event are on sale now in a special pre-program release.

International trailblazers will converge on Melbourne throughout the Festival to bring their signature tastes and techniques for off-the-charts dining experiences. Pitmaster Rodney Scott from South Carolina’s Scott’s Bar-B-Que will celebrate the ‘low and slow’ fever at the Festival’s official opening party with Rockwell and Sons (27 February). St Kilda’s Newmarket will welcome Eric Werner (Hartwood, Mexico) and his primal approach to open-fire cooking from the Yucatan jungle on 1 March. And on 14 March, multi award-winning chef Simon Rogan (L’Enclume, UK) pays tribute to the edible wonders of the Australian landscape at The Royal Mail Hotel (Grampians).

Food, art and music will collide in a spectacular fashion as Melbourne’s great cultural institutions unite with MFWF exclusively for 2015. Embrace solo dining at a special viewing of Andy Warhol’s Jewish Geniuses and Warhol Now at Jewish Museum of Australia’s Table for One – Warhol Style, and at The Creators, absorb the rich sights and sounds of Melbourne Symphony Orchestra at Dan Hunter’s Brae (Birregurra) and Andrew McConnell’s Cutler & Co. (Fitzroy) with the balanced tastes and textures of their carefully designed menus.

The Festival’s signature Langham Melbourne MasterClass, 7 – 8 March, gathers global greats for a dynamic weekend of sharing inspirations, conversations and memory-making tastings. Taste the results of decades of devotion to the culinary art from stars including the legendary Ruth Rogers from River Café in London, cult café creator Bill Granger (Bill’s, UK, Australia and Japan), king of wild Canadian cuisine Jeremy Charles (Raymonds, St John’s, Canada), dessert maestro Janice Wong (2am:dessert bar, Singapore) and punk rocker turned nose-to-tail advocate Jamie Bissonnette (Coppa, Boston, and Toro, Boston and New York, USA).

New to Langham Melbourne MasterClass 2015, learn how to do one thing exceptionally well guided by Australia’s most innovative and entertaining chefs at The Essentials ($50), from Benjamin Cooper (Kong, Richmond & Chin Chin, Melbourne) lifting the lid on pickles and fermentation, to Johnny di Francesco (400 Gradi, Brunswick and Southbank) sharing the secrets to a world champion pizza.

Queen Victoria Market, the heart and soul of Melbourne’s fresh produce heritage, will be home to Bank of Melbourne World’s Longest Lunch on 27 February. One long table will weave through and around the historic sheds gathering more than 1,500 diners to feast on a three-course menu designed by Shane Delia (Maha, Melbourne) and Adriano Zumbo (Adriano Zumbo Pâtissier, Melbourne), brought to life by Peter Rowland Catering.

For vinous discoveries, Return to Terroir, an extraordinary international gathering of more than 40 biodynamic wineries will be one of three highlight wine events taking place at Melbourne Town Hall (28 February and 1 March). Acqua Panna Global Wine Experience also returns with two bold sessions – ‘The Classics’ and ‘The Not So Classics’ - to spark lively debate with benchmark wines from around the world guided by leading wine commentators including Lisa Perotti-Brown (Singapore).

Acqua Panna Perfect Match brings food and wine personalities from across Australia to redefine ultimate and adventurous food, wine and drinks pairings in a six-session series moderated by wine writer Matt Skinner. Explore if there’s more to street food combinations than burgers and beer and tacos and tequila with Raph Rashid (All Day Donuts, Beatbox Kitchen and Taco Truck, Melbourne) and wine writer Mike Bennie (Sydney), or take on spice and wine as winemaker Shashi Singh (Avani, Mornington Peninsula) and Adam D’Sylva (Coda and Tonka, Melbourne) find perfect partners for Indian-inspired dishes.

Festival cult hit Crawl ‘n’ Bite will uncover Melbourne’s hidden gems, hottest restaurants and most talked about dishes. Have a quintessentially Melbourne experience visiting three top venues on a progressive crawl in an event series that boasts stop-off points including Epocha, Grossi Florentino Upstairs, Pastuso, Stokehouse City and Supernormal.

Elsewhere, Stephanie Alexander’s female alumni join at Union Dining for a celebration of their time at Stephanie’s Restaurant; Shannon Bennett’s new Burnham Beeches hosts a Regional World’s Longest Lunch to toast the Australian-grown summer truffle; and Saint Crispin collaborate with Pierre Roelofs and cross the north-south border for a pop-up at St Kilda Bowling Club.

This is just a taste of the 2015 Festival - the full program can be viewed online from 18 November at melbournefoodandwine.com.au

27 February – 15 March 2015 All Festival events on sale 21 November 2014

About Melbourne Food and Wine Festival
MFWF is an annual state-wide celebration of Victoria’s food and wine industry. Run by a small not- for-profit organisation Melbourne Food & Wine, the Festival has grown over its 22-year history from its grassroots beginnings, to now being recognised as Australia’s pre-eminent food and wine event. The Festival welcomes culinary stars and trailblazers from around the globe to cook alongside Victoria’s best while discovering, cultivating and spreading innovative ideas with a food and wine obsessed audience.