With the Sunshine Coast Real Food Festival fast approaching on September 12 & 13, festival goers can get set to participate in a range of interactive experiences.
Real Food Festival Director, Julie Shelton said this year there were more hands-on activities for festival goers of all ages than ever before.
“We have a great range of activities to get everyone in touch with the festival, from a mini cooking school, to an animal farm, decorating aprons, bee house building, and a pizza workshop.
“Spicers Tamarind Retreat will have two top chefs at the festival hosting four mini cooking school classes over the weekend. Each class runs for approximately 1.5 hours and with only 10 tickets to each class available. It’s a great opportunity to refine your cooking skills with some of the best chefs on the Sunshine Coast,” Julie said.
“ROCKCOTE will also be hosting a cob oven building workshop and showing how simple it is to create the perfect addition to any outdoor entertaining area”
The Real Food Festival is encouraging everyone to bring along their children and participate in activities connecting them to local growers and producers and will feature a range of activities including local Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden school kids helping children re-use a biodegradable coffee cup by filling it with potting mix and a seedling to take home.
Julie said she was also challenging all attending the festival to participate in the free sensory trail activity, which aims to see how attuned to food your five senses are.
“Come and test yourself in this free interactive activity that involves sight, smell, taste, hearing and touch,” Julie said.
Julie said that all the activities are affordable for the whole family with kids gaining free entry to the festival.
The Little Sprouts kids area will feature:
- Face painting FREE
- Farm animals from Old Macdonald’s Farm FREE (you can buy a cup of animal food if you would like to feed them as well)
- Make your own vegetarian pizza for the perfect lunch ($10)
- Storytelling FREE
- Build a bamboo bee house ($5)
- Explore the haybale maze FREE
- Decorate your own apron ($10)
- Make a sprout head to take home FREE
- EcoArt Box Project with Sunshine Coast Council FREE
- Pot up a seedling in a recycled coffee cup (gold coin donation)
- Learn a heap of circus skills including hula hooping, poi, juggling and diabolo (gold coin donation)
Julie said that two new venues at this year’s festival have been added to the program including the Coffee Roasters Marquee and the Eat My Words venue, which will focus on food writing, food bloggers, cookbook authors and restaurant reviewers.
“Venues making a return are cooking demonstrations at Real Food Kitchen, expert presentations at Food for Thought, conversations about diet and health at Nourishing Ideas, demonstrations of tips and techniques at Food Craft, and informative workshops about growing the best quality food at Kitchen Garden, as well as the Little Sprouts area,” Julie said.
“This years festival lineup demonstrates just how much the Sunshine Coast food industry and the festival is evolving.”
The Spicers Tamarind Retreat mini cooking school will cost $55 + GST per person with four session over the weekend held at 10.30am and 1.00pm on both the Saturday and Sunday.
The Rockcote Woodfire Pizza Oven workshop will run in two parts from 10.30am – 2.00pm on both the Saturday and the Sunday including making your own pizza for lunch. Cost is $30+GST per person each day.
The Sunshine Coast Real Food Festival is supported by the Queensland Government through Tourism and Events Queensland as part of a dynamic calendar of events throughout the state. It is also supported by Sunshine Coast Council and Sunshine Coast Destination Limited.
The event is expecting 10,000 visitors through the gates over the Festival weekend. There will be over 50 presentations at eight different venues including cooking demonstrations, chef talks, expert presentations, interactive workshops and kids activities within the Festival as well as over 100 food exhibitors from throughout the Sunshine Coast region.
The Real Food Festival will be held at the Maleny Showgrounds, 13 Stanley River Road, Maleny on 12 & 13 September from 9am to 4pm daily and will showcase an abundance of good foods from Sunshine Coast producers, manufacturers and restaurants. Entry is $20 for a daily adult pass and children under 16 are free.
For more information on the Real Food Festival, visit the website at www.realfoodfestivals.com.au.
Tickets are available at the Festival or you can also purchase your tickets via Ticketmaster – just go to http://www.ticketmaster.com.au/ and search for Real Food Festival.
