Local News

Make it a date to come along to the Buninyong Garden Harvest Lunch

Sunday 14 March 2010, 11.30am - 4.00pm
Buninyong Botanic Gardens

It might be a tall order but members of Slow Food Ballarat led by local chef, Peter Ford are up for the challenge. The group of food and wine enthusiasts will publicly demonstrate its unwavering support for local produce growers by serving-up a mammoth five course lunch to be created from ingredients sourced almost entirely from Buninyong and surrounding Ballarat districts. The celebration of local growers and producers, dubbed the Buninyong Garden Harvest Lunch, will take place in the Buninyong Botanical Gardens on Sunday 14 March 2010, from 11.30am to 4.00pm. Attendance is open to all locals and is also being promoted in Melbourne and across Victoria.

The Fare

The menu will feature a tasty paella dish with local wild rabbit, Wurrook gourmet barbecued sausages, free-range chicken, roasted whole pork with various locally-made condiments in sourdough rolls, pizza with a range of toppings including locally produced ham, salami and prosciutto and local vegetables, along with the Harvest blueberry and hazelnut petite cakes for dessert. The feast will be washed down with locally produced wine, beer and mineral waters. Locally sourced ingredients will also include flour from Powlett Hill Mill, onions, peppers, Tuki smoked trout, fresh herbs, Yendon tomatoes, Meredith cheese, along with ham, salami and prosciutto from Istra Meats. The menu will also feature pork from Mt Mercer, organic vegetables from Spring Creek and Captains Creek, yabbies farmed in Learmonth, locally grown blueberries and hazelnuts, and free-range eggs.

The lunch is one of the key regional events of the annual 2010 Melbourne Food & Wine Festival and has been months in the making after Slow Food Ballarat was invited by Festival organisers to be part of the internationally-acclaimed event. Slow Food Ballarat committee members have seized the opportunity to present an unforgettable grazing extravaganza in the beautiful surrounds of the (almost) 150 years old Gardens.

Meet the Producers

The event enables visitors to smell, taste and eat their way through the Gardens, sampling the district’s finest fare on offer. A portable fullygrown organic vegetable garden will be installed in the gardens for the day. Visitors will have the rare chance to meet those often hard-to-locate growers and purchase fresh produce directly from their stalls.

Slow Food Ballarat is driven by its goal to educate the community about the benefits of eating local produce that’s fresh and in-season. Peter Ford says, “Slow Foodies live by the motto ‘good, clean and fair’ which encompasses the message Slow Food Ballarat would like to send out about the importance of eating fresh, healthy food and, in turn, promoting biodiversity in food growth and supporting sustainable production practices; all helping reduce the increasing rate of diet-related illness in the community. Bring along the family with a picnic blanket and settle beneath the majestic trees of the Gardens whilst enjoying your lunch and being entertained by local musicians and performers.

Tickets for the Buninyong Garden Harvest Lunch are $35 for adults and $14 for children; to get hold of your tickets, please phone Regent Ticketing on 5330 5555 or go to the website Regent Multiplex liveshows and follow the links.

The event is being supported by the City of Ballarat and several local sponsors. Proceeds will go towards revitalisation of the Gardens and their 2011 sesquicentenary celebrations.