This is how food writer and Plate Up Ballarat organising team member Richard Cornish opened his speech at the Plate Up Ballarat calendar launch on Tuesday, and it’s the idea that has formed the basis of a new annual food festival in Ballarat which will run throughout the month of May. 

Ballarat will host 38 culinary events in May, which will support 91 local producers through cafes and restaurants. 

Celebrations of quality produce and delicious food will take place at the city’s top venues throughout the month.

The festival will kick off with chowders and corn bread, followed by a sweet potato and marshmallows pie, while soaking in New Orleans tunes at Nouvelle Orleans on May 1. 

The Ballarat Foundation will serve up a five course Asian banquet using rescue food with the help of local producers, chefs and Federation University students on May 12, to challenge guest’s ideas on food wastage. 

The festival will close on May 31 with a truffle hunt just 10 minutes from the Ballarat CBD before enjoying a truffle burger. 

A pie competition will see 20 venues battle to plate up Ballarat’s best pie featuring three local ingredients. The pie will feature on their menu for the course of the month and guests can vote for their favourite pie. 

Hear what Visit Ballarat CEO, festival director Kate Davis, and food writer Richard Cornish has to say at the Plate Up Ballarat calendar launch. 

Festival director Kate Davis said Plate Up Ballarat was about celebrating Ballarat as a culinary destination every day of the year, not just during the month of May. 

“We have a desire to turn Ballarat into the culinary heart of Victoria. We are well on the way on the path of doing so,” she said. 

“We are saying that we want our community to love, embrace and become our champions to share with the rest of the world just how amazing our culinary scene is. This is just the beginning.”

Ms Davis said she she was inspired to create a food festival in Ballarat after visiting New Zealand food festival Wellington on a Plate and seeing an opportunity to embrace the idea in her home town. 

Visit Ballarat has committed to support the event for three years and CEO Noel Dempsey said the team would continue to work to develop the hospitality industry as one of the city’s hero sectors. 

“Across the year, we will continue to look at how to foster the talent, the development, the skills of our hospitality staff,” Mr Dempsey said. 

Visit https://www.plateupballarat.com.au/events/ for the full Plate Up Ballarat event list. 

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