'Good evening and welcome to Adelaide and Eat Drink Blog 2012. It's a pleasure to be here with you to indulge in and celebrate South Australia's premium food and wine. I want to offer a special welcome to those of you from interstate ... and acknowledge the extra effort you have made to be here. It demonstrates your commitment to connect as a blogging community and highlights your passion for food, wine and beer, which translates directly to what food and wine experiences are all about: a coming together a people... around the family table, a BBQ with friends, restaurants and wine tours or community events such as Farmer's Markets. It's a celebration of all that's good for the soul!' With those enthusiastic words, and a clear passion for the good things that South Australia has to offer, the Hon. Gail Gago MLC, Minister for Tourism, welcomed Eat Drink Blog 2012 delegates at a dinner in Adelaide recently. The evening was just one of the highlights of an event packed weekend attended by some 80 food bloggers from across Australia. Tours of Adelaide's Central Market, Sunday morning breakfast and an onsite pop up lunch, as well as trips to The Barossa Valley or McLaren Vale, a writing workshop and an all day conference were also on the agenda. Dennis N. Leslie's South American FiestaA food safari to South America is on the bucket list for Dennis N. (Natividad) Leslie, Executive Chef at the Brasserie Restaurant at the Adelaide Hilton. With latin American flavours in mind, he created a fun banquet for the Eat Drink Blog dinner, sponsored by the South Australian Tourism Commission and Meat & Livestock Australia. Guests were treated to ginger snow cones and then lamb sliders, with tender meat sliced fresh from a spit roasted lamb. There were platters of Tex Mex empanadas, quesadillas, buffalo chicken wings, juka chips with lime and garlic mayonnaise, grilled porterhouse with chimichurri sauce, beef ribs with chipotle sauce, chilli con carne, and delicious grilled corn. In case that wasn't sufficient, Dennis made sure there was a range of salads and sauces too. And to finish, Beerenberg Farm strawberries, baby churros, with a Haigh's chocolate fountain (yes, read that!), Tres Leche cake, AND artisan cheese from Woodside Cheese Wrights, all of it accompanied by South Australian wine or beer. Above: Smokey Beef Ribs & Chipotle Sauce, and Grilled Corn with Roasted Garlic Aioli and Parmesan (click for recipes) Adelaide Central Market'South Australians are spoilt for choice when it comes to locally sourced, quality, fresh food,' Minister Gago noted in her welcome speech. Indeed they are! There are several farmer's markets in regional areas, as well as one held in Adelaide. Plus, there's Adelaide Central Market, the largest undercover fresh produce market in the southern hemisphere. With more than 80 stalls and 142 years of history, I feel it's as close to food heaven on earth as one can get. If you follow my adventures on this blog, then you'll know that I relished managing a fresh produce market in Canberra for close to a decade, and that visiting food markets in any form takes me to a genuinely happy place. Therefore, you won't be surprised to learn that I spent every spare moment of my four-day weekend wandering around Central Market. Yes, I felt pangs of guilt as Amanda, my twitter friend and our tour guide, waved and frequently yelled out to me: 'Lizzy come on, hurry up!' as I trailed off to stop and gaze in awe at the deliciousness before my eyes. I simply couldn't help myself. So much to investigate, so little time. I was reminded of a favourite paragraph penned by conquistador Bernal Díaz del Castillo, (1498-1593), about markets in the days of Montezuma: 'On reaching the market-place we were astounded at the great number of people and the quantities of merchandise, and at the orderliness and good arrangements that prevailed, for we had never seen such a thing before. The chieftains who accompanied us pointed everything out.' And another from J.W. Goethe, who wrote in his Italian Journey (1786-88): 'On market days the squares are piled high with garlic and onions and every sort of vegetable and fruit. The people shout, throw things, scuffle, laugh and sing all day long.' And so it is at Adelaide Central Market: a place of life and colour and community. Market People & Their Food plus a Pop up Lunch (click through)Apart from taking time out from business to speak with us during market tours, the stallholders also treated Eat Drink Blog delegates to a pop up Sunday lunch. Click through postcards from my self-guided visit, Amanda's tour and the pop up lunch. Stallholders pictured above L to R: Barbara Knoll of Barossa Fine Foods, Dorcen Walters barista at Zedz, Mark Gleeson of Providore, Marco Marinelli of Mushroom Man, Peita Hatch of Leo's Cheese Bar, Maddie Capocca of The Yoghurt Shop, Paul and Irene Noakes of Gourmet to Go, Jose Coutinho and Pascaline Marchiand from San Jose Smallgoods, 'Frank Turtur and 'Adam' from Vegas Poultry, and 'Arthur' and 'Spiros' from Aubergine's. Take a guided tour of Adelaide Central Market with chef, stallholder and Central Market tour guide, Mark Gleeson here. (Note: Lucia's Pizza & Spaghetti Bar, O'Connell and Sons Market Meat took part in the pop up lunch, however they are not pictured). And watch my Market People pages in coming weeks for snippets about the stallholders I met and talked with. d'Arenberg Vineyard and Winery McLaren ValeMr Francis d'Arenberg (d'Arry) Osborn (pictured below) is a humble and gentle man who was born on the 27th of December 1926 to parents Francis Ernest Osborn and Frances Helena d'Arenberg. He explained that his mother died while giving birth to him, so his father gave him his mother's maiden name as a middle name so that she would not be forgotten. In 1912, his father's father, Joseph Osborn, a tee-totalling director of Hardy's, bought a 25 hectare established vineyard in what is now McLaren Vale. With the assistance of his son, Frank (d'Arry's father), the vineyard was expanded to 78 hectares and the first vintage produced in their own cellars on site in 1928. At the age of just 16 in 1943, d'Arry joined the company and took over fully in 1957, launching his own label, d'Arenberg, in memory of his mother, in 1959. Now, his son, Chester, is the chief winemaker. One hundred years and four generations on, the old vines still produce very good wine and Joseph Osborn, the tee-totalling vineyard owner from 1912 must surely be proud! Wine blending workshopThe Blending Bench at d'Arenberg is where the craft of winemaking becomes an art form. Under the expert guidance of Rachael Whitrow, cellar door manager, and Jack Walton, senior winemaker, we tasted our way through three Shiraz styles, learned about their different qualities, and how soil and geography (terroir) affects wine. Then, with pipettes, funnels, test tubes and dry ice, we created our own personal 750ml bottle of d'Arenberg wine. 'Wine blending is the art of taking off the rough edges,' according to senior winemaker, Jack Walton, pictured above. Eat Drink Blog 2012 ConferenceNow in its third year, Eat Drink Blog 2012 in Adelaide provided conference delegates with an interesting and informative programme of guest speakers, as well as the opportunity to meet, mingle and network with like-minded peers. The sound of joyful and excited chatter over breakfast on Sunday morning was almost deafening. I think Simon Leong of Simon Food Favourites summed up the networking side of things perfectly with this image and accompanying caption: 'Hi... what's your blog? OMG, I follow you! I love your blog!' The keynote speaker for Eat Drink Blog 2012 was Dianne Jacob, whose blog, Will Write for Food (subtitled Pithy snippets about food writing), includes articles on topics such as 'Food Blogs vs national food magazines: guess who's winning?'. Ms Jacob addressed the question she'd once asked herself 'Why would anyone care about writing a blog' with the response that there are 'stunning developments' nowadays and 'a handful of bloggers make a six-figure living just from advertisements!'. Oh yeah! Other discussions covered Building a Community (Shai Coggins and Rebecca Varidel), Opportunities from Blogging (Helen Yee, Peter Georgakopolous and Sandra Reynolds) and Ethics and Working with PRs (Christie Connolly, Ed Charles and George Ujvary). Award winning photographer, Grant Nowell, shared his expertise on looking through the camera lens and keeping it simple (he likes photographing mushrooms up close as much as I do!). the very likeable Peter Georgakopolous, Souvlaki for the soul blogger and photographer, entertained and educated delegates on home shoots. Fiona Roberts held a workshop on food styling, and Jules Clancy gave her thoughts on blog design. Under the 'I could have listened to you all day' category, young entrepreneur and knowledgeable tech head, Geoff Kwitco, talked about search engine optimisation (SEO) and analytics; and Adelaide barrister, Paul Bullock, cleared up queries about defamation and copyright (glad I've made it clear that I reserve the right to edit all comments on my web site!). And finally, cultural theorist, Tammi Jonas, and chef, Simon Bryant (a.k.a. the pig farmer and the vegetarian), chatted about local and seasonal food, before venturing into the compelling, complex, challenging and (some might say) controversial, topic of why food production and eating is an ethical issue. Simon's comment that if a friend cooked a pig's head for him, he'd eat it so as not to offend certainly raised some eyebrows in the room, not to mention that it's generated some (heated) follow up posts. It was certainly an interesting and thought provoking discussion. And, frankly, if it means that a roomful of food writers and bloggers, myself included, will go away wanting to find out more for themselves and thus better educate their readers/consumers about ethical food production, where food comes from and what happens to the animal and the environment along the way, then that's a good thing! Simon Leong of Simon Food Favourites has a T for all occasions! Thank you for the use of your pics and once again, apologies that we sat next to one another on the plane to Adelaide, yet didn't speak. The quiet power of introverts, huh?! Thank you Amanda McInerney, Christine Soong-Kroeger, Kirsty Smith, Erin Brooks, Alex Prichard, Natasha Stewart and Celeste Wong, the BRILLIANT Eat Drink Blog 2012 organising committee, and also to the generous sponsors and partners, including the Government of South Australia, Tourism SA and Central Market. Loved it... I'll be back! Note: Eat Drink Blog speakers and delegates paid their own airfares/transport and accommodation. South Australian Tourism Commission and Government of South Australia kindly sponsored tours to McLaren Vale or the Barossa Valley, as well as transfer from the airport to hotel. The Conference, Sunday breakfast, pop up lunch and Saturday evening dinner were also provided free of charge, thanks to the generosity of the key sponsors. Have you visited South Australia recently? Tell me about your favourite place or places.
Are you a food blogger? Did we meet at EDB 2012? If so, hello again, it was great to meet you! 15/11/2012 09:55:13 pm
a great wrap up of all the details. love the photos too. which camera did you use?
Lizzy
15/11/2012 11:06:09 pm
Thank you, Simon for your very kind words. I used my little Canon SX230 power shot. Love it! 16/11/2012 07:11:29 am
Great post! I especially enjoyed the stories and pics from the McLaren Vale trip!
Lizzy
16/11/2012 09:51:25 am
Thanks Mary!
Lizzy
16/11/2012 09:53:20 am
Amanda, thanks so much to you too. Was great to meet you. Thank you also for your kind comment about the photos. I know a couple of people looked at me jump up camera in hand when the Minister started to speak, but I saw that photo in my head and with that beautiful tower and the perfect light, I wanted to capture it. 16/11/2012 09:08:33 am
You really have done an incredible write up. You have so much information and facts. The pictures are wonderful. I think I just talk too much , it was so exciting to meet all those fellow bloggers I just didnt pay enough attention. Apart from meeting you finally! x
Lizzy
16/11/2012 09:55:58 am
Thank you! I worked on this piece a little every evening after work, since coming home from SA. It was wonderful to meet everyone and to network. But I have to tell you, I just love Central Market and all that is offers all the senses! 16/11/2012 09:46:34 am
I'm so jealous Lizzy! I'm so there next year! Great write up indeed, and what an amazing array of produce and generous producers.
Lizzy
16/11/2012 09:50:52 am
And that, Bec, is precisely why I was dragging the chain when we did the market tour. So glad I spent all after on Friday there. I love that place. Thanks for your kind words. 16/11/2012 10:01:49 am
Such a nice write-up Liz, brings back lots of happy memories!
Lizzy
16/11/2012 10:09:04 am
Thanks Christine ; D
Lizzy
16/11/2012 10:17:45 am
Thank you, Megan ; D 16/11/2012 10:47:48 am
A wonderful, detailed summary Lizzy. So many memories, I hope we all have the opportunity to do it again one day! Great photos, it is fun seeing all the different moments everyone caught on camera x
Lizzy
16/11/2012 03:08:46 pm
Hi Jane, indeed it is! Hope to catch up with you again some day ; D
Eha
16/11/2012 01:44:15 pm
Lizzy: DO hope you don't mind this knowledge and joy travelling the world! DO have a restful weekend!
Lizzy
16/11/2012 03:09:04 pm
Thank you ; D
Eha
16/11/2012 04:14:46 pm
Liz: am the most careful of persons for 'posting on' : have had a most beautiful response to yours - the Oz food scene, to many of us worldwide, is so wonderful . . . thank you . . .
Lizzy
16/11/2012 10:23:18 pm
It was Laura, it was! We were waddling by the end of it! ; D
Lizzy
16/11/2012 10:22:52 pm
Wasn't it ever! I really enjoyed catching up with you too, Maureen. Two weekends in a row! I do hope we will see each again soon. 19/11/2012 03:49:17 am
Nothing like this in Canada, yet. The first food blog here will be in April 2013 - very off food season - the end of winter. But, I am happy there is one and happy to be going. Australian Tourism clearly gets it!
Lizzy
19/11/2012 06:36:06 am
Valerie, thank you my friend ; D Glad you enjoyed this taste of Australia... please fee free to spread the love and share it with your friends. Downunder is delicious! 19/11/2012 05:50:40 am
Love your photos Lizzie and what a comprehensive post. I'm very impressed.
Lizzy
19/11/2012 06:35:04 am
Thank you, Kerry! ; D 20/11/2012 02:57:59 pm
Great wrap up Lizzy! I so agree with the Tammi-Simon discussion sending us all home to learn. On Monday I got straight into researching where our meat comes from (hang my head in shame at now knowing already) and am still collecting my thoughts to write a post about it. It was lovely to meet you! Comments are closed.
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Welcome...Üdvözölöm
Cooking and writing have been a lifelong passion. Join me as I share with you my favourite recipes; postcards and morsels from my travels; conversations with cookery writers and chefs; and news on food, cookbooks and cooking. - Liz Posmyk
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NB: I use Australian standard measuring cups and spoons in my recipes.
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