Gusto Food Festival – Food at its Best – 21st August 2011

Some good friends or ours are part organisers of the GUSTO food festival which should be a recurring event on every foodies calender.

GUSTO 2011 at Sydney Seafood School – 21st August 2011
Sydney’s best Italian chefs join forces with some of Australia’s leading producers and providores of Italian goods to present the 6th annual GUSTO festival on Sunday 21st August 2011 at the Sydney Seafood School.
Learn all about the wines of Sicily, Tuscany and Puglia in three dedicated wine workshops ($40 or $100 for 3) with renowned wine presenter and writer Max Allen and Italian wine specialists Michael Trembath, Sabino Matera, Giorgio De Maria and Joel Pizzini, with an antipasto tasting from La Casa Ristorante. Each class will feature 12 wines, with top producers and appellations from each region, as well as rare varieties and wines styles.
Take your tastebuds on a trip through La Sala degli Assaggi – The Tasting Room (11am-3pm), tucking into an incredible array of dishes from Australia’s best Italian restaurants and provedores including pizze from Cavallino, salumi from Salumi Australia, risotto from Lario International, barbecued seafood from Richard Ptacnik of Otto, Italian cheeses from ITAUS, dolci from Mezzapica, pasta from Barilla and barbecued meats from Mario Percuoco of Acqua Pazza (tasting tickets available on the day $30 for a book of 10).
There’ll be plenty of flames to fuel the fire in the new forum sessions added to this year’s program. Will knives come out when the chefs disagree with food writers? Can notable foodies such as Simon Marnie and David Dale keep the peace? Or will civilisation turn to Barbary! To find out, reserve a seat in GUSTO’s first ever culinary colosseum with a panel discussion in the morning looking at whether or not ‘Traditions Worth Preserving’ and a celebrity debate in the afternoon with The affirmative team: Lucio Galletto, Simon Thomsen; Paolo Totaro, Giovanni Pilu, Pat Nourse and Rory Steele debating whether or not ‘Italian Cooking in Australia Needs a Good Kick in the Pans’ (only $10/session).
Join a chefs’ tour through the south, north-west and mountains of Italy and discover exotic Spanish, Arabic and Ancient Greek influences in master classes with Armando Percuoco (Buon Ricordo), Lucio Galletto & Logan Campbell (Lucio’s Italian Restaurant), Giovanni Pilu (Pilu at Freshwater), Alessandro Pavoni (Ormeggio at the Spit), Nino Zoccali (Pendolino & La Rosa), Eugenio Maiale (A Tavola), Gabriele Taddeucci (Osteria Balla at The Star complex) and Danny Russo ($60 or $250 for 5).
Or pre-book your bambini into Bambini in Cucina – Kids in the Kitchen, to have fun learning pizza and pasta making ($25 or $80 for 4 tickets) from the best, Roberto Taffuri from Ventuno & Cavallino and Logan Campbell from Lucio’s Italian Restaurant.

Check out www.cira.com.au or www.gustofestival.blogspot.com for the full program and a booking form, or call 9004 1111 for more details.