Eat.Taste.Central brings A World of Flavour to Auckland

Date:

5 Sep 2022, 5:21 pm

Categories:

News

Tourism Central Otago has taken its annual spring food and beverage celebration Eat.Taste.Central to Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland for a special media launch ahead of the 2022 event taking place between 23 September and 24 October.

This evening, five Central Otago chefs will prepare their competition dishes at Peter Gordon’s Homeland food embassy for invited media and guests.

The dishes were chosen from the Eat.Taste.Central Regional Menu as representative of a new Premium Plates category. The chefs, along with support from food and beverage ambassadors, will host guests to an evening celebrating the quality and depth of the Central Otago food and beverage flavours and experiences.

In Auckland preparing and serving their special Eat.Taste.Central dishes are the following venues:

Bannockburn Hotel, Wine Country Restaurant and Bar
The Cloudy Bay Shed, Cromwell
Carrick Winery Restaurant, Bannockburn
Mt Difficulty Cellar Door and Restaurant, Bannockburn
The Royal Hotel, Naseby

“Homeland is the perfect venue to launch Eat.Taste.Central 2022 and our new food and beverage story ‘Central Otago - A World of Flavour’,” Tourism Central Otago’s Ali Mason, PR and Media Manager, and Food and Beverage project lead said.

“Peter Gordon’s reputation and focus on celebrating our diverse culinary landscape, manaakitanga and helping producers flourish is a perfect alignment with what Central Otago has to offer. Being here gives our chefs and ambassadors the opportunity to have some time with Peter and his team, learn more of his story, which they can then bring back home as further inspiration for what they are doing in their culinary journey.

“Every region of Aotearoa has its own food and beverage story,” Ali said. “We needed to understand what was different here, and why.”

Tourism Central Otago has worked over the last two of years to engage with the depth and range of the food and beverage sectors in Central Otago. This involved meetings with growers, producers, viticulturists, winemakers, artisan producers, tour providers, hospitality venues, event organisers and even a tertiary education provider. The input of this diverse group of people has led to the launching of Central Otago - A World of Flavour alongside Eat.Taste.Central at Homeland. It is about sharing what it is special about Central Otago’s food, wine and beverage and all that stands this region apart.

Ali continues: “There is incredible diversity and skill in what is produced in Central Otago. Our winemakers, farmers and orchardists work with nature to produce the finest wines, meats and fruit that are exported around the globe. We have artisan growers producing everything from premium grade saffron to truffles, olive oil, nuts, preserves and sauces.

“What we realised early on, was the landscape and climate of Central Otago is so strong in every element our region produces. We are the hottest, coldest, driest most inland region of New Zealand. That offers growers their own unique challenges and benefits, many of whom have refined their practices over generations and are looking at leaving the place better for future generations through their learnings.”

“You can find our wine and produce in many of the finest restaurants and retail outlets around the world. But we think it tastes just a little better when enjoyed in Central Otago, and that’s where Eat.Taste.Central. comes in,” Antz Longman, campaign manager for Eat.Taste.Central said.

“This will be the sixth edition and every year it gets more refined. We’ve continued with our Regional Menu that includes some well-known venues, alongside smaller venues that have each developed something new to celebrate our flavours on a plate or in a glass.

“We’ve got more events than we’ve ever had, from small intimate affairs to the Weekend of Wine from 7-9 October which will be a must for lovers of Central Otago vino with a hosted Long Lunch, Sub Regional Wine Tasting and even a special Eden Hore Central Otago photo exhibition at cellar doors along the famous Felton Road in Bannockburn.”

The food and beverage story, Central Otago – A World of Flavour launches today with dedicated content on the regional website www.centralotagonz.com The first in a series of twelve videos are available, taking people behind the visitor experience to meet the growers and producers and hear how they work with the landscape and climate.

Eat.Taste.Central 2022 officially runs from September 23 to October 24. For more details on events, venues and dishes head to www.eattastecentral.co.nz

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Ambassadors from participating venues included:

Ali Clelland – Carrick Winery Restaurant

Meg Soper – The Cloudy Bay Shed

Anna Mackintosh – Bannockburn Hotel

Matt Connell – Matt Connell Wines

Mark Button – Waipiata Hotel

Wendy King – Wynyard Estate Saffron

Claire Sussmilch – Mt Difficulty Wines

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Additional Images: https://centralotagonz.brandkit.io/

Website: www.centralotagonz.com and www.eattastecentral.co.nz