Tastes of the Tablelands

A few weeks back now, we had a visit from the high profile Melbourne food blogger ‘I Eat Melbourne’.  We gave them the backstage pass tour of the Blue Sky Produce orchards and chatted about all sorts of things food and social media related!

A visit from ‘ieatmelbourne’ to the Blue Sky Produce Orchard

Since then we have been enjoying following the mouthwatering ‘ieatmelbourne’ instagram feed and over the weekend, the photos were all delicious treats from the Tastes of Melbourne Food Festival – so many yummy, yummy dishes!

This reminded me that I had not yet shared a post about our day out last month at our very own local food festival, Tastes of the Tablelands!

We decided at the last minute (avoiding the massive ‘housework’ to do list for another few hours) to head over to Atherton, about a 30 minute drive from us, between watering sessions on the farm and check out the Tastes of the Tablelands Festival, boy were we impressed!  I had been a little reluctant to spend the $8 per adult entry fee (kids were free) to then go in to the festival and have to spend more money to buy food to taste, but I’m glad we coughed up as there was plenty of treats to try, some great music and lots to look at!

We couldn’t believe how many people were there when we arrived, despite the slightly inclement weather with some patchy rain showers about, it was busy, busy, busy!

Cars & people everywhere!

Busy, busy!

There were so many delicious stalls to check out and all of the stall owners were very friendly and happy for you to sample their produce from the free tasting trays, all the while chatting about their produce and what they do.  It was so nice to be surrounded by people passionate about the food they make and the beautiful part of the world they grow it in here on the Tablelands!

Before too long the kids were of course saying they were starving, so it was time to feed our hungry tummies! We did about three laps of all the food stalls with everybody having lots of trouble trying to decide what to eat! There were sooooooo many choices!  Indian Curries, Crepes, Dutch Pancakes, German Sausages, Thai Food, Mexican Food, Hamburgers, Pizza, Homebaked Goodies …………………………………….

You can sense our dilemma right?!  The kids were in heaven after we told them they could choose whatever they wanted to eat – the only requirement being that they try something new.  Matt, Jack and I opted for the German Hotdogs, Lexi couldn’t resist the Potato Skewer and Tobes really pushed the boundary of trying something new with a Dagwood Dog – not really what we were hoping for when we set the rules – but he got through on a technicality as he had never had a Dagwood Dog before!  The vote at the end of the day was that the Potato Skewer was the yummiest – trust Lex to pick a winner – she definitely knows her food!  

We finished off lunch with the first try of a Zingo each (100% pure mango ice block) made by a local family here in Mareeba – they got a big thumbs up from us!  We weren’t the only ones enjoying them – even the local politicians, Bob Katter and Shane Knuth thought they were pretty good!

We really enjoyed the entertainment provided by the very energetic Formidable Vegetable Sound System band. We sat on the hay bales, ate our lunch and toe tapped along to their music. Unfortunately we weren’t able to stay long enough to watch any of the cook off’s happening in the Cooking Tent, but they seemed to be drawing big crowds down that end, being the place to see the local fresh produce turned into delicious meals by chefs of the region! We also didn’t get time to explore the Chinese Temple which is the main attraction of the Chinese Temple Grounds, where the festival was located.  We will have to go back again and have a little explore one day!

I know we aren’t the world’s best food bloggers, but I hope you can see from this post what a great day out for the whole family the Tastes of the Tableland Festival was.  Well done to all involved and thank you for the hard work that went in to making it go ahead!  We are excited that events like this are happening up here in our neck of the woods, showcasing the diverse range of produce that is grown up here in Tropical North Queensland!

Call us crazy, but we believe that the farming ‘heyday’ is yet to come.  Food Festivals like this are happening all over the country, food bloggers rule the social media world and TV shows such as Masterchef and My Kitchen Rules dominate the ratings!  This says that people in Australia are interested in their food.  Consumers are wanting to become more connected to the food they eat and wanting to eat well.  This is a good sign for farmers like us.  We need to get involved with this food revolution, to share our stories via social media and print and television where we can.  Farmers need to speak up about what is involved with producing high quality, sustainable, delicious, fresh food.  We also need to demand that we receive an proportionate monetary return for doing this work.  It is an exciting and hugely important time for the ‘food’ industry and we are happy to be a very small part of it at Blue Sky Produce!  

Time to get our thinking caps on for how we can be part of the Tastes of the Tablelands Festival in 2015 – we’re open to ideas???  Make sure you get along to the festival next year!