“Food, for me, is a constant pleasure,” says Nigella Lawson. “I like to think greedily about it, reflect deeply on it, learn from it; it provides comfort, inspiration, meaning and beauty as well as sustenance and structure.”

This engagement, this depth of feeling might well be what makes the difference between someone being a keen observer of some tasty things and the author of some very good recipes, and that person being a phenomenon in publishing, an internationally successful broadcaster, and a single-word synonym for good food, good taste and good times: Nigella.

It was with great pleasure that Melbourne Food & Wine Festival had Nigella Lawson to lunch at Fed Square in March 2022 and, over three courses and a conversation with her old friend Matt Preston, explored her challenges of the pandemic, the wonders of cooking for one, and the joys of getting out again into the wider world.

After all, as Nigella says, “Melbourne is the best medicine”.

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A memoir by Momofuku founder David Chang was never going to be tame. But even the expectations Chang has set with a career rich in subversion don’t entirely prepare the reader for Eat a Peach. 

Food, restaurants and cooking are central to the story, but they’re intertwined with Chang’s depression, anxiety and impulses to self-destruction.

On the eve of Eat a Peach’s publication and in a year that marks the 10th anniversary of his first visit to Australia for the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival, David Chang joins MFWF creative director Pat Nourse for a conversation that’s as frank as it is free-ranging. 

You can also watch the video recording of the conversation at mfwf.com.au

Eat a Peach: A Memoir by David Chang, published by Square Peg (RRP $42.99), is out now.

Beyond Blue provides free support, action and advice for anyone struggling with anxiety, depression and mental health. For help or more information, visit beyondblue.org.au or call 1300 22 4636.

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It might seem like a crazy idea, but what if we ate our way out of our invasive species problem? Could we turn pests into a new source of food? Are we game enough to?

Artist Kirsha Kaechele of Hobart's MONA explores these very questions in her project Eat The Problem, inviting artists and chefs to contribute recipes for everything from rabbit to cane toad to uni. Shannon Bennett, Peter Gilmore and Heston Blumenthal are involved, alongside artists Marina Abramovic, Tim Minchin, James Turrell and more. Their submissions have been compiled by Kirsha in the gorgeously-designed Eat The Problem book and an exhibition of the same name, shown at MONA in 2019.

Get a taste for our problem species in this conversation between Kirsha Kaechele and Jill Dupleix, recorded live at the 2019 Melbourne Food & Wine Festival.

For more, visit http://mfwf.com.au 

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Natural wine. Conventional wine. Preservatives. Biodynamics. When did drinking wine become so mired in controversy? How? Why? Isn't drinking wine supposed to be fun anyway?

To discuss the big questions in wine today, we invited Attica sommelier Jane Lopes, wine writer Max Allen and wine importer and maitre d' Vanya Filipovic of Montreal's Les Vins Jeanne-Dame, Joe Beef and Le Vin Papillon to join the Theatre of Ideas at the 2019 Melbourne Food & Wine Festival.

The trio consider everything from hangover cures to wine labelling laws to wellness, as they dissect the (not-so) simple act of enjoying a glass of wine.

For more, visit http://mfwf.com.au 

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Sustainability has become a chief concern of the food world recently. But between looking out for the environment, the community, their staff and their own wellbeing, do chefs and restaurateurs still have the time and energy to cook? Can we do it all? Where should our priorities lie in 2019?

An all-star panel tackled these questions earlier this year at Melbourne Food & Wine Festival, with chef and restaurateur Alla-Wolf Tasker (Lake House Daylesford), journalist Jill Dupleix (Nine Newspapers) and James Beard-winning author and chef James Whetlor (Cabrito Goat Meat) each bringing a very different perspective to the topic of sustainability.

For more, visit http://mfwf.com.au

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Let plant-whisperer extraordinaire Peter Gilmore (Quay, Bennelong) lead you down the garden path, in the best and tastiest of ways, as he talks about the wide world of heirloom vegetables and forgotten seeds. In conversation with his friend and supplier Palisa Anderson of Boon Luck Farm and Chat Thai, Gilmore talks about the many vegetable varieties that are overlooked, where he finds inspiration for his dishes and why he's so passionate about reviving species that have nearly been lost.

If you love gardening, trawl seed websites for fun, or you're a fan of Gilmore's food, this episode of Melbourne Food & Wine is essential listening.

For more, visit http://mfwf.com.au.

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Joe Beef restaurant in Montreal has been described by the late Anthony Bourdain as "a significant part of what makes Montreal dangerous – and delicious – to anyone who loves food". Celebrating Quebecois cuisine in all its richness, Joe Beef and its sister venues are celebrated for their excessive style that bucks contemporary food trends. But in 2018, co-founders David McMillan and Frederic Morin surprised everyone by declaring their sobriety.

Along with business partner Derek Dammann, they made a rare appearance outside North America at the 2019 Melbourne Food & Wine Festival to talk about being sober in an industry predicated on indulgence, their latest book Surviving the Apocalypse, and what makes Quebec’s food culture so special.

For more, visit http://mfwf.com.au.

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Kate Reid, founder of Lune Croissanterie and creator of Melbourne's most delicious croissants, is the first to admit she has an obsessive personality. It’s a force that led her to chase her Formula One dream to the other side of the world, then go on to switch careers into patisserie and viennoiserie, where she’s risen to the top of her craft.

Is obsession always a force for good? Is it an essential ingredient in creative pursuits? Kate sits down with Sam Sifton of The New York Times to talk about her first obsession, why she left Formula One, the reasons she enjoys making pastries for people and if there’s such a thing as too much perfection.

For more, visit http://mfwf.com.au. 

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