The first ever Australian Mushroom Festival was held on World Mushroom Day weekend, Saturday 14 and Sunday 15th October 2023.
This event is a first for the AMGA and Australian Mushrooms, and was massive success with over 10,000 + mushroom-loving fans visiting the Queen Victoria Markets in Melbourne for the free family fun event.
Festival gowers stayed for hours to visit Mushroom Alley, watch the Mushroom Masterclasses on stage, and visit the interactive mushroom growing display to talk directly with an Aussie mushroom growers.
Click the video above to watch the highlight reel, or swipe through the image gallery below.
The highlight of the event was the Mushroom Masterclass stage that featured live cooking demo’s and educational talks by some of Australia’s most exciting foodie talent including Celebrity Chef Miguel Maestre, Simon Toohey from TV show ‘Freshly Picked’, MasterChef Alumni Dani Venn, Chef Jason Roberts, and Melbourne Business of the Year winner Hakim Halim from Ripe Cheese.
Each guest at the Australian Mushroom Festival also walked away with an Australian Mushroom tote bag and a gorgeous glossy mushroom magazine filled with summer entertaining recipes to try at home.
Special thanks go to Georgia Beattie, CEO of Bulla Park Mushrooms, who presented to the crowd on both days of the festival, and Costa Mushrooms who provided the interactive mushroom growing display.
The Australian Mushroom Festival included:
- Mushroom Masterclass Live cooking demonstrations, hosted by celebrity chefs including Miguel Maestre, Simon Toohey, Dani Venn, Jason Roberts, as well as QVM's own Hakim the Cheesemonger and Australian mushroom grower Georgia Beattie.
- Mushroom Alley food vendors that served mushroom dishes such as mushroom truffle and cheese toasties, to mushroom pizza, and mushroom and chive donuts with sour cream.
- Mushroom Coffee and Mushroom Bar with its very special 'Al Porcini' Draught and 'Fungarita' cocktails to quench the thirst of festival goers.
- Interactive Mushroom Growing Display - with growing beds thanks to Costa Mushrooms. This was one of the highlights of the festival, for visitors to see first hand the unique growing priess of mushrooms, and talk directly with a mushroom grower.
- Prize givaways, free mushroom samples, Australian Mushrooms showbags and cookbooks,
- Live music, facepainter and even a mushroom juggler!
This event was partially funded by Hort Innovation Mushroom Fund marketing levy, and marketing funds from the AMGA.
For more information about the festival, visit our dedicated website www.mushroomfestival.com.au
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