01 Feb 2017
The Royal Botanic Garden Sydney's award-winning Tomato Festival Sydney returns for its fourth year on 18 and 19 February 2017, 10.00 am to 4.00 pm. Bring along the whole family for an inspiring harbourside food festival celebrating all things tomato!
Set on the spectacular foreshore lawns within the Garden, the festival celebrates the humble tomato through tomato-inspired lunches, Relish Café & Bar pop-up, talks, workshops, cooking demonstrations, free tours, children's activities, produce stalls featuring local producers and artisans, free taste testings and more.
The Festival Village will be buzzing with new and exciting additions this year including:
- Pomme d'Amour Lovers' Dinner: This new and unique romantic dinner, set on the harbour foreshore, will open the Tomato Festival Sydney on Friday 17 February. Find out more and book here.
- Longest Tomato Lunch – not one but two: The 70 metre sell-out tomato-inspired tomato lunch returns this year for both the Saturday and Sunday. Enjoy the company of family and friends; all while looking out over the most spectacular botanic garden and harbour in the world. Tickets on sale now until Friday 10 February 2017 unless sold out beforehand. Book here.
- Luca Ciano: Learn how to make the ultimate pasta sauce with 2 Michelin Star and multi award winning Chef, Milan born Luca Ciano, who joins the line-up for this year's Cooking & learning Hub. Ciano's specialty pasta sauces will also be available to taste and buy.
- Second Mouse Cheese Company: located in Orange, come and try luscious cheeses, handmade with love including camembert, blue, haloumi, quark and feta as well as creating new and unique cheeses.
- Nougat Royale: working with some of Sydney's finest chefs, including Phillip Searle (Bentley Bar, Monopole and Yellow House) at Vulcans and Matt Moran at Moran's and Aria, come and try Ben's mouth-watering nougat!
- Sonoma: The famous Sonoma sourdough, made with passion and integrity, is the newest artisan sourdough bakers to join the Tomato Festival Sydney and will be selling their exceptional breads in the Festival Village.
“Tomatoes are enjoyed all over the world, in all manner of ways. From salads to sauces, pizza to pastas, the fabulous tomato has become a key ingredient in all our lives. In 2016 chillies spiced up the Festival, in 2017 we are celebrating the fragrant and diverse world of herbs,” said Wendy Symonds, Festival Director.
“The Festival is important as it promotes local and seasonal produce, heirloom varieties, bush tucker as well as growing and preserving the season's bounty in an imaginative and accessible way. This, in turn, can change behaviour and drive a passion for food, where it comes from and an understanding of the important role plants play in our lives.”
To find out more visit the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney's website here.
#BotanicGardenSydney
Event Details
- Date: 18 and 19 February 2017
- Times: 10.00 am to 4.00 pm
- Location: Band Lawn and Flowerbed Lawn, Royal Botanic Garden Sydney (on harbour foreshore). Best to enter Garden via the Woolloomooloo Gate or Henry Lawson Gate from Mrs Macquaries Road or Queen Elizabeth ll Gates from Circular Quay
- Cost: the Festival is free with some paid elements including some kids activities, the Longest Tomato Lunch and Pomme d'Armour Lovers' Dinner.
Testimonial from 2016 festival visitor: “Unexpected, delightful, unlike anything I've ever been to before!”
For media, images and interviews:
- For interviews with any Royal Botanic Garden staff, produce stalls, Cooking & Learning Hub talent, Longest Tomato Lunch and the Pomme d'Armour Lovers' Dinner contact Amy Jozing to arrange.
- Download high-res images of the Tomato Festival Sydney and its element here.
- Download a short highlight reel of the Tomato Festival Sydney here.
Media: Amy Jozing, 0429 360 348 / amy.jozing@bgcp.nsw.gov.au
-ENDS-
TOMATO FESTIVAL SYDNEY 2017 ELEMENTS
Cooking & Learning Hub
- Join us for inspiring free gardening talks and cooking demonstrations in the Cooking & Learning Hub. Sessions include bush tucker, tomato sauce making and preserving, along with gardening talks from industry experts. Learn how to grow heirloom tomatoes, herbs and get top tips for growing garlic in Sydney.
- Don't miss celebrated chef Luca Ciano, who honed his skills in the 2 Michelin-starred restaurant 'Il Luogo di Aimo e Nadia' in Milan, and will teach you the secrets of the ultimate tomato pasta sauce.
Eat
- Naturally, there are plenty of opportunities for you to taste tomatoes at the Tomato Festival! Put your palate to the test and take part in the free Diggers Heirloom Tomato Taste Test (11.30 am - 1.00 pm daily).
- Relax in the ever-popular Relish 'pop-up' cafe & bar featuring innovative tomato inspired dishes. Or try some delicious house made fresh pasta and tasty sauces from Puntino Trattoria. New in 2017 are the Dessertmakers with mouth- watering desserts that are 100% natural with no preservatives.
- Join a one hour free guided walk with one of our knowledgeable Volunteer Guides with a special visit to the fragrant Herb Garden (10.30 am daily).
For the kids
- New this year is the Tomato Odyssey. Grab your sandals and your tomato passport and go on a whirlwind adventure around the Mediterranean to enjoy fun Greek-themed activities including Herculean tomato throwing, Olympian sack races, and more!
- Book your kids into the deliciously popular Pizza Plants adventure! Activities include a treasure hunt to find pizza ingredients, planting yummy Mediterranean herbs to take home and making a munchalicious mini-pizza to eat – YUM!
- While the kids are enjoying making pizzas, parents can book a seat at the 70 metre long table and be part of the Longest Tomato Lunch and relax with a delicious tomato inspired menu while looking out across the Harbour.
Competitions
- Each year we run competitions for the best Tomato Relish/Chutney and Passata Sauce. If you think you've got what it takes enter now before 5 February. Or for those with a green thumb, enter your prized home-grown tomatoes register now for the Best in Show Competition.
- Visit the Foundation & Friends Growing Friends stall for a wide range of potted plants including Heartbreaker tomatoes and herbs as well as plants propagated from the Garden's living collection.
- Stroll through the produce market for an incredible range of local producers and artisans with lots to taste and buy including regional olive oils and condiments from the Hunter Valley, smoked garlic and sea salt, local cultured butter, pickles and preserves, luscious cheeses, nougat, sourdough bread, chilli and pasta sauces.
Stallholders
- Pukara Estate: from the Upper Hunter Valley produce a wonderful range of distinctive regional olive oils, vinegar and condiments.
- The Original Smoke & Spice Company: sell a range of delicious smoked condiments including garlic and fermented Black garlic, smoked solar sea salt and lemon smoked solar sea salt.
- Donna Does: specialising in exciting all-natural, homemade chutneys, jams, pickles and relishes.
- The Chilli Effect: working with local chilli growers to bring a gourmet sauce range that combines the fresh flavours of hot fresh chillies with great spices and herbs.
- Cornersmith: food is about following the seasons, not the latest fad. It's about opening your eyes to the bounty available in your own neighbourhood and showing you best how to use it. Pickles and preserves available for sale as well as a tomato preserving demonstration in the Cooking & Learning Hub.
- Pepe Saya Butter Co.: specialises in cultured butter made using the best local milk. The 'culture' in Pepe's butter is the good bacteria (lactobacillus) which is added to the cream, fermented for 24 hours and left to ripen over 3 weeks. The cultures eat the sugar (Lactose) in the cream and turns it into lactic acid (souring the cream), which adds flavour to the butter. Fermented, Perfected then Churned.
Botanic Gardens Restaurant
Book your seat at the tomato-themed brunch or lunch on Saturday 18 and Sunday 19 and you'll be treated to a menu showcasing the not-so-humble tomato and the very best seasonal ingredients. Find out more and book here.
