MEDIA RELEASE – 20 October 2009
Canberra’s favourite weekly farmers market, the Capital Region Farmers Market, will this weekend host a special live event. The community is invited to see guest speakers and live cooking demonstrations by some of the region’s best chefs and most passionate food lovers. A variety of great foodie events will take place this Saturday, 24 October, from 6.00am onwards.
“One of the market’s key philosophies is to offer customers a place to buy real food from real people. This special live event is all about educating and entertaining our loyal and growing customer base who visit the market each week,” said Roger Powell, Director of the Capital Region Farmers Market.
“And for those who haven’t visited before, the live event aims to give people a taste of the range and quality of food on offer from our region, and introduce them to some of the most avid and talented chefs and producers who call the region home,” he said.
The community is invited to taste, listen and learn throughout the morning with guest speakers and live cooking demonstrations at the Country Energy Kitchen using 100% Capital Region Farmers Market produce. The recipes demonstrated will also be available for customers to take away with them to replicate at home.
Highlights of the morning include a cooking demonstration by local foodie icon and Head Chef of Grazing restaurant, Tom Moore, at 9.15am. Tom will demonstrate his love of modern Australian seasonal food, and how food can be taken straight from the garden and prepared lovingly for the plate. Tom’s food is served up at the old Royal Hotel in Gundaroo, is unpretentious and focuses on regional produce. At 33, he is one of Canberra’s best known chefs, having won a string of awards, and is a big supporter of the Capital Region Farmers Market.
The morning will also include a demonstration by French-born and trained chef, Eric Menard, who previously operated Le Petite Fourneau at Chapman shops. Menard is a classically trained French Chef and Pastry Chef who has held positions in 5 star hotels in Australia and overseas. With a passion and flair for creating savoury dishes and desserts, he also teaches cooking classes in conjunction with Slow Food Canberra.
Other spectacular cooking demonstration and food preparation activities at the live event will include presentations by Greenhill Farm, breeders and growers of bulk biodynamic beef; Russell Smith with an in depth talk about the cheese-making process; Kaplan from Pilpel Fine Foods demonstrating his Mediterranean culinary expertise and Desiree’s Fine Foods, makers of the popular Bangers gourmet sausages.
The Capital Region Farmers Market in Canberra is a genuine farmers market with over 100 stalls offering a diverse range of fresh food and agricultural produce straight from the producer to the customer. The special Capital Region Farmers Market Live Event will be held this Saturday, 24 October, from 6am until 12 midday at Exhibition Park.
Funds generated from the Market are fed back into regional communities and other projects chosen by the Rotary Club of Hall which founded the Market in 2004.