Flinders Island Food & Crayfish Festival 2018
A celebration of crayfish, nature and wilderness April 14th 2018 marks the date of the inaugural Flinders Island Food and Crayfish Festival Chef David Moyle joins the Flinders Islanders for the first Food and Crayfish Festival.
Together they have created an event to celebrate all that is outstanding about this unique and spectacular island. For the inaugural festival David has invited friends and fellow chefs to join him; James Viles (Biota), Matt Stone (Oakridge), Jo Barrett (Oakridge) and Mark Labrooy (Three Blue Ducks) to create a one-off long lunch, the highlight of the weekend festival. Front page image Chris Crerar.
The chefs will be joined by Alice Chugg (sommelier, Ettie’s) who will match their food and the atmosphere of the island to a selection of Tasmanian wines and beverages. The theme for this first festival will be Mother Nature + Human Nature, and the team will spend 5 days exploring, diving and foraging ahead of the lunch. The long lunch is for 150 people and tickets went on sale from Friday 15th Dec. www.visitflindersisland.com.au. Image Kara Hynes.
Located in Bass Strait, north east of Tasmania, Flinders Island is the largest island in the Furneax Region with a population of only 926 islanders. Famous for untouched beaches with crystal clear waters, deep forestland and some of Australia’s greatest produce, the island has been a chef’s secret larder for many years. It is the cool clean waters of the Bass Strait that create the perfect breeding ground for the island’s crayfish.
The crayfish for the festival will be supplied by Jack Wheatly, the only crayfish fisherman left on the island. Like his father and grandfather before him, Jack has been fishing for crayfish using traditional crayfish pots his whole life. At 74 years of age he still works around the clock in season. April captures a bounty of available produce and is peak time for the island’s crayfish. Other ingredients to be celebrated are salt grass lamb, wallaby, fish, beef and mutton-bird as well as fruit and veg and a growing gin industry. Image Kara Rosalund.
The long lunch is a celebration of the wilderness and the tastes and flavours of the island. The chefs will spend a week immersed in the island, foraging, diving and visiting the local growers and producers to create the menu for the April 14th lunch. “From my very first visit to Flinders I was hooked”, explains chef David Moyle, “I just really loved going there and in addition to the island itself I found the people so real and warm and friendly. I’m looking forward to showing it off to some mates and cooking together with them. It is such a great treat as a chef to be able to cook dishes directly from the location and connected to the land you are standing on. It just tastes so right. I wanted to share that with people, so we thought up the idea of the lunch.”
The lunch location will be revealed a few days out with the Flinders Island microclimate determining the exact whereabouts, however it will take place at one of the beautifully unique island settings. It is also an island priority to keep the event as connected to the community as possible with little or nothing freighted in for the weekend festival. Image Chris Crerar.
The local ‘Men’s Shed’ is making the long tables for the lunch and islanders will be lending chairs from their own dining tables for the event.
Indeed, a selection of additional crops for the weekend is currently being planted in time for the weekend festivities.
In a world of mass production and intensive farming and fishing, Flinders Island remains raw and untouched, with locally produced foods and wild harvest surrounded by clear waters and rivers. The island community remains proud and connected to the land. The result is a place uniquely Australian: outstanding produce, breath-taking scenery and a lot of fun. Image Chris Crerar.
Flinders Island Food and Crayfish Festival 2018 runs from the 14th to the 15th of April with the long lunch taking place on Saturday the 14th of April. Tickets went on sale Friday 15th December at www.visitflindersisland.com.au