Pasta heaven at festa

Competitions feature in Innisfail’s role in carnival

l INNISFAIL

| Gail Sedorkin

WHETHER you’re a champion spaghetti eater or a master at making pasta, there’s a competition at the Pasta & Sugo Festa in Innisfail just for you.

The competitions are part of a new event celebrating Italian culture in Innisfail on July 23, and one of the many additions to the 2023 Cairns Italian Festival running from July 21 to August 6.

Promising to be bigger and more delicious than last year, the 17-day festival will be celebrated across Cairns, Innisfail and Mareeba.

Cairns Italian Festival president Steve Cordenos said guests could expect an Italian party like no other at each and every event, including Innisfail’s Pasta & Sugo Festa which runs from 11am to 5pm.

“We are ‘pazzi per la pasta’ (crazy for pasta) and we know that many of our fellow ‘Innisfailians’ have migrated from Italy, so we want to showcase your pasta making skills and spaghetti eating skills,” he said.

“This year we welcome you to the Johnstone Shire Hall on Sunday, July 23 for the first edition of the Pasta & Sugo

Festa competition, a new and exciting event for the region filled with lots of laughter, and of course great food and company.

“Some of Australia’s best homemade pasta and sugo (sauce) makers will be contesting to take out the prestigious awards on offer. And of course you can’t have a pasta and sugo day without a spaghetti eating competition challenge.

“When it comes to pasta, Italy is unrivalled beyond doubt. As the world’s biggest producers and consumers – about 25 kg per person every year, unexpectedly followed by Tunisians – Italians are probably the only people happy to eat pasta more than once every day,” he said.

During the competition, each person will get a large bowl of spaghetti of identical weight. Players must eat the spaghetti without silverware and with their hands behind their backs.

The first person to eat all their spaghetti is the winner.

First prize in the challenge is $500, while the prizes for the Pasta & Sugo-making competition are $500 for the best homemade pasta, $500 for the best homemade sugo, and $1000 for the best combination of homemade pasta and sugo.

For more information visit www.cairnsitalianfestival.com.au