TRAVEL DIARY
An adventure for appetite. The world’s best food and wine events for this year and next.
Pizzafest in Naples, Italy. 6-15 SEPTEMBER 2019
I F YO U ’ R E B O R D E R L I N E addicted to pizza, don’t worry, you’re not alone. The good folk of Naples invented this globally-loved dish, and they’re so obsessed with it they made a festival in its honour. Pizzafest is a seven day celebration of all things pizza, held every year and attracting over 50 Neapolitan pizzerias and 500,000 visitors. Every night the city’s Lungomare Caracciolo region transforms into Pizza Village complete with pizza stalls, stands and jubilant pizzaioli (pizza chefs) coaxing you in with their dough throwing and smooth Italian personas. Over the course of a week, they will collectively serve over 10,000 pizzas, culminating in the acclaimed World Pizza-Making
Championships where the winner of the world’s best pizza is announced. From classic Napolitana to Margherita and Marinara, the title is anyone’s for the taking. In fact, the winner of the festival’s first competition was a Japanese-inspired creation. If you like the idea of Pizzafest but would prefer the camaraderie of a tour group, why not go with a small group tour? You’re granted daily evening access to Pizza Village for tastings, demonstrations and a good old yarn with the world’s greatest pizza chefs. Daytimes are filled with trips to Pompeii for historical wonders and Sorrento, to learn how Limoncello is made on a traditional Sorrento lemon farm. It really is the best of Italy, all day and well into the night.
JAN
FEB
MAR
Taste of Tasmania
Toronto Tea Festival
AUSTRALIA
CANADA
PERU
The height of summer calls for an ice-cream churned by the scoop-sperts (gelato scooping experts) at Taste of Tasmania. Or a long summer’s lunch perhaps? Fronting Hobart’s sun-soaked waterfront enjoy gourmet demonstrations, food workshops and plenty of eating.
We’ve read your tea leaves and it predicts you’ll be attending the largest festival for tea lovers next February. The Toronto Tea Festival is held annually and brings together brewers and brands for a tea-riffic time.
Coinciding with grape harvest, La Vendimia is celebrated across Peru to celebrate wine and Piscomaking traditions, however it’s most prominent in the south. Head to Ica for grape stomping, folk music, fireworks and feasts.
JUL
AUG
Vendimia Wine & Pisco Festival
SEP
Gilroy Garlic Festival
Maine Lobster Festival
CALIFORNIA, USA
USA
FRANCE
Between the cooking comps and chef demos sits Gourmet Alley. An enormous outdoor kitchen where vendors cook up garlic shrimps, pasta, breads, and even a questionable garlic ice-cream. But the aroma of garlic sizzling on skillets is borderline inebriating.
Five glorious days to enjoy a slap-up lobster dinner, but also the perfect excuse to visit Rockland Harbor, Maine’s busiest fishing port just 90-minutes north of Portland. With a Ferris wheel, races, parades and pageants, the lobsters are almost outshined.
The annual Marathon du Médoc is a 26-mile “race” through Bordeaux’ Médoc vineyards, with 23 wine stops en route. There’s also cheese, musical breaks and oyster tasting to keep your spirits up. Most partakers cross the finish line six hours later — on their knees and giggling.
3 6 I N S P I R E | HOUS E O F TRAV E L
B E TTE R TOGETHER .
Marathon du Médoc
