An adventure for appetite

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

IF YOU’RE BORDERLINE 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.

JANUARY

Taste of Tasmania

AUSTRALIA

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.

FEBRUARY

Toronto Tea Festival

CANADA

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.

MARCH

Vendimia Wine & Pisco Festival

PERU

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.

APRIL

Noosa Vegan Festival

AUSTRALIA

Veg events are in. Fact. And Australia, home to the third-fastest growing vegan market in the world, knows how to put on a plant parade. Noosa Vegan Festival debuted in 2018, with stalls, speakers, wine tasting, cooking demos and the latest vegan products.

MAY

Noosa Food & Wine Festival

AUSTRALIA

Noosa’s food festival is always a pleasure because they do such a fine job at keeping taste buds titillated. From food trails and farm tours to breakfast on the beach and over 50 winemakers, the set-up is as inventive as the food. And all this to a stunning, Noosa Beach backdrop.

JUNE

Haro Wine Festival

SPAIN

Every year, Haro, deep in Spain’s Rioja region, hosts a multi-day festival. At night, the cobblestone roads erupt into a huge street party, and at dawn, the ‘wine battle’ starts. A water fight of sorts, vessels of every variety are filled with red wine and thrown at fellow revellers.

JULY

Gilroy Garlic Festival

CALIFORNIA, USA

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.

AUGUST

Maine Lobster Festival

USA

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.

SEPTEMBER

Marathon du Médoc

FRANCE

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.

OCTOBER

Hawai‘i Food & Wine Festival

USA

Three weekends of gourmet events across multiple exotic islands, Hawaii’s annual food festival attracts 10,000 attendees and 150 chefs. Chow down on tropical tastes on Oahu, Maui and the Island of Hawai‘i.

NOVEMBER

Great November Feast

HONG KONG

This one’s a month-long line-up of gourmet food and drink events scattered citywide. From oodles of noodles to wine and whiskey walks, your belly says book now.

DECEMBER

York Christmas Festival

ENGLAND

Every November through to December, York’s medieval streets transform into a festive playground. With icerinks and Christmas markets, mulled wine flows and justbaked mince pies sit in every tea shop window.

Fusion cooking in Lima.

Yearround yum.

Where’s gourmet heaven? Paris? New York? London? Nope, Lima. The capital of Peru is the tastiest town on the map. With multi-cultural influences, restaurants like Maido are pushing boundaries with their Japanese- Peruvian fusion food called “Nikkei”. Maido is one of three Lima restaurants which appear on the acclaimed ‘World’s 50 Best Restaurants’ list, an accolade it shares only with New York, Mexico City and London. No city has yet to feature four establishments in the top 50, but watch this space — Lima is hungry for it.

Feeling peckish? Come see us in-store, call 0800 713 715 or visit houseoftravel.co.nz.