Taste of Sydney 2016

Last Thursday night I was invited to Taste of Sydney opening gala. I didn’t take a lot of pictures but I did manage to create a short clip from the opening night.

The event was held at Centennial Park as has been the case the last few years. It was a cloudy day so I was worried that it might rain. It actually happened to me on the first TOS event several years ago where I ended up soaking wet. Thankfully this time it didn’t. The weather was on my side.

I started the night sipping cocktails at the Etihad Platinum tent. It was a lovely set up with an indoor and outdoor area and plenty of finger food, cheese and crackers to keep everyone entertained. Unfortunately, though unsurprisingly, most of the food was not vegan friendly.  I did have some lavosh with prune and walnut log from Simon Johnson, and they were divine. They did have a live electro-harp music playing inside tent, however. It was very cool. I didn’t even know such thing existed!

One major attraction was the Dimmi’s Butterfly Room, which is a small room, built right in the middle of the event field, filled with 200 Wanderer butterflies. The idea was so people could experience their first date butterflies all over again. It’s cool, but my bleeding heart couldn’t help wondering about these little guys… Are they ok in there, are they being looked after?

So I went inside the room to check it out. There was a butterfly specialist inside the room, keeping a watch of the people and the butterflies. At least there’s someone in there making sure no one is stomping on these little creatures. The butterfly specialist carefully picked one of the butterflies using a butterfly version of lolly stick, which is a stick with a Gatorade soaked-sponge (apparently they like Gatorade). He then handed it over to me to hold. It was amazing. The Wanderer butterfly is so beatiful… Being in a room full them was incredible. I couldn’t stop admiring them, and hoping for their safe release once this event was over.

Food wise, I started to see more and more products being labelled vegan which is certainly a good thing. A couple of exhibitors I visited and liked were: The Ginger People (powerful ginger lollies), Pic’s Peanut Butter (peanut butter), Fehlbergs Peppadew (pickles), Sealand Birk (water from birch tree), and Goan Cuisine (relishes, curry and pickles with Indo-European flavours unique to the formerly Portuguese, Goa in India). I honestly didn’t know anything about Goan Cuisine until last weekend so I was excited to learn about this exotic cuisine.

Though the vegan options were still limited but they’re getting better (I think). There were plenty of nibbles and drink to keep me entertained, though wished I couldn’t smell the BBQ or hear people rave about how good the meat and cheese were. It’s not exactly fun in my book listening to and smelling these things, but it reminded me how I myself was before I went on this journey. These sorts of experiences certainly help to keep me grounded. Everyone has their story and everyone is on their own journey.

The highlight of the night was actually a drink. A Gin and Tonic from Fever Tree which I had at the Platinum tent. It was amazing! All in all it was a pleasant experience and it seems to be getting better (and busier) every year.

Disclaimer: Little Green Habits was invited as a Platinum guest by Taste of Sydney. This is not a sponsored post and all opinions are my own.

xKeren