The Food on Your Plate Festival in Perth, March, 2017

One of the joys of travelling is serendipitously stumbling across an event, close to your heart, by complete surprise. The weather in Perth and the nearby Hills is stunning at the moment and it must be one of the best times of the year to visit the area. A maximum of 31 degrees is forecast today and the mornings are cool and crisp. I caught the train into Perth from Midland on Thursday which only took about 20 minutes and is an excellent service, with regular trains running. As I was walking from the station past Myer, and looking down into Forrest Place, I saw a host of food stalls, and marquees and realised I had found a substantial food event, the Farmer on Your Plate. It was a prestigious one as the Governor of Western Australia was opening it in an hour.

 My real mission for heading to the city this time was to do some shopping for no. 1 son, so I did that, and then hurried back to the Farmer on your Plate Festival. The wonderful aspect about this event is that most people representing the food producers of the area were giving out free samples of their produce to promote it hoping that you would then buy their product. It aims to link people to the people who produce food on their plate. I sampled some delicious organic minced beef meatballs from Blackwood Valley Beef with the chef happy to pose for a photo. Served with a miso sauce they got my vote. The taste did linger on my palate as he promised.

I'm sorry about the quality of the photos here. I took them with my phone, and being away from home I don't have all the software loaded on the computer I am using to improve them as I would like.

Bocelli's  Bagel Bar

A coffee at Bocelli's Bagel Bar was needed by this stage, and it was one of the best coffees I have had in Perth so far, with a delicious selection of cakes, pastries and bagels, and pizzas and other lunchtime food to choose from. This place is well worth a visit if you are in Perth City. They are an award winning coffee shop.

A sample of the very nice selection available

If you like bagels, there were plenty to choose from

Stuart Laws is a well know Perth chef, currently leading the team at Don Tapa, Fremantle as the Executive Chef. He cooks up a style of Japanese-Peruvian fusion cuisine at Don Tapa. Worth a try I suggest. He was cooking up a storm and seemed to be really enjoying himself as well. I tasted some of the organic pork he cooked and it tasted quite amazing. He had curries simmering on the stove ensuring there was ongoing food for the whole morning available. Ladies were approaching him over the counter and asking for hugs, but I didn't think I had better do that. It was entertaining though. He is obviously a nice guy and well known in Perth. He originates from Carnarvon.

Beautiful Pomegranates galore for sampling

So all in all it was a really enjoyable morning at the food festival  promoting an amazing and diverse range of produce but surprisingly humble and generous in it's whole approach.

Delicious Dukkah for sampling and purchase

Well done Perth farmers, growers and chefs.

Best wishes to my friends

Pauline