Word of Mouth

School Debate

Published 28th August 2010

If you are a ‘foodie’ then you will enjoy the Word of Mouth foodie chat sessions at The Pier in this weekend’s Taste Paradise Food & Wine Festival. All sessions are free to the public and start at 9am with a food debate ‘The Kitchen is the Centre of the Universe’. Here a group of determined high school students will debate their case. Whilst Gordonvale High School will argue for the affirmative, Trinity Anglican School team will argue against the notion that a home kitchen is the centre of the universe.

The ‘Future of Restaurants’ should be a hot session for restaurateurs and diners with panelist chefs Craig Squire, Nic Holloway and Leon Walker discussing where their industry is heading and what’s hot and what’s not.

Food tourism is an emerging niche market that is sweeping the world. What we have to offer here for the culinary visitors is astounding, but how do we get the message out to the world? In ‘Food Tourism Ambassador; Is that Me?’ listen to regional tourism experts Jeff Gillies, Jason Chuck & Ross Contarino, show us how we can be great food ambassadors.

An interview with Marion Grasby is surely going to pack the room in a session that will talk about her life and love of food and her rise to prominence.

With climate change, issues of food security, sustainability and the environmental impact of food production, the growth of agribusiness and the homogenization of food production, how can we ensure that our children and grandchildren will be able to eat real food?

A panel of lively enthusiast from APC10 will discuss these issues in a session on ‘Real Food’If you are not that ‘au fait’ with wines, ‘Wine? Wine Not?’ will give you a little introduction to the wine world of Australia and a few tips on matching wine with food in Jane Brentnall’s discussion. And whilst we are on wines, ‘Grape DeVine and Drink Paradise’ is an adjoining event from 2-4pm that for $25 you can taste some of Australia’s great wines from 11 wine companies as well as local beer, fruit wine, spirits and liqueurs from with Pernod Ricard, Yalumba, McWilliams, Red & White, Treasury Wine Estates, Taylors Wines, De Bortoli Wines, Mt Uncle Distillery, Blue Sky Brewery and de Brueys Boutique Wines.

A Special Taste of Paradise

Chriso The Personal Chef's Tropical Pan Seared Tuna with Mango Vinaigrette

Published 21st August 2010

What dish could possibly represent the essence of ‘Tropical North Queensland’? A dish with an innovative use of our regional food produce that every mouthful says ‘Taste Paradise’. It’s evident from the 22 dishes submitted by chefs of the region in the Taste Paradise Signature Dish Competition that seafood is very much our local favourite with 100% of entries featuring seafood. So now the voting will probably come down to the other ingredients in the recipes that will bring out the flavours of the tropics in these dishes … and what a diverse range of flavours this region has to offer?

The challenge has been set for our restaurant chefs to throw down the kitchen glove and compete in this inaugural competition where the public can be the judge. On-line voting commenced on August 20 at www.tasteparadise.com.au where you can view all the dishes and recipes contributed by 22 chefs of the region who have taken up the challenge. By voting for your favourite dish you will also be able to monitor the dishes popularity as they clock up their votes. What’s more when you vote, be sure to leave a comment and you could win a dinner at the winning restaurant to the value of $200.

After voting closes on 20 September, the five top dishes will be put to the test when they are cooked up for a panel of food experts to judge the winning Taste Paradise Signature Dish. This will be announced at a gala dinner to be held in October and the winning restaurant will receive a trophy and a fabulous promotional package from Tourism Queensland and Tourism Tropical North Queensland.

Made Marion

Published 14th August 2010



Yes it’s confirmed, Marion Grasby is coming to Cairns. One of the most popular contestants in the MasterChef series 2 will feature at the Taste Paradise Food & Wine Festival at The Pier on Saturday 28th August where she will present public cooking demonstrations and a chat session; ‘Word of Mouth’.

This day is set to be a ‘foodies’ paradise with more cooking demonstrations by local celebrity chefs Nick Holloway (NuNu), Jimmy Shu (Hanuman) David Bres (Olivers) and Jason Chuck (Eden House) at the Pier centre stage. M.C. Tammy Barker will keep the heat up on stage with the chefs throughout the day from 9am – 4pm. Kids have not been forgotten with a ‘Kids in the Kitchen’ cooking class at Cho Gao from 2-4pm with limited bookings taken on the day. ‘Palate to Palette’ is an art exhibition on a food theme by the Visual Arts Association of FNQ and well known Australian but local contemporary artist Julie Poulsen will exhibit her ‘Menu’s collection at her Gallery Inc. in the Pier. The Farmgate Market has plenty of stalls to showcase local food produce and Apostrophe Bookshop will host ‘Cook the Books.

Between cooking demonstrations pop upstairs to the Shangri-la’s Trinity room for ‘Word of Mouth’ hosted by local personality Juanita Soper. Juanita will facilitate a series of six foodies chat sessions throughout the day with local chefs and identities, to provoke thoughts and humour in fun fill gatherings including The Food Debate with year 12 high school students.

Drink Paradise & Grape DeVine; a wine tasting expose in a the Shangri-la hotel’s trinity room will happen between 2-4pm and is the only event of the day where there is a charge of $25.00 entry, but what good value for 2 hours of tasting some of Australia’s popular fruit and grape wines, beers, spirits and liqueurs.So if you have any interest in food, spend your Saturday at The Pier.

Who's Cooking?

Published 7th August 2010

Ben O’Donoghue will thrill the diners at the Sea Temple and Sebel Reef House in Palm Cove this month but that doesn’t stop other ‘foodies’ from catching up with Ben at a public cooking demonstration in The Pier at the Marina, Cairns at 9:30am on Saturday 21st August. Well known as one of the handsome two guys from ‘Surfing the Menu’, Ben will let you into a few of his (recipe) secrets with his relaxed surfer style that is sure to please the crowd.

Also on that Saturday at The Pier there will be cooking demonstrations by our own local celebrity chefs. As much as we love to have the likes of Ben O’Donoghue come up to our region, we have some pretty good chefs of our own. Local culinary hero such as Craig Squire; this region’s most dedicated advocate of the local food produce that he has been espousing in the 14 successful years of his Ochre Restaurant, will showcase some delights from his menu.

Not so long in Cairns but dedicated to using local produce is Jimmy Shu of Hanuman’s Restaurant whose knowledge of the Asian foods grown in our region, is a part of his psyche stemming back from his own Asian roots.

An art component is added to the festival with the Palate to Palette art exhibition of all thing foodie, presented by the Visual Arts Association of FNQ. Here paintings, pottery, ceramics, photography and even weaving on a food theme will be on display. And in Gallery Inc., well known Australian contemporary artist and local Julie Poulsen will display her ‘Menus’ exhibition.

There will be a renewed interest in stallholders for the Farmgate Market and a good display of locally produced foods will be available. So put it in your diary and come along on Saturday 21st August from 9:30am – 2pm. See you there.

Next week I will update you on the second big weekend of Taste Paradise Food & Wine Festival and announce our other special guest chef.