Regional Flavours Food Festival at Southbank

Regional Flavours 2011

I recently started a Twitter account and I admit, I'm still having difficulty working out what to 'do'. One good thing that has already come out of this is I found out about Regional Flavours through Twitter.



How could I otherwise not know about a food festival in Brisbane? I don't know. I must be very out of the loop. Thank goodness for Twitter then.


I dragged mum and dad along with me on Sunday 31st. The festival was only on Saturday and Sunday so I couldn't believe my luck that I found out about it while there was still a chance to go, rather than after the fact.


We struggled with trying to find a park but hey, that's normal for Southbank. After finally locating a spot to place our vehicle, we hopped and skipped to the parklands for foodie fun. Or at least, I did and my parents trailed behind at a leisurely, reserved pace.


The festival is basically like a market, a collection of stalls spread along Southbank Parklands. The stalls are sorted by geographical region. Hence, Regional Flavours.

My first thought upon hitting the stalls was 'where do we start?' We didn't want to miss out on anything so we worked our way to one end of the parklands and backtracked to the other end.

Funnily enough, the first stalls we stumbled upon featured produce from Toowoomba and the Darling Downs, which is where I happen to live at the moment.

There was plenty of food and beverage available for testing.

I picked up some beef jerky. I brought it back for Byron and he at first he pulled an 'Ew...' expression because it was so different to the jerky we had in Melbourne but after the initial shock, we ended up finishing the whole packet watching Game of Thrones. My jaw was aching by the end of it.
Strawberries

After trying an organic strawberry, we bought a $10 bucket worth. They were amazing. Dad kept proclaiming 'these are the best strawberries I've ever tasted'. He's 50 this year! That must be some compliment.

We tried and bought yogurt from Milany. Likewise with chickpea and broadbean chips.

There was this amazing Sunshine Coast Lime cordial that was sugar-free and super refreshing. Dad and I bought a bottle each.

Chewy pistachio nougat

Mum also picked up a little bar of nougat. It was pistachio and macadamia flavor - really nice. We wanted crunchy but got chewy by accident. It was a good, soft chewy. No regrets there.
Juicy bockwurst

By midday, I felt like something more substantial. We shared a bockwurst bun with sauerkraut. It was really enjoyable and we were interested in buying some bockwurst to take home but the queue was too long to figure out if that was possible.

Before we left, I picked up a mozzarella-making kit. For $35, I hope I get some good cheese out of it :D. Mum also bought a bunch of irises. They've just started blooming today and she showed me on Skype. They are beautiful!


My family had a wonderful time at Regional Flavours. It was a perfect day in terms of weather. The general vibe was just relaxed and happy. It was buzzing but not too busy, which is great because I hate pushy crowds. We thought it was a great opportunity to try food from all over Queensland.