Gastronomy

Bendigo is going to Hollywood!

by Michelle Symes • February 2, 2024

Some of our region’s best produce will have a starring role in this year’s G’Day USA Gala event, showcasing Bendigo and central Victoria as Australia’s first UNESCO Creative City and Region of Gastronomy.  The G’Day USA Gala includes a dinner for 460 guests, who will all receive a Bendigo Gastronomy VIP artisan gift bag featuring […]


Bendigo, A Place Full of Gastronomic History

by Michelle Symes • July 20, 2023

It is no surprise that Bendigo was designated Australia’s first UNESCO Creative City and Region of Gastronomy in 2019. Our gastronomy story is about growing, sourcing, cooking and sharing food. It is how our culture and heritage is represented and shared through what we eat, drink, the places we share meals, and the memories we […]


A School Putting Gastronomy Front and Centre

by Michelle Symes • March 7, 2023

As you walk through the doors of Kaliana, you are met with a quiet hive of activity. In particular, the canteen staff are hard at work in readiness for lunch service. The difference in this canteen is that it’s not volunteer parents preparing the food, instead, it’s the kids doing all the work. As is […]


Healthy Landscapes – Short Course Kicks Off.

by Our Team • September 20, 2022

On Friday, September 9, 2022, the Healthy Landscapes program kicked off the first day of the Holistic Grazing Management Course. I joined a new group of engaged, enthusiastic and intrepid food and fibre producers from across Macedon Ranges, Hepburn Shire and the City of Greater Bendigo, coming together to learn about how principles of regenerative […]


How do we Eat Djaara Country Healthy?

by Our Team • August 30, 2022

Authors: Will Tait and Jodi Newcombe So here we are, bringing this five-part blog series to a close. In our opening blog we described how our collective – the Carbon Arts team in collaboration with Dja Dja Wurrung woman Bec Phillips – is motivated by the question: “How do we eat Djaara Country healthy?” We […]


Land of Milk and Honey

by Our Team • August 24, 2022

Authors: Will Tait and Jodi Newcombe We are gathered at Bar Midland in Castlemaine with a collection of primary producers to discuss the concept of ‘Eating Djaara Country Healthy’, while proprietor and project collaborator Alex Perry delights us with appropriately-themed delicacies. After the first round of introductions Richard Collins explains the troubling times he’s been […]


Planting Seeds for New Beginnings

by Michelle Symes • August 16, 2022

It’s 9.00am, I walk through the doors and am welcomed by a security guard. This is the first time I have started my workday with a full body Xray, a duress alarm on my belt and a meander around a series of kitchen gardens with a slight feeling of apprehension. On this day however, the […]


Pest Control on a Plate

by Our Team • August 9, 2022

Authors: Will Tait and Jodi Newcombe In early 2021 we gathered to begin developing what would become Djakitj Larr – the afternoon of storytelling and creative conversation that gathered stakeholders of the City of Bendigo’s UN Creative City of Gastronomy designation. Dja Dja Wurrung woman Bec Phillips had just joined the team, and one of […]


Pasture Cropping Field Day in Huntly

by Sally Beer • July 29, 2022

On Wednesday, July 13th, 2022, 42 landholders came together in Huntly Memorial Hall to hear from the venerated farming expert, Colin Seis, at the Managing Pastures: Multi – Species Cropping Field Day. Some of the key messages in the discussion were about improving soil health using grazing animals, utilising multiple plants in a pasture and […]


Breaking Bread

by Our Team • July 26, 2022

Authors: Will Tait and Jodi Newcombe There’s an area of grassland on Parkside Run Farm that’s never been treated with chemicals. Carly Noble cuts and bales what grows there, and feeds it to her animals. She notices that they don’t sniff at it suspiciously like they do with a bale that’s been grown in soil […]