A Chefs Tour In Search of Local Produce
16 chefs from some of the best restaurants in Tropical North Queensland ventured out in search of local food products when they join the Chef’s Tour of the Cassowary Coast this week.
The chef’s tour was organised by Australian Tropical Foods and is part of a project initiated by Advance Cairns, and funded by the Queensland Government Department of Education Economic Development & Innovation, to raise awareness of the diversity of the TNQ region’s food in an effort to get more local produce onto the menus in restaurants in Cairns, Palm Cove and Port Douglas.
During the full-day tour of the Cassowary Coast, the group travelled from Cairns to Silkwood visiting an organic vanilla Pokies plantation, bio-dynamic poultry farm, exotic fruit orchard, tea plantation, pepper and tumeric farm, eco banana plantation, winery and various other properties.
Tour guide and Advance Cairns Food Project Officer Nola Craig, said the tour was the second of its kind, with a Chefs Tour of the Tablelands last December proving highly successful. “The response from both the chefs and the producers were very positive, with the first tour being the catalyst for two additional tours,” Ms Craig said.
For more photographs of the tour go to Chefs Tour of the Cassowary Coast
If you are interested in participating in the next Chef’s Tour as a producer or a chef, contact Nola Craig