World Foods In Kilbirnie This Saturday

The Flavours! World Food Fair will visit Kilbirnie this Saturday 9 July, bringing foods from around the world for locals to try. The event, which is free entry, will be held in St Patrick's College hall, in Evan's Bay Parade, between 10am–3pm.

Stalls and foods include Malaysian, Indian, American, Mexican, Thai, Indonesian, Italian, French, Kiwi, and even African. The Flavours events select and present delicious foods that are not commonly available, so expect to get your tongue around foods like polenta, som tam, tempeh, gelato, quesadilla, tempura, and a peanut butter curry!

All food is served in affordable sample-sized portions, so everyone can try lots of new flavours. Food at all stalls is also only served in fully biodegradable containers, thanks to the wide range of these products now available on the market.

Event manager Martin Wilson, who manages a number of community festivals in Wellington each year including the Kilbirnie Festival, says “Everyone loves good food. So we have assembled a collection of interesting and very tasty world foods to bring to local communities! We also feel it is very important to minimise the unnecessary waste from events, so being able to cut out the plastic waste is a huge step forward.” Wilson has recently made this a pre-requisite for all food stalls at all his events, along with collecting all recyclable materials from the public and all the stalls.

Wilson first experimented with the world food fairs concept in 2005, holding a trial event at the Indian Centre in March of that year. He has been working on the concept since then. “One of my goals is to increase cultural integration in Wellington communities” says Wilson. “I want locals to see and enjoy the variety of wonderful foods and cultures of other members of their community”. Getting the event to meet budget is an ongoing difficulty. “Potential funders often suggest I put a cover charge on. I want everyone to come in and see the richness of the world's communities and our local communities. A cover charge would be a barrier, and would keep many people away. For me, it is important, if I want to achieve my goals from this event, that everyone can come in and enjoy themselves, learn a bit more about the world, and enjoy the richness that our cultural diversity brings to our communities and city.”

Food stall enquiries are welcomed by the organisers. The event is staged monthly, and moves to the Lower Hutt Town Hall in August, and the Wellington Town Hall in September. The Flavours! website has further information and contact details: www.flavours.org.nz

Each event offers displays and cooking demonstrations. A highlight of this Kilbirnie event will be a demonstration of African drumming at 2pm.

ENDS

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