Tasting Australia’s 2025 program launched
Tasting Australia announced its program and is staging annual favourites and some new ideas across the state in May 2025.
Tasting Australia’s festival director Karena Armstrong says the food and beverage festival is a “celebration of eating and drinking”.
“And through that eating and drinking, we’re showcasing all things South Australian, including our beautiful produce, our awesome people and of course, where we actually are – the place of South Australia,” Karena says.
“It really is that experiential food festival – it goes beyond. It’s more.”
Karena says the theme for this 2025 program running between 2-11 May is “connection”.
“Hospitality and good hospitality experiences are basically built around feeling connected to something, someone, a place, an artesian of some sort,” Karena says.
“When hospitality is good, you feel connected to it – you feel something beyond the physical eating and drinking and it’s a lasting memory. It’s a beautiful thing.”
A highlight will be the Tasting Australia by Train collaboration event featuring CityMag’s recently appointed most powerful restaurant, Parwana, alongside Africola as patrons take a gastronomic train journey from Melbourne to Adelaide.
You might like
Being on The Ghan, which is famous for rolling along the route Afghani cameleers used between Adelaide and Darwin, aligns with Parwana according to Karena.
“We’ve put this Afghani food into this moment and Durkhanai [Ayubi] and the team from Parwana are so excited about telling that historical story of Afghani food and people in South Australia,” she says.
“It’s this beautiful connection between how the Afghanis were the cameleers… you go through that part of South Australia, and there’s all these nods to this culture.”
Town Square at Tasting Australia 2024. This picture: supplied.
The popular Tasting Australia Airlines is visiting two new regions – the Northern Flinders Ranges and the Murray River.
“[Arkaroola in the Northern Flinders Ranges] is an amazing place that we’re going to get to tell the story of both the indigenous history of the area but also settlement and Doug Sprigg and his family,” Karena says.
“They’re all about looking after the land up there in partnership with the indigenous community.”
The Canteen series is back after debuting in the Dining Galleries in Town Square last year. It brings regional restaurants and their entire team to the CBD for a school canteen-like experience.
Subscribe for updates
This year, the regional restaurants include Flinders Food Co (Flinders), Kuti Shack (Fleurieu Peninsula), Temperance (Riverland) Fino Seppeltsfield (Barossa) and Elementary by Soul (Limestone Coast).
“We’re bringing the regions into the city to support our regional restaurants that had the huge boom in COVID because everyone stayed here… [but] it’s tough out there in hospitality at the moment,” Karena says.
“We’re very lucky that we have a state that has such breadth that we can do it again – and this is what blew me away – the first year was like ‘oh, who do we put in?’ And then second year is like ‘of course, let’s do it again’.
“Genuinely is showing people that you should get in the car and drive and go up and see.”
One of the new spaces is the Drinks Academy presented by Adelaide University, which will be located inside Town Square and will host the “very traditional master classes”.
“But Banjo Harris Plane and Meira Harel, our drinks curators, have really lent into the idea of learning, and there’s a lot more quick, simple, straightforward learning interwoven into programming,” Karena says.
“There’s a lot more food and wine matching into programming and it’s a lot more approachable for people that want to come and learn.”
These informative events include the masterclasses and “Beverage: Learn” which all take place in the Drinks Academy space.
Along with a range of local and national food and wine players, Karena is excited to introduce international hospitality gurus Chiara Pavan – who will cook in the earth, fire, and water-focused event Elemental and more – and Monica Berg, who will curate cocktails at the Tasting Australia cocktail party and other events.
Other events hitting the Tasting Australia program this year include the Town Square food vendors – which will be announced early next year – MAKE series in Town Square hosted by hospitality gurus who teach patrons new skills, Tasting Tables hosted by Adelaide venues for a series of intimate tastings and more.
Head to the Tasting Australia website to see the full program and buy tickets, which are on sale now.