It's been a long time coming, but every foodie's favourite way to celebrate winter in Canberra is back.
After a hiatus due to the pandemic, The Forage is once again taking over the Dairy Road precinct in Fyshwick on Saturday.
This year's street food festival will include offerings from Canberra restaurants including Miss Vans, Temporada, Lolo and Lola and Dada Restaurant, as well as wineries and breweries and food trucks.
Served with a side of artists and entertainers, it is set to be the biggest lineup since the event began almost 10 years ago.
"The Forage aims to connect our community by the power of food, whilst providing our local vendors with a platform to expose their brands and their products directly to the audience. And we all know Canberra does that really well," founder Belinda Neame said.
"COVID has prevented us from operating in our original format for nearly three years.
"So our winter solstice event this coming Saturday at Dairy Road is extra special. It's been a tough ride to pick the event back up.
"But with the support of the local vendors and the partners and the Canberra community, we're back. And we feel bigger than ever."
Temporada is joining The Forage for the first time, bringing a menu that includes slow-roasted lamb rolls, prosciutto and gruyère croquettes, tantalising pork crackling with spicy salt and mulled wine.
The team over at Mr Papa is bringing their Peruvian street food offerings including a delicious pork belly sandwich, while Miss Van's will be dishing up tofu khao soi, which is a curry noodle soup.
The Vietnamese restaurant also teamed up with Bentspoke to create a speciality beer for The Forage.
Using rice powder, rice paddy herb, lime leaves, galangal, turmeric and lemongrass, the result, named Foraging for Spokes and Van's, is a fragrant, spicy, earthy and malty beer.
Also new this year is the recently announced Forage app.
Designed to be a companion for festival goers on Saturday, giving information on the available menus, the music line-up, dietary options and the courtesy bus details, among other things.
"The app has been designed around user feedback," Ms Neame said.
"We're constantly striving to make this event the best possible experience for those who attend. And the app is going to enable us to keep doing that. It's also another great platform for our vendors and our partners to be acknowledged."
The Forage is at The Dairy Road Precinct on Saturday from noon to 7pm. For more information go to theforage.com.au
We've made it a whole lot easier for you to have your say. Our new comment platform requires only one log-in to access articles and to join the discussion on The Canberra Times website. Find out how to register so you can enjoy civil, friendly and engaging discussions. See our moderation policy here.
