Woodford Folk Festival Eat/Drink

Kim Pengelly, Commercial Manager at Woodford Folk Festival, takes us through the fest's food and drink offerings.

More and more festivals are being more selective about and taking great pride in their food and drink options. Why do you think that is?

Woodford Folk Festival has always felt that making our patrons comfortable as equal priority as the artists we book, so quality food and drink options are critical for creating a beautiful experience. We're entering a new stage of the event cycle in Australia. Patrons are seeking overall experiences more than just music consumption, which was the trend in the early 2000s. With the current flooded festival scene that the events industry is operating in, patrons are looking for a niche, they are craving something more. Part of providing a feast for the senses is that it's critical to offer the highest quality food and beverage. Gone are the days of cattle fencing and en masse RTD 'can cracking' — each drink should be perfectly garnished in the way that it would in a high trading city bar operation, in my opinion.

Where are your vendors from? Are there a lot of local companies in the line-up?

We have a mix of international stalls that bring a wonderfully authentic representation of their culture through food as well as our lovely local food vendors. All fruit and veg on site is purchased from local growers so whether our food stalls represent cuisine from South East QLD, Mexico, Brazil, Thailand or Italy, local farmers are the source. I can't think of a better combination than international flavours and knowledge with local product.

It seems like there's something for absolutely everyone at Woodford — no matter what your dietary requirements or personal cuisine preferences. How did you decide who to include?

We spend a lot of time in the selection process reviewing menus to ensure there is something to cater for everyone's tastes with a variety of new and exciting meal options. We're always looking for stalls that are pushing the envelope. There are a couple of new ones this year with creative ideas; one that springs to mind is The Green Coconut where you purchase a fresh coconut, drink the contents then return it to the stall where they add the coconut flesh to a salad or freshly cooked stir-fry. No waste and delicious outcome.

The diversity is definitely a conscious decision - patrons need to get lost in the festival and being able to enjoy a meal at a restaurant is something not many events of this scale offer. We have everything from speed, to service stalls, to sit down restaurants; one even with table service and proper crockery! Eating off of something other than disposables at a six-day event is surprisingly so gratifying. There is no such thing as a VIP experience at Woodford; equitability is part of our culture, where patrons are treated equally as special as the artists are. For this reason, all of the vendors selected we consider VIP quality. With no segregation between artists and patrons, you'll often find yourself dining with your favourite musician or pulling up a seat next to Bob Hawke.

Woodford has always operated with this principle at the forefront of our stall selection. I do believe other festivals have cited the importance of this and jumped on board in recent years. It's definitely an emerging trend to offer healthy options. They've always been critical for us and almost all stalls offer vegetarian, gluten-free and vegan options — they have been for as long as we can remember. We have a no Pluto Pup policy on site. This is a symbolic description for us ensuring there is no mass produced artificial food on site which is less than ideal for your body in any setting.

What are a few items on the food menu at Woodford that we really must try?

Definitely Something For Catering's Indonesian soft tacos, delicious homemade sauce bursting with chili and coriander is a personal (and daily) favourite of mine. Gourmet Goons' sober nachos are another staple: thin slivers of sweet potatoes topped with a mushroom, macadamia and herb salsa, drizzled with Caesar dressing are the perfect snack between shows.

And what about the drinks — what should we should look out for?

We have a lovely selection of the finest wines from South Australian winery Sidewood Wines, who this year took out the Decanter World Wine Award trophy for their 2013 vintage — I'm pretty excited to enjoy a couple of these this year. Our key late night venue The Pineapple Lounge has one of my favorite sunset drinks on site, which you can quite easily continue drinking until all hours of the morning: 'The Shampoine' — a secret recipe created by our friends at Cave Urban which includes white rum mixed with ginger beer (and a secret something that their lips are sealed on, but my goodness it's delicious) topped with a combination of fresh pineapples, mint, passionfruit, watermelon and lime; it's such a delectable summer drink. Our mates at Coopers Brewery serve up the finest Coopers beer and Thatcher's cider on tap across site.

Which act/band on the Woodford line-up do you wanna have a meal with? What would you eat/drink with them and why?

It'd have to be Courtney Barnett, wouldn't it? Anyone who can craft such perfect satire of 21st century food related perils would have to get my vote.

Woodford Folk Festival... celebrating 30 years. 27 Dec - 1 Jan. Tickets available at woodfordfolkfestival.com.