The Flavours of Campbelltown Food trail

Imma the original owner of Mercato , The Italian one stop shop

I went to an incredible forum last week during a visit to Adelaide’s Tasting Australia festival. This biennial festival pulls out all the stops to showcase the amazing food and wine of South Australia. Launched in 1997 it has matured and developed, helped along the way by our growing interest in where and how our food is produced . Put it in your diary so you can visit in 2016. The forum “WordstoGo14, was open to travel and food bloggers from all over Australia and New Zealand, and featured some of the worlds most inspiring and talented “social media experts”

Have a look at my short  film at the end of this post

Holy Goat cheese from the Smelly Cheese Store Adelaide Central Market

• Australia’s first professional instagramer- Lauren Bath @laurenepbath,
• Katie Quinn Davies – www.whatkatieate.com
• Greg Snell winner of the best job in the world www.greggoesglobal.com
• Robyn Eckhardt and David Hagerman from Saveur 2014 best travel/food blog www.eatingasia.com
• Caz Makepeace   ytravelblog.com One of the world’s biggest travel blogs
• Helen Yee from Grab your Fork one of Australia’s longest running blogs
• Chloe Reschke-Maguire Yelp community manager Adelaide

A truly amazing line up. On Tuesday we were treated to a tour of the central market and a tour of one of Adelaide’s biggest growing food tourist attractions . A suburban food trail, “Flavours of Campbelltown Food Trail”.

About 20 minutes out of Adelaide central, and just before the hills is Campbelltown, a predominately Italian based community. Here amongst the suburban backdrop some of Adelaide’s growing producers and businesses are thriving. While some are large and well known others are tucked away, and relatively new.  The trail also includes cafes, wine and even accommodation. See the food trail brochure and map here along with contacts.

The Kumar’s Indian Cuisine Services

This is the first metro food trail in Australia and the only one run by a  council. The trail has become so popular there are now businesses on the waiting list to be part of it.  Plans are underway for the trail to also become part of the school curriculum next year to give students some insights & practical experience during their business and enterprise studies.  Tours can be booked for 2 -12 people or a bigger group like ours. The tours generally start with a showcase of 3 businesses. Our tour took in 6. You can of course download the map and drive yourself, but it’s so fascinating to be taken, and get all the behind the scenes stories.

Some of the businesses we visited are:

• Java Lifestyle Coffee and Tea- don’t be fooled by their shopping centre location. These guys have been roasting and importing coffee since there was an interest in coffee let alone any cappuccino’s being made. here you’ll find Australia’s oldest coffee machine and they make their own pods- so they can keep up with trends.
• elbio is a Latin American wholesale patisserie and café. They make handmade gourmet cakes and pastries. And that includes a mean Empanada. They supply shops & cafes all over Adelaide and as far away as Melbourne. Here they are working on a gluten free churros and wait for it…croissant.  Elbio’s were the first to join at the inception of the food trail. He supports tourism and students.
• Mercato  Wine sales, market, deli, cafe, bread, cooking demonstrations, a cavernously big space full of an incredible array of Italian groceries, plus Mummas making pasta.
• Salta In Bocca is a small manufacturer of Almond breads, biscotti’s and the new savoury breads for cheese. Therese is the dynamo behind the mountain of sweet breads. Thin and crisp and full of quality fruit and nuts.
• The Kumar’s Indian Cuisine Services Ashley originally from Birmingham has the gift of the gab. His wife has the gift of cooking delicious Indian food . This family open their home and hearts to all of their customers and you can only wish them well.
• Assaggio Cafe  this cafe is an Adelaide Central Market institution. This is their Campbelltown outpost and it is much loved by the community. Well crafted and cared for italian food

After three days of eating and drinking in Adelaide all I can say is,  thank you South Australia for being so abundant and so forward thinking in all you do INCLUDING  the new world of social media!

Now I have a new found love of Instagram. You can follow me @mykitchenstories.

I hope you enjoy this little peek at my time in Adelaide