Crave Sydney International Food Festival

“I’m obviously a little biased," says Joanna Savill, "but I do travel a lot and Sydney is doing really, really well compared to other international cities in terms of food.” Director of the Sydney International Food Festival, Savill is speaking during a rare break from putting the final touches on the month-long festival’s hundreds of events. “We have the pointy end guys that are kicking goals, like Quay and Marque and Tetsuya, but we also have a great bar and casual-eatery culture now, and fantastic local produce, farmers markets and coffee.” 

The events that Savill has curated in her third year as the festival’s director span each of these categories and then some. “The festival originally grew out of the Good Food Month, so it was very much based around restaurants and food businesses,” she explains. “But we’ve grown the kinds of people participating and the festival’s reach.” This year, in particular, SIFF boasts a strong voice from regional NSW, with a series of 100-mile lunches and dinners, signalling the city’s growing interest in making sure their food is local, seasonal and sustainable.

The festival personalities reach well beyond our state boundary lines, too. The World Chef Showcase will flood Sydney with some of the world's most interesting and in-demand chefs. At a glance the programme looks like a veritable mixing pot of cultures, cuisines and levels of experience, but the line-up does have a recipe to it. “I look at what’s happening internationally, particularly in top restaurants, what is trending and what the interesting personalities are doing,” explains Savill. “It’s also about choosing international trends that will resonate with and highlight what is happening here.” 

This year’s South American strand does exactly that. “South American food is just so hot right now,” laughs Savill. “There are some really interesting South American chefs out there, and we have some really great new South America restaurants popping up here, with a strong South American community with excellent bakeries and butcher shops.” Argentinean chef Francis Mallmann is a key coup of the programme. “He is the king of Argentinean BBQ, and he is in his 50s and has been doing that classic style for 30 years. It’s great to have someone with that experience, knowledge and charisma out here.” Alex Atala, chef at Brazil’s D.O.M, and Peruvian restaurateur Gaston Acurio, will join him on the bill. Young guns Ben & Elvis from Cleveland Street Argentinean hotspot Porteño will be carrying the South American flavours on behalf of the showcase’s local up-and-comers. “Ben and Elvis see Mallmann as their God. It’s really nice to be able to bring together those two generations.”

Those that have been revelling in Sydney’s recent dude-food movement should keep an eye out for the half day devoted to the trend, including an appearance from Los Angeles chefs Vinny Dotolo and Jon Shook of Animal and Son of a Gun. “They’re the next generation of chefs who have grown up with great ethnic food, but also fast food, and it’s about bringing the two together,” says Savill. “Anything goes now in Sydney. If you’ve grown up in Australia in the last 25 years, you’ve had access to traditional cooking, Asian ingredients, Mediterranean ingredients and a fast food lifestyle, so it’s logical that those things should come together in a fun way.”

Other key events of the festival that are not to be missed include the Night Noodle Markets, Growers' Market, Breakfast on Bondi and Shoot the Chef competition and exhibition.

On the line-up you'll also find a huge number of food tours, cooking classes, sustainable food workshops, kids events, pop-up restaurants, progressive dinners and much more.

To check out the full line-up, head to the Crave Sydney website.