The 2011 winner of top-ranking TV show Masterchef Australia, Adam Liaw will walk the warehouse floor of Foodbank Victoria to select and use canned foods donated to Foodbank to create a live cooking experience. As previously reported by Australian Food News, Foodbank Victoria is running in conjunction with the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival on 3-4 March an innovative food donation activity, where families and friends have been invited to donate cans to “a Map of Victoria’s hunger”. A week... ...Read more »

Cookbooks and lifestyle magazines were amongst the top-selling items in Australian newsagencies during the lead-up to Christmas 2011, according to anecdotal reports emanating from a number of sources including various shops, blogs and advertising media websites monitored by Australian Food News during December 2011. There have been concerns about long-term viability for newsagencies reliant on newspapers and magazines competing against growth in on-line publications. However, the indications were... ...Read more »

Channel Ten’s MasterChef 2011 has ended with contestant Kate Bracks being narrowly crowned the winner over second-placed Michael Weldon last night, August 7. “I’m still pinching myself!” said Bracks. “If in the Top 50 someone had told me I was going to win I’d have laughed at them. I can’t believe it; I’ve done it! “A big milestone too was making the Top 5. I guess quite a few of us in the house had been saying from the beginning, ‘I wonder who’s going to be in the Top 5?’... ...Read more »

Australian noodle franchise Noodle Box has announced plans for four new gourmet dishes, designed for the group by Masterchef 2010 winner Adam Liaw. The dishes, to be launched in July, are Aromatic Black Duck Noodles, Malaysian Beef Rendang,  Prawn and Calamari Sambal, and a side dish of “Adam’s Dragon Wings”. Co-owner David Milne said the move aims to appeal to a new customer-base, with the specialty boxes including premium ingredients, many of which are new to the Noodle Box menu. “Adam... ...Read more »

A new survey by the Good Food & Wine Show has revealed some interesting truths about Australian eaters: our most influential culinary icon is Margaret Fulton, but we wish we were Nigella or Jamie; we’re nostalgic for dishes like Beef Stroganoff and prawn cocktail; more than half of us eat take-away more than once a week (with Thai food the most popular); we claim not to like KFC or McDonalds when eating out; we eat chocolate and mashed potato for comfort food; and Cab Sav and Sav Blanc... ...Read more »

Australian dairy giant Bulla has kicked off a new Bulla Cream Masters competition, with the assistance of their new brand ambassador and Masterchef personality George Calombaris. The competition asks consumers to upload their best original cream-based recipe to the competition’s website. The competition, judged by Calombaris, offers ten winners a place in an all-expenses-paid Bulla Cream Masterclass in Melbourne. “Good food is all about great ingredients because great ingredients provide... ...Read more »

Exhibitor and sponsor spaces for the first ever MasterChef Live event in Sydney this December are filling up fast with some of Australia’s top brands already on board including Coles, Jaguar, Tefal and Sunbeam. The new live event will build on the power of the MasterChef brand with a Festival of Cooking and live theatre show to be held from 10-12 December at the Hordern Pavilion and Royal Hall of Industries at Moore Park, NSW. The mouth-watering Festival of Cooking will allow visitors to taste... ...Read more »

A brand new event is launching in Sydney this December that will bring Australia’s favourite cooking show to life and is set to be the hottest ticket in town for anyone in the food and beverage industry – MasterChef Live. With the phenomenal success of the last two television series, the new live event will build on the power of the MasterChef brand with a festival of cooking to be held from 10-12 December at the Hordern Pavilion and Royal Hall of Industries at Moore Park. Encompassing... ...Read more »

MasterChef madness has spilled into the Eagle Boys kitchen, with a surge in demand for choice-cut meat prompting the national pizza maker to launch its latest premium pizza, the Butcher’s Block. Eagle Boys has beefed up its meatiest pizza with chorizo, tender steak strips, double pepperoni, bacon rashers and ham, finished off with hollandaise sauce and fresh parsley. Eagle Boys CEO Todd Clayton said the Butcher’s Block was the result of market research into Australian tastebuds and would... ...Read more »

It’s a case of Junior Masterchef meets Ready Steady Cook in Sainsbury’s new taste of summer online campaign. Except there’s a twist: Contestants’ summer themed recipes will be judged by three nine year olds on creativity, “fun-ness” and of course, taste. One new summer themed recipe episode will air every week over 4 weeks on Sainsbury’s Facebook page, under the “Summer Ideas” tab. The short clips aim to inspire and help mums and dads find new... ...Read more »