The Curated Plate 2023

Overview

As one of southeast Queensland's two go-to beach-filled holiday spots, the Sunshine Coast is known for its sun and sand. But as well as being perched right on the ocean, the region also boasts rainforests and farms in extremely close proximity. That places it among Australia's most unique food and drink regions, gives it an interesting culinary landscape and makes it a prime location for a festival that's all about eating and drinking.

Bites, beverages, basking in everything that makes the Sunshine Coast ace: that's The Curated Plate's remit, and has been since it kicked off back in 2019. Returning for 2023, the festival now runs for ten days, spanning Friday, July 28–Sunday, August 6, to celebrate all of the culinary goodness that this coastal pocket has to offer. On the lineup: more than 100 events featuring 300-plus local producers and suppliers, as put together by 52 local businesses and event organisers.

The festival's program takes place in venues across the region's hinterlands, rainforests and beaches, giving attendees the full Sunny Coast experience. Heading along means feasting your way from Caloundra to Coolum, Maleny to Mooloolaba and Buderim to Beerwah, including at bar crawls, overwater picnics and farm-to-fork experiences.

2023's highlights cover MooloolaBARS, which is exactly what it sounds like across one beer- and beverage-heavy day; picnics in the Maroochydore Wheel House on Bradman Avenue, with food and booze taken care of for you; and a day spent eating at Falls Farm and Mapleton Public House. Or, there's the return of the Sunshine Coast Asian Food Festival, a zero-waste garden-to-plate lunch, and Moffat Beach Brewing's beer and barbecue degustation dinner.

The festival is also championing First Nations food experiences, such as at a series of bush tucker river cruises by Saltwater Eco Tours, and a four-course dinner featuring native Australian ingredients — hand-picked garnishes from the Sunshine Coast hinterland included.

Also on the lineup: a kombucha workshop, classes on plant-based cooking and oyster shucking, and a session about combining whisky, tequila and chocolate. Or, there's a boozy brunch heroing locally grown oyster mushrooms, bottomless high teas, trawler-to-table cruises that obviously go heavy on seafood and farm open days.