Queensland’s Sunshine Coast is putting its rich food culture on the map as Peter Kuruvita launches the new Sunshine Coast Food Trail website.
The famed Sunshine Coast chef from Noosa Beach House launched the Food Trail at an event at Mooloolaba’s Rockliff Seafoods’.
Through the new interactive website, visitors can create their own personalised food trail taking in the region’s best producers, markets, restaurants, cooking schools, events, wineries and brewers.
Visit Sunshine Coast in partnership with Tourism and Events Queensland, the Department of State Development, the Sunshine Coast, Gympie and Noosa Shire Councils and Destination Gympie Region were all responsible for the development of the new website.
Also available on tablet and mobile devices, The Food Trail showcases the fresh and rich variety of Sunshine Coast food and produce, while providing new and emerging food operators with the opportunity to promote their produce to a wider audience.
The Sunshine Coast has been a rich agricultural destination for well over a hundred years. Once based only on sugar cane, pineapples and dairy, the industry has boomed to now cover everything from feijoas and snails to ginger, macadamias and world-renowned seafood.
Complementing the growth of the region’s produce, has been the expansion of high-quality restaurants, cooking schools, food events, wineries and breweries.
The site will provide visitors with full information on the producer or the experience with location, operating times and contact details.
With the Sunshine Coast’s ease of access and relatively compact space, the drive trails can be designed to suit anything from a half-day ‘taste’ to a multi-day ‘buffet’.
Visit Sunshine Coast CEO, Simon Latchford said the Sunshine Coast is qualified to own the title of Queensland’s leading ‘food tourism’ destination and this new site will help visitors truly engage and interact with the region’s extensive and diverse product mix.
“Vibrant markets such as Eumundi and the Noosa Farmers Markets have allowed specialist producers to blossom, and with that has come a wide range of ‘hatted’ restaurants, wineries, breweries, coffee roasters and food attractions.
“The new food trail is aimed at showing that while our beaches and sunshine may be a primary attraction for many tourists, there is far more depth to the region’s tourism menu. The beauty is that you can enjoy time at the beach in the morning and head off to the Hinterland for a food discovery tour in the afternoon.
“Visitors will be able to follow an authentic year round food tourism trail and add seasonal product and part time producers to their itineraries, along with key festivals, markets and restaurants that feature Sunshine Coast produce.
Chef, Peter Kuruvita added, “Since moving to the Sunshine Coast three years ago and recently filming the region for SBS Coastal Kitchen, I have been amazed at how the area has expanded both its food scene and variety of produce over recent years.”
Visitors are encouraged to share their Sunshine Coast food experience via social media using the #VisitSunshineCoast hashtag.