Rangebow organisers plan Indigenous Feastival as part of lineup

An indigenous feast at the Festival will feature award-winning chef Aunty Dale Chapman.

Wednesday 10 August 2022, the first day of The Rangebow Festival in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland, will have a fabulous ending.  An ending before the festival really ends on 13 August?  How so?

The festival organisers have been in discussion with Aunty Dale Chapman, the celebrated and award-winning chef and Founder of My Dillybag, to create a First Nations gourmet experience based around sustainable indigenous ingredients in the beautiful setting of Flaxton Gardens.  

Owner and Head Chef, Alan Thompson said, “Aunty Dale’s menu at the Forage, Fire, Feast festival event will bring people together, sharing extraordinary food and stories from the world’s oldest living culture.  Our team at Flaxton Gardens are excited about the opportunity to work with Aunty Dale and her team of indigenous chefs on Jinibara country.”

The Forage, Fire, Feast event will showcase the incredible work that Aunty Dale has done with indigenous communities and non-indigenous farmers to bring to the general community the spices and flowers of her Yuwaalaraay Kooma upbringing.  

Aunty Dale wanted these to be available to everyone so along with setting up My Dillybag, she also published an indigenous foods cookbook.    This means that all Australians not only have access to a huge range of multicultural foods; our tables can be spread with recipes and produce from this country.

“I have been inventing recipes for many years and working with local producers who have a passion for what they do,” Aunty Dale said.  “We will be using native ingredients like the ultra-aromatic ingredients like lemon myrtle, what a taste sensation. With menu recipes and ingredient lists for event guests this culinary experience won’t stop at the feast!”  

On 10 August, we will not have to go far to have our tastebuds tantalised.  Flaxton Gardens, with its outlook east of the Blackall Range over the coastal plain of Gubbi Gubbi country, will be the gathering place of this exceptional experience.

Festival Director Wayne Parcell said the event was in keeping with the Rangebow ethos. 

“Awareness, honour and respect, with lashings of surprise and delight are fundamental ingredients of this special event, bringing together our festival values of reconciliation, sustainability, diversity and inclusion,” he said.  

You can explore how The Rangebow Festival will celebrate the creative life and spirit of everyone in The Range communities at www.therangebowfestival.org.  Tickets will go on sale soon.