The organisers of Truffle Kerfuffle have placed their focus on creating “family fun that won’t cost the earth”.
For the sixth year running, the festival will be held at Fonty’s Pool, owned by festival president Jeremy Biessel and his wife Kelly.
Mr Beissel has rubbished any notion that it is “just an expensive truffle festival”.
“This is not a high-cost event, it’s a very reasonably priced event for local people to come and visit and find out about their own region. They’ll be blown away with what’s here.”
He estimated thousands of people from Perth would come down to Manjimup across the weekend.
Truffle Kerfuffle is a hands-on and adventurous festival.
A drawcard will be the free kids cooking sessions with Jessica Arnott – Masterchef Australia finalist 2015.
Food writer and chef Sophie Zalokar will be offering two satellite dinner events at Foragers over the weekend.
On the Sunday, she will be involved in a panel conversation around the identity drivers of regional food and participating in a Stories of the Southern Forests session.
“The thing I love most about the Truffle Kerfuffle is that it’s a very inclusive regional food event that captures the authentic heart of our region through a variety of experiences from grass roots to the work of leading state and national chefs,” Ms Zalokar said.
Truffle & Wine Co. senior sales and marketing manager Alex Wilson said WA contributes roughly 10 per cent of global truffle production, paling significantly against the northern hemisphere.
“Spain produces about 40-45 tonnes, and France can average anywhere from 15-40 tonnes. Our big advantage as a producer is that our winter is their summer, meaning that Australia has very little competition in the market place at this time of year,” he said.
“Right now we are targeting production of 4.5 to 5 tonnes, and that will be sent to over 50 destinations across Australia and overseas.”
Western Australia produces 70 to 80 per cent of Australia’s truffles, making it the largest producer of black truffle outside of Europe.
The Manjimup Shire produces more than 95 per cent of WA’s truffles.
Truffle Kerfuffle ticket prices range from $9 to $25.
Matthew Lau
Email: matt.lau@fairfaxmedia.com.au
Email: matt.lau@fairfaxmedia.com.au
