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Can you remember how it felt, back then, to leave the house? Connect with friends?
What an experience.
We streamed that 2021 event, which meant people from all over the world joined in the day.
We've been in a forced hiatus ever since because of the lingering effects of the pandemic on the events and hospo industries, and the wish to be financially sustainable in a financially challanging climate.
We want Food & Words to be affordable and it's becoming increasing tricky to make the sums work in our favour.
So, we're working on a longer lead plan for the next event and hope to present Food & Words again.
To be the first to hear the announcement of the location and dates, sign up to the newsletter.
Stay tuned.
Food & Words, the annual writers' festival, is possibly the smallest writers' festival in the world and the only dedicated food writers festival that we know of. It provides a forum for Australian food writers and a place for hungry readers to gather.
The festival was founded by food writer Barbara Sweeney in 2012 and ran annually in Sydney for eight years – until rudely interrupted by the global pandemic Covid-19.
Everything has been a bit wobbly since then. We took the lockdown on the chin and had a quiet break in 2020, emerging the following year excited about what was to come.
On the invitation of kind Food & Words friends, we thought we might make it to Canberra, but alas that felt too risky, what with border closures and other restrictions.
Luckily, when things calmed down a little in November 2021, we were able to stage a scaled-down pop-up in chef Martin Boetz' famed Cook's Shed on the Hawkesbury River – which proved to be beyond exciting.
Food & Words Writers' Festival
Can you remember how it felt, back then, to leave the house? Connect with friends?
What an experience.
We streamed that 2021 event, which meant people from all over the world joined in the day.
We've been in a forced hiatus ever since because of the lingering effects of the pandemic on the events and hospo industries, and the wish to be financially sustainable in a financially challanging climate.
We want Food & Words to be affordable and it's becoming increasing tricky to make the sums work in our favour.
So, we're working on a longer lead plan for the next event and hope to present Food & Words again.
To be the first to hear the announcement of the location and dates, sign up to the newsletter.
Stay tuned.
Food & Words, the annual writers' festival, is possibly the smallest writers' festival in the world and the only dedicated food writers festival that we know of. It provides a forum for Australian food writers and a place for hungry readers to gather.
The festival was founded by food writer Barbara Sweeney in 2012 and ran annually in Sydney for eight years – until rudely interrupted by the global pandemic Covid-19.
Everything has been a bit wobbly since then. We took the lockdown on the chin and had a quiet break in 2020, emerging the following year excited about what was to come.
On the invitation of kind Food & Words friends, we thought we might make it to Canberra, but alas that felt too risky, what with border closures and other restrictions.
Luckily, when things calmed down a little in November 2021, we were able to stage a scaled-down pop-up in chef Martin Boetz' famed Cook's Shed on the Hawkesbury River – which proved to be beyond exciting.
Food & Words Writers' Festival
“What a truly special, truly uplifting day. I had the best time and was completely absorbed from the very start.” Belinda Jeffery, cookbook author
“What a truly special, truly uplifting day. I had the best time and was completely absorbed from the very start.” Belinda Jeffery, cookbook author
Session 4
Inside the algorithm: food writing & Instagram
Belinda Jeffery, cookbook author
Lucy Tweed, cookbook author
Emiko Davies, cookbook author and food writer (online from Italy)
Session 2
On good food & lessons from nature
Alana Mann, Sydney Environment Institute & FoodLab Sydney
Prof. Stephen J Simpson, Academic Director, Charles Perkins Institute
Laura Dalrymple, Feather and Bone, regen ag advocate
Session 3
On writing about Australian food
Paul Van Reyk, food writer, activist
Ross Dobson, chef and cookbook author
Lee Tran Lam, food writer
Session 1
On books, food & restaurants
Neil Perry, chef, restaurateur, author of 10 cookbooks (online from his restaurant) in conversation with food communicator Joanna Savill.
The program
Afternoon tea
Pumpkin scones from Ross Dobson's book, Australia, The Cookbook, served with jam & cream
Flourless orange cake
Morning tea
Feather and Bone's pork sausage roll with eggplant relish
Marty's onion & gruyere tart
Beesbucha with lime & ice
Lunch
Spiced, wood-roasted chicken & peaches
Roasted ocean trout with yoghurt, tahini & soft herb salad
Potato & Melanda Park smoked bacon salad
Tomato & basil salad
Heirloom carrots, honey, cinnamon, sheeps' milk yoghurt
Shaved cabbage, currant & parmesan salad
Lynne’s fermented porridge bread
Cooks Shed focaccia
Served with Lowe Family Wine Co
2021 Bio-logical Shiraz
2021 Dragonfly White
2021 Dragonfly Rose
All-day coffee
By The Little Marionette
All-day tea and tisanes
By Apotheca by Anthia
The menu
About Cooks Shed
Chef Martin Boetz started Cooks Shed (previously Cooks Co-op) to champion the farmers and fishers of the Hawkesbury and the food they produce.
Martin welcomes weekend diners to the rustic, corrugated-iron shed in the bush of his Hawkesbury property.
There's an abundance of natural light and a good cross-breeze – the doors that are big enough to drive a tractor though.
Getting there
Sackville is on the Hawkesbury River, near Wilberforce.
It’s 70 kms and a cruisy one-hour drive from Sydney’s CBD.
Date Saturday, November 20, 2021
Time 10am to 4pm
Place Cooks Shed, 2 West Portland Road, Sackville
Tickets
1. Attend the event in person
$330 Includes full-day program, all-day refreshments, lunch with wine, and a book gift.
There is a limited number of in-person tickets and these will sell fast, so please don’t delay.
If NSW Health Orders change, we may release additional tickets, so we will keep a waiting list.
2. Live Stream in Real Time
$55 Morning session
$55 Afternoon session
Join in, in real time. Follow the events of the day as they unfold.
3. Watch the Recording
$55 Morning session
$55 Afternoon session
View the event at your leisure and at a time that suits. The recording will be available until midnight Sunday, November 28, 2021. We will let you know when it's uploaded.
Event details
EXTRA seats have been released. Bookings essential
Like all Martin's menus, the dishes for our dinner are based on seasonal Hawkesbury ingredients.
Food & Words will finish at 4pm, but there's no need to rush off because chef Martin Boetz is cooking a family-style dinner.
There is no lovelier time of the day than twilight at the Cooks Shed.
The bar will be open and dinner will be served at 5.30pm.
Book for dinner when you book your Food & Words ticket.
Stay for an early dinner
Thank you to book publishers...
Food & Words is proud to work with
It's a full-day talks program, featuring authors, farmers and food practitioners. It's also a sensory and gustatory experience, with good food and wine, bespoke tea and coffee, and other special treats served throughout the day.
We'll send regular newsletters and post on social media whenever we have breaking news, so make sure to sign up to the newsletter or follow us on Instagram or Facebook to be in the know.
Food & Words is one of a kind.
Founded in 2012 by food writer Barbara Sweeney, the event brings writers, thinkers, readers and soothsayers together in one room, for one day, to discuss the all-important topic of food.
The event has been described variously as 'a gastonomic day-spa' and the 'best and only event
of its type dedicated to ideas, celebration and development of our food culture'.
The program
'Each weekly get-together was a warm celebration and such an incentive to keep writing.' –Susan M, Write with Intent student
Food Memoir
Our residential food memoir writing workshop is held in the home of Will and Jillie Arnott at Coolah Creek in central west NSW in May.
Jillie, an amazing country cook, and her husband Will, are incredibly generous hosts. Guests are invited to stay at the homestead for one, two or three nights. Or, you can travel in daily for the workshop, which runs from 10am–4pm on May 4–5.
Here's your chance to tackle that long-held dream to write your family food stories and recipes down for future generations to enjoy.
We're bound to spend as much time in the kitchen and around the dining table as we do writing – although you don't have to, there is a veranda chair with your name on it.
May 2-5, 2025
Coolah Creek, NSW