The Feast of MatchWorks Pako Festa 2008

Every year, the incredible spread of sensational food gets bigger and bigger. 2008 was no exception. There were around 30 food marquees along the length of Pakington Street serving up everything from traditional cultural cuisine to more familiar foccacias, wraps and ice-creams. All in all, it was a fantastic smorgasbord of sensational tastes, flavours and aromas.

The range international gourmet foods, many of them being made by our own local communities, was richer this year with the addition of the Thai and Iranian communities. Thai cuisine combines the oriental bite of Szechuan Chinese, fresh tastes of Malaysian, rich coconut influences of Southern Indian and delicate spices of Arabian food. The food of Iran often presents combinations of rice with meat, chicken or fish served with onion, vegetables, nuts, and herbs. Saffron, limes, cinnamon, and parsley may be added to some dishes.

For the first time, African cuisine was available alongside traditional Croatian, Dutch, Filipino, Italian, Moaori, Serbian, Spanish, Greek, Welsh, Scottish, Bosnian and Macedonian. You could feast on everything from bratwurst, kransky or weisswurst to souvlaki, felafels and paella. Crowds enjoyed Turkish gozleme, Italian cannoli, Spanish churros or Thai chicken sate.

Kids loved Funky Frog, a creative sherbet stall where they could make candy art with the twelve different colours and flavours. For those with a sweet tooth, there was baklava, chocolate fountain and lighter than light fairy floss. And to top it all off, Pakington Street hotels, restaurants and cafes opened to satisfy every taste and budget.

What else was new?

Those looking for a place to sit down and enjoy a cold beer or wine, along with some great Wholefoods tucker called into the new Carmen Miranda Bar off Albert Street, just to the right of the Geelong West Town Hall. The new bar area fronted onto the Westpac Diversity Stage with great entertainment staged all day from 12 noon to 8pm.