The Locavores on display

Locavores in action

The 30km dinner in Cobargo certainly lived up to its promise, the 120 tickets were gone within 3 weeks of coming on sale and many would-be diners missed out. The locals pulled together to assemble a great range of produce and to create a lively atmosphere in the Cobargo School of Arts Hall, Bega TAFE students presented the food in fine style, red and white wines were available to complement an excellent degustation menu produced under the guidance of local chef, Linda Sang. The range of the produce was remarkable in itself. Wapengo oysters, local fish, beef, chicken, lamb, kangaroo, rabbit, eggs, cheese, a variety of beers, cider and wines all grown, caught, harvested or produced within the 30km radius.
When I arrived I thought I might try the cider so I purchased a ticket and headed to the bar, where, OMG, I was confronted by an enormous bottle of cider, I knew I would never drink it all! Fortunately a charming man by the name of Colin came to my rescue and offered me half a bottle of lager instead. I think it was one of the nicest lagers I have ever tasted. The tables had elegant black circular place settings…. well actually they were old LPs fulfilling the re-use part of the three Rs (Reduce Re-use Recycle) as were the cake stands, which were constructed from LPs and EPs by the Mens’ Shed, used to serve the sweets and then sold at the close of the evening for $10.00 each. Intermittent trivia with totally unrealistic questions and strange answers devised by the management (who were open to bribery) plus raffles, door prizes, ticket sales and donations raised $5,000.00 for maintenance of the School of Arts Hall. These old halls are important to the villages but they don’t bring in an adequate return for their upkeep so events like this are used by local communities to make sure they remain open.Beautifully Mad (Tony King and Nina Vox), with their eclectic music mix entertained us in the latter part of the evening and once the meal was finished and the dance floor was clear they kept us moving and our feet tapping with everything from blues to The Sultans of Swing. Beautifully Mad were performing at Old Parliament House in Canberra later in the month so we were lucky to have them at the dinner. Their music is available from the web http://www.reverbnation.com/beautifullymad.