Central Otago's Eat.Taste.Central (E.T.C.) will return to restaurants across the region from today, serving up another round of tempting dishes.

The annual food and beverage showcase, brought to the district by Tourism Central Otago, will run for a month at participating venues, complimented by a series of food and beverage-focused events scheduled over the coming weeks.

It is the seventh year the event has been hosted, which Tourism Central Otago's head of destination Anthony (Antz) Longman describes as a "wild gastronomic ride".

“We’re proud that E.T.C. continues to celebrate our amazing venues, chefs and producers, and is a key part of telling the story of Central Otago as a food and beverage destination of choice. Additionally, our event partners, including Air New Zealand, The Central App, MiNDFOOD, More FM and Central Otago Winegrowers Association have continued their support for another year, which further highlights the value of the event to the region.

“This year we’ve got dishes that hero ingredients such as rabbit, thar, venison, lamb, cherries, apricots, apples, honey and more. Chefs from participating venues have designed their category dishes in such a way that celebrates not only the flavours of local ingredients, wines and beverages, but in many cases also touches on culture, history and heritage of the person, place and their chosen hero ingredient.”

Waipiata Hotel’s Head Chef David Aracama with the E.T.C. Sense-ational Burger - a Coneys Creek Beef Bulgogi Burger with Swiss Cheese. PHOTO: Supplied

Tourism Central Otago media and marketing manager Alison Mason said the team was impressed with the creativity and flair being shown in the use of local ingredients.

“We have now seen their dishes, and rather than pick just a couple to highlight, we can confidently encourage people to get out and try as many as possible during Eat.Taste.Central while they are available.”  

In addition to the online regional menu and dish images, for the first time, a short video profile has been created for each dish and venue. These can be viewed within each dish listing on eattastecentral.co.nz and capture the people and flavours that are integral to Eat.Taste.Central. 

Wine lovers will get to enjoy two celebrations of local wines bookending the event, with the Alexandra Basin New Release Tasting event being held on Sunday, October 22.

The final weekend for E.T.C. will be marked with the Central Otago Wine Experience event hosted by Central Otago Winegrowers at Mt Difficulty – a rare opportunity to discover, taste and learn about the Central Otago wine region from a selected group of world class wineries in one space.

In addition, there are other unique and personal events throughout E.T.C. including a Quartz Reef wines and Sanga’s Pies fusion event, Wine and Fromage (cheese) at Domaine Thomson, Burger Afloat’s Beats and Burgers and more.

Antz said when Eat.Taste.Central. was launched in 2016, the intention was to raise the profile of Central Otago’s food and beverage providers, growers and experiences, with the additional aim of giving the region a boost in a traditionally quiet time of year.

“On reflecting on the last six years, it has become clear that Eat.Taste.Central. is achieving those original goals.”

Eat.Taste.Central. runs from Friday, October 20 to Sunday, November 12 and offers a regional menu of specially created dishes, while supporting food and beverage focused events.  

Visit The Central App's E.T.C. button to support participants, or to hear what they have planned for you this season, check out the E.T.C. YouTube channel.