Devonport Food & Wine Festival

The Devonport Food & Wine Festival, held every March showcases produce & wines found around Devonport, Tasmania & they appointed Ben Milbourne as the Ambassador for the 2013 Devonport Food & Wine Festival. It was such a proud moment for Ben to be asked to represent his home town :)

Ben at Devonport Food and Wine Festival ambassador dinner:

Celebrity chef Janelle Bloom believes there is no better ambassador for Tasmanian produce than Ben Milbourne..

Bloom was a guest of Milbourne at Saturday night's Ambassador's Dinner where 80 people joined the  MasterChef  star for a four-course dinner.

``The dinner was absolutely brilliant,'' Bloom said.

``I met Ben before he was on  MasterChef  and was one of the panellists who interviewed all the potential contestants and I realised then he had what it takes to give the competition a shake,'' Bloom said.

``The event was amazing and the food was exceptional.''

Bloom said  Tasmania should stop looking for mainland chefs, who demand big money, to promote Tasmania's produce and look no further than Milbourne.

``There is nothing better than having a local, who knows the produce like the back of his hand, promote the food where he is from and most passionate about.''

Saturday night's dinner  menu was put together by Milbourne in consultation with the chefs at the Gateway Inn.

Milbourne said each of the dishes used a locally-sourced key ingredient.

``It was good to be in and out of the kitchen and able to have some down time and enjoy the food and have a drink,'' Milbourne said.

(Source: The Advocate, March 18, 2013)