The Queensland food festival every serious foodie needs to experience

It's a lush part of the world in every sense: smell, touch, sight, sound and taste.

The Curated Plate 2025 brings all of this region's delights to the table and picnic rug from July 25 to August 3.

Chef and author Peter Kuruvita is the festival's culinary director, and his insatiable curiosity and knowledge about the place he calls home are infectious. Like the people he is representing, he's hands-on. He tells us the story of one of his chefs from a former restaurant who was having second thoughts about whether this food caper was for him. Kuruvita's advice was plain yet compassionate: "Mate, if you don't love it, you'd better do something else."

As everyone involved in The Curated Plate would attest, the industry's hard graft. Things are not always going to work; it's unpredictable and can be heartbreaking.

But when it works, it's a beautiful thing: for the community, the economy and consumers.

Explore has been given a preview of what's on The Curated Plate's 2025 menu.

But even if you can't get to the festival, this region is always open for business.

This is one of the most popular Curated Plate events. It's when Asian restaurants The Tamarind, Rice Boi and Spirit House offer street-food-style bites from their creative kitchens. Spicers Tamarind Retreat takes its food seriously and is a hub for cooking classes with Kuruvita on the roster.

For two days during the Asian Food Festival, there are options to spread out the picnic blanket on the lawn and sample the delights.

We were welcomed with a cocktail made from Sunshine and Sons cane juice with lemongrass lime and lychee, which was a lovely precursor to The Tamarind's oysters with citrus ponzu and grilled scallop with roasted chilli jam.

The standouts for me were The Spirit House's Phat wag wagyu satay skewers, coated in black Indonesian satay sauce and achar; and Rice Boi's black sesame prawn toast with mandarin dashi caramel and goma shabu mayo. What to drink with these delights? How about a beer? There's a lot of friendly rivalry between the Sunshine Coast brewers, spirit makers and wine suppliers. So much so, it has its own "fight night" during the Curated Plate. (See Grape vs Grain, below).

The crew from Maleny's Brouhaha Brewery and chefs were insistent that dessert, a Thai tea sundae (Thai tea gelato, coconut and caramel) be tried with their Strawberry Rhubarb Sour (a kettle sour beer made using Maleny Dairies natural yoghurt as the souring culture). Of course, they were right. It's a match made in heaven, or maybe just Maleny, which is close enough.

During the Curated Plate

Sunshine Coast Asian Food Festival 2025: August 2-3, 12pm-5pm. Spicers Tamarind Retreat, Obi Lane South, Maleny, Qld. thecuratedplate.com.au

Any time

Spicer's Tamarind Retreat cooking classes. There's Italian, Thai and French (led by The Tamarind's chefs) and Sri Lankan (with Kuruvita). spicersretreats.com/retreats/spicers-tamarind-retreat

One big foodie community from the Glasshouse Mountains area brings it all to one very long table in this charming event.

Weather permitting, the table will be set among the lychee orchards at Yanalla for the Curated Plate event. It was raining on the day of our taste test, so the breakfast was set up in one of the farm's rustic sheds. The table was impressive, packed with food and drink from local farmers and suppliers. Proceedings kicked off with a vibrant pink dragonfruit smoothie and canapes. It was luscious. The feast was like high tea (Sunshine Coast style), with all sorts of morsels to sample, sweet and savoury.

The Sunshine Coast also has its own coffee, and it's fabulous. The Glasshouse Plantation has a dedicated event during the festival if you'd like to see how 100 per cent Australian-grown coffee is made.

During The Curated Plate

Glasshouse Country Long Lunch: July 26, 11.30am-3.30pm. thecuratedplate.com.au

Any time

Most of Yanalla's production of tropical fruit is sold through interstate wholesalers, but there's some for the public. Check out the click and collect option on its website, yanallafarms.com.au

Glasshouse Plantation's coffee roastery door and cafe is open from Friday to Sunday 8am-4pm. glasshouseplantation.com.au

Mooloolaba is the hub of the multimillion-dollar Sunshine Coast seafood industry, and Fish on Parkyn is on its dockside doorstep. I'm no expert, but I'd say the seafood's trip from trawler to this restaurant's table is possibly the shortest in the state.

In Grape vs Grain, seafood shares the limelight with drink. Brockenchack Wines and 10Toes Brewing are confident they will win over diners' palates in this fun four-course showdown.

Each diner gets a paddle with "Grape" or "Grain" to decide each battle.

For example: what goes best with spanner crab capellini, ginger and spring vegetable salsa, smoky Japanese broth? Will it be Brockenchack Mackenzie William Riesling or 10 Toes Pipeline Pale Ale? How about the Moreton Bay Bug gratin, sour plum and prickly ash bechamel? There's the Brockenchack On Point Pinot Grigio and 10 Toes Cherry Berry Summer Sour. Choose your favourite. You might be surprised.

During The Curated Plate

Grape vs Grain Degustation Lunch at Fish on Parkyn: July 25, 12pm-4pm. thecuratedplate.com.au

Any time

Fish on Parkyn: 25 Parkyn Parade, Mooloolaba. Open seven days. fishonparkyn.com.au

10 Toes offers public access to the commercial brewery and craft beer tastings. 10toes.beer

The writer was a guest of The Curated Plate.