Each year we come up with a new festival theme that inspires participating chefs to get creative in both their events and burgers. This year’s theme of  ‘Play with your Food’ could not have come at a better time, we all need a bit of joy and fun in our lives at the moment and it brings us back to the true essence of great hospitality, food and drink - it brings joy and fun. 

Here are a few highlights for me of events and burgers who have really leaned into the festival theme with some playful interpretations 

Food with your Play (1 August) - The ever creative Chef Max at Graze will be teaming up with Black Estate’s Chef Olly to create a menu inspired by Shakespeare's tome and his many references to food throughout his plays. ‘Let the sky rain potatoes’!

Floridivas (21 & 22 August) - festival favourite Hugo Grrl is back with an all new show at Floriditas, aptly named Floridivas. Anyone who got to experience the Sexy Broccoli at his previous show will know to expect fun with more than a little innuendo.

Duncan’s & Dragons (11 August) - probably my favourite pun of the whole festival, this is a three course medieval feast with matched Duncan’s beer and a side of Dungeons and Dragons. 

The Game is Afoot (6, 7 & 8 August) -  Held in the 19th-century home of the British High Commissioner, this is a murder-mystery dinner like no other. Inspired by British novelists Agatha Christie and Arthur Conan Doyle, you’ll discover the answers within Chef Bet’s carefully curated menu.

A Hole in One (6, 7,13 & 14 August) - Golfing meets gastronomy at this quirky new(ish) Wellington-themed mini golf course, which includes replicas of the Cable Car and Bucket Fountain. Flying Figel Bakery will be having fun with the theme, creating some mini-sized foods to go with your mini-sized golf.

The Food Fight Night  (16 August) - Whenever we set a theme for Visa WOAP we have a few ideas of the sort of events that might be cooked up. This event was such a brilliant surprise! A five-course dinner, ringside with a side of wrestling? Count me in. 

Clay with your Food (2 & 16 August) - the world of fermentation is very hands on and there are endless opportunities to play and experiment. Not only will you learn the art of fermentation with Chef Ben Mac, but two weeks earlier you’ll actually get to make the fermentation crock to put them in with ceramics teacher Karla Marie.