'Super fan' Barry Mealia wraps up 2023 Orange FOOD Week

These are the words of Gosford's Barry Mealia, 48, who attended his first Orange FOOD Week festivities back in 2007.

He'd originally learned of the country's longest-running food festival at a gig in Bondi, catching the XPT from Sydney to Orange to check out the buzz for himself.

From that day forward, Mr Mealia has been an avid FOOD Week-goer.

"I just came up for the day and I remember it was really cold when I arrived in town, but the colours of the trees amazed me," he said.

"It felt like you really were in the country and that's what I loved about it, and the people out here were so friendly and engaging.

"I remember thinking 'oh, I love this place' and I've just kept coming back ever since then. This year's Forage event was my tenth one."

Making regular trips to the Colour City for its array of annual culinary gigs, Mr Mealia even used his refunds from cancelled COVID events to plough money back into local business that were trading online.

All things considered, Barry Mealia could arguably be one of the best go-to people for a highlight or two about FOOD Week.

He spared no expense when it came to how "magical" Orange's culinary scene was during the week.

"Every year it's been different, but it's always been full of wonderful workshops and this year's Sampson Street Long Lunch was a superb event," Mr Mealia said.

"That was my third [Sampson Street event], sitting under the trees and socialising with amazing food and wine it was a magical experience.

"And Dom's potato scallops; I absolutely loved them."

Producer workshops also topped Mr Mealia's long list, with a special mention to Sophie Hansen's "talk on Friday" and big plans to start her own cooking classes in the future.

Another workshop highlight went to Angela Argyle of Argyle Australian Saffron for sharing her story of harvesting heartache.

"I wish people knew how hard it can be for producers, their work is hard but it's driven by love," he said.

"This region is bursting with very talented and inspiring people, so I'd like to thank all of them for letting us into their lives in that way."

His raving reviews also landed on Heiffer Station hosting a Tuesday evening dinner by Carcoar's Antica Australis, including Nonna's Long Table Lunch event at Highlight Heritage.

He said the Italian long lunch was "beautiful, filled with traditional breads, olive oils, salamis and extremely lovely, homestyle food".

Though Mr Mealia's biggest FOOD Week standout went to one well-known, popular gig.

"Of course, Forage, it's always a major highlight for me," he said.

"I just love it, it's so social and everyone from producers, chefs and the people there always have different and interesting stories."

Finishing off with a "fringe event" pop-up dinner at Borrodell Vineyard, Mr Mealia said he also enjoyed this year's last-minute venue change for the Night Markets.

He gave a particular hats off Orange's Lakeside Kiosk & Cafe.

"Their chicken night markets chicken chardonnay pies at the Night Markets, just unbelievable," he said.

"They were only $8 but they were packed full of big, giant chicken chunks and the taste was truly incredible."

Echoing the gig-goer's satisfaction, Chef and FOOD Week committee member Richard Learmonth said "Barry is a super fan".

At the finish line feeling a huge success across the board, Mr Learmonth couldn't be happier.

"It was terrific with thousands and thousands of people loving it, FOOD Week was a lot of fun," he said.

"We got really lucky with the weather for Forage and Sampson Street was a super fun highlight as well, we've had great feedback for every event that was held."

With every event sold-out, he said the committee had full confidence that it'd risen to the 2023 occasion.

The group had a "great response" across people wanting to be involved, which Mr Learmonth hopes will have future vendors "really competing to be a part of it".

"We stepped the food up a bit this year and with fully-booked events, you know you've got the crowd," he said.

"We hope that's something where people who haven't gone can think 'geez, look what we're missing out on'."

With future FOOD Weeks "looking really bright" in times to comes, Mr Learmonth and the team are feeling pretty chuffed with the end result.

"We're a young committee and we've really looked forward to seeing what we can achieve together," he said.

"It was great to see everyone in those different spaces and everyone's had a good time, so we've been glowing about all of that."

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