Although most offices are closed, there’s always a lot going on near the Hobart wharf and Salamanca from Boxing Day until just after the new year. The Sydney – Hobart yacht race leaves Sydney on Boxing Day, and the first yachts start arriving in Hobart early on the 28th of December. Also on the 28th, the Taste starts. The Taste is a mainly a food / wine / beer festival. Everything served must be made with Tasmanian produce. There’s also entertainment and other things associated with it (the Hobart summer festival), but the part we like is The Taste. There’s always so much variety of food. What annoys me thought is seeing people getting things you can eat every day. For example, Fish Frenzy is a restaurant on Elizabeth Street pier. So why go to the Fish Frenzy stall at the Taste? Why buy fish and chips at all?! There are Steve’s Kebabs take-aways all over: why go to their stall at the Taste?!
On the other hand, we’re in a bit of a rut. There are some things we get every year at the Taste – but at least they aren’t things we can get at other times of the year. Such as empanadas, rösti, and the most scrummy berry desserts. Usually we bring along our Taste wineglasses and sample the offerings from various wineries as well. I hate crowds but love the Taste, so usually we try to go in ‘off peak’ times – before lunch, mid-afternoon, or later in the evening. This year we went a few times mid-afternoon. Tables are shared, and you strike up conversations with people from all over.
