Enjoy a Taste of the Bay of Plenty

The coastal Bay of Plenty invites you to its first-ever regional food festival this April 7-10. 

Just as its namesake implies, the Bay of Plenty is rich with natural wonders from its pristine coastline to hectares of orchards and an enviable amount of sunshine throughout the year. Now, for the first time, food lovers from across the country are invited to celebrate the region’s plentiful produce in one of the most distinctive culinary festivals on the national calendar. 

Spanning Waihī Beach, Te Puke, Tauranga, Mount Maunganui, Ōhope and Whakatāne, the Flavours of Plenty festival will bring the region to life with a mouth-watering menu of events. Degustation events will be on offer as well as hands-on workshops, plant-based luncheons, and cheese rolling competitions all provided by local artisans, growers, chefs and seafood producers. Well-known pop-up foodie event specialist Kitchen Takeover will also deliver a modern day hāngi with Kasey and Kārena Bird giving participants the opportunity to meet the famous MasterChef winners. 

Restaurants throughout the Bay of Plenty will also be challenged to create special festival dishes made with ingredients from local producers, such as Solomons Gold Chocolate, Harbourside Macadamias, and Manawa Honey, with the results being judged by a panel of experts. 

Tourism Bay of Plenty is overseeing the festival, which is also being supported by the Regional Events Fund, TECT and Tauranga City Council. And while General Manager Oscar Nathan acknowledges the country’s recent shift into the red traffic light setting and predictions of high COVID cases have raised concerns about events during these times, he says Tourism Bay of Plenty is heeding the call from local businesses and hospitality operators who want to be proactive and move forward as planned. 

“We’ve been having a lot of discussions with stakeholders in the past two weeks, gauging the sentiment within the local hospitality sector, and they’re confident they can deliver each festival event safely within the current red settings.” 

The food-loving public is encouraged to get behind the event and support local hospitality providers with the peace of mind that should things not go to plan, full refunds will be issued (minus a small booking fee). 

Festival Director, Rae Baker, says the COVID-19 policy that’s being applied to each event is robust. 

“We have worked with event partners to ensure red traffic light requirements can be adhered to, keeping people as safe as possible, and we’re satisfied that we can run the festival at all levels of the current COVID-19 Protection Framework,” she says. 

Most events will require a vaccine pass and operate within the 100-person capacity limit, with non-vaccinated patrons able to attend the Tauranga Farmers Market and the Mount Mainstreet Urban Market. Any potential move to orange level by the time the event takes place will also open up the festival to unlimited attendance.  

“The flow-on effect of a festival like this will bring much-needed customers to a wide range of local businesses - and it’s becoming obvious just how vital it is to support them, now more than ever. We expect this festival will become a recurring annual feature in our regional event calendar and will continue to benefit the Bay for years to come,” says General Manager Oscar Nathan. 

Visit flavoursofplentyfestival.com now to get your tickets and to learn more about the full line-up of events. 

Facebook: @flavoursofplenty

Instagram: @flavoursofplenty