Right at the top of Brisbane’s favourite occasions to cram our faces on-the-yearly is Scenic Rim’s Eat Local week. It’s not surprising, really. The regional food bowl is populated with some of the finest producers on the planet, and it’s just an hour’s drive from old Brisbane town.
If finest producers on the planet sounds like a stretch, it’s not. As we’ve discovered in our popular regular series What are Brisbane’s Best Chefs Really Eating (which will return when the restaurants do) many of Brisbane’s favourite chefs cite Queensland produce as the best in the world, and much of Queensland’s produce comes from the Scenic Rim. Queensland’s best steaks? Scenic Rim. Fancy cheeses of all varieties and dietary requirements? Scenic Rim. Egg-yolks so orange you wonder if those chooks are living a better life than you? Check, Scenic Rim. Beer, baked goods, condiments, all the crisp produce you can imagine and some you can’t? Yep, Scenic Rim again.
Normally, Scenic Rim Eat Local Week offers us a chance to explore the region with fresh eyes. Experiences usually range from fashions on (literal) fields, staycations with pristine vistas, and rural adventures unlike anywhere else in the world, all set to a backdrop of nosh and nourishment with no degrees of separation from growers and producers.
Unfortunately, like so many planned events, Scenic Rim Eat Local Week 2020 (which would have been its 10th anniversary), has been cancelled in its physical form due to health and safety concerns in the time of COVID-19.
But we’re all about the good news here at MyBrisbane, so let’s get on in with it.
Scenic Rim Farm Box
A group of local producers, supported by the Scenic Rim Regional Council, have not taken their sweet country time in organising an alternative. In fact, they’ve gotten busy creating ‘farm to you’ home delivery with the Scenic Rim Farm Box, launched this morning. The initiative will see the region’s best produce, products, wine and beer brought fresh to your front door. Consider it Eat Really Local week, any week you like.
It’s not a one size fits all solution. You’re able to pick and choose your favourite fresh goodies, or purchase a starter box if you can’t decide. Scenic Rim Farm Boxes will start delivery in early May, overflowing with fresh – never frozen – seasonal goods straight from certified safe Scenic Rim producers. Sign up right now to get the goods at scenicrimfarmbox.com.au.
Farm Fresh, No Degrees of Separation
The Scenic Rim Farm Box is a year-long mega-collab offering a new direct supply between growers/producers and customers, regardless of the farm size and seasonality.
Long-term Eat Local Week sponsors and supporters, Kalfresh Vegetables, have offered up the packing and distribution side of their business for the venture, as well as their famed produce. Kalfresh CEO Richard Gorman said it’s a fantastic opportunity for Scenic Rim farmers and producers to put their seasonal products in front of city consumers despite challenging circumstances.
“When we heard that Eat Local Week could not proceed in 2020, we started thinking about the ways we could still connect city-based consumers with the Scenic Rim’s seasonal produce,” Mr Gorman said.
“The concept was; If the city can’t come to the Scenic Rim, let’s take the Scenic Rim to them.”
Towri Sheep Cheeses Head of Marketing and Distribution Dallas Davidson said the initiative would make the world of difference to small family-run businesses, like Towri.
“It can be a challenge logistically for us smaller food producers to get our products to consumers and businesses outside the Scenic Rim, so this opportunity via Scenic Rim Farm Box is going to be a game changer for us,” she said.
“This solution will enable us to consistently receive and dispatch orders to Brisbane as part of a bigger group, and to really connect with our customers all to the time.”
We’re Number one, We’re Number One…
The really good news for MyBrisbane readers is that the priority delivery area is Brisbane. Other regions will be prioritised per-demand.
Suppliers to the Scenic Rim Farm Box must meet Eat Local Scenic Rim Accredited Locavore criteria. To be eligible, suppliers must also meet food safety, capability and quality requirements as assessed by Scenic Rim Farm Box. To submit an expression of interest to be a supplier, email info@scenicrimfarmbox.com.au.
The Farm Box isn’t the only ace up Scenic Rim’s sleeve. Eat Local Week 2020 will continue with exciting virtual events, recipes normally reserved for insiders and some big-name chef goodies to be announced. Stay up to date and show your support via eatlocalweek.com.au, Instagram and Facebook.
