Bankstown Bites Information

6 September 2006

Bankstown Bites is Back!

Bankstown is home to a large urban population from over 130 countries with more than 60 different languages spoken - and one of the things that unite our community is food.

This is the second year we've held our food festival, Bankstown Bites. The inaugural festival was held last year with over 6,000 people attending from across Sydney.

Celebrity Chefs
The highlight will be cooking demonstrations featuring our MC for the day, comedian and former Bankstown-boy Vince Sorrenti, and Sous Chef Tony Chayna, from the Platform One Restaurant within the Bankstown Sports Club.  Vince will be making his mother's Ragout recipe; Tony is preparing marinated Japanese Scallops and his Lazy Lasagne.

Food Tours
A key element of last year's festival was free food tours, which took locals and visitors into some of our more exotic restaurants and grocery stores.  This year the tours are back and will show people where to buy ingredients and how to prepare them for Vietnamese and Lebanese recipes.

Performance art and entertainment
Our popular roving food artists will again be creating tableaux with a dining or eating theme, and live music throughout the day.  People will have the opportunity to buy food and drink from Arabic coffee and freshly made Turkish bread through to aloevera drink and Swiss crepes.

Community Art Unveiling
At midday, a community art project will be unveiled.  Titled Faces of Bankstown it is a photographic mural incorporating 'faces' of Bankstown people and capturing the vibrancy and diversity within Bankstown in 2006.  Photographer Joanne Saad photographed over 100 people in the Bankstown City Plaza for the project that was funded by Council with support from the Bankstown Youth Development Service and Arts NSW.

Location and Time
The event is held in the City's Town Plaza adjacent to Bankstown Railway station and major bus routes.  Bankstown Bites is on Saturday 23 September from 10.00am to 4.00 pm.