Culinary theme as FESTA promises to whet city’s appetites
Christchurch’s Festival of Transitional Architecture (FESTA) kicks off on Friday, bringing more than 50 events to the city centre.
At the heart of the festival is FEASTA, Saturday’s headline event incorporating temporary architectural installations and a banquet of eating experiences. It will fill Mollett St, between Colombo and Durham streets, from 5pm until late.
‘‘Our theme this year is food. Previously we’ve been about activation and bringing people into the city.
‘‘We’re still about those things, but food is such a tangible thing, it makes it very open to everyone,’’ FESTA creative director Barnaby Bennett said.
‘‘The headline event FEASTA is an opportunity to eat some great good, and come into the city and see some experimental architectural things designed by students across Australasia.’’
Food offerings at the event include an Asian food market, a bar run by craft beer fillery Punky Brewster, and a range of food trucks. In exchange for a donation of nonperishable goods, festival-goers can also get their hands on one of 100 hand-woven harakeke baskets, filled with native plant seedlings and seeds.
‘‘We really want FESTA to be a multicultural and diverse event, as well as the city itself,’’ Bennett said.
On Sunday, O¯ ta¯ karo Orchard is running a Biking Bee Adventure, exploring various food production locations in the city.
Starting at 10am at The Commons on Kilmore St, the tour aims to showcase the importance of pollinators, including bees, to our ecosystem, and help create pollinator-safe infrastructure. The trip ends at New Brighton Community Gardens, on Shaw Ave.
The festival will close with the screening of SEED: The Untold Story, a film about where food comes from and how food production is changing. In association with the Food Resilience Network, Southern Seed Exchange, the film will screen on the Ilex Cafe lawn, in the Christchurch Botanic Gardens, at 8.30pm on Monday.
‘‘We really want FESTA to be a multicultural and diverse event.’’ Barnaby Bennett
FESTA creative director