Slow Food Hunter Valley leader Amorelle Dempster said cooks from across Maitland had already registered for a mystery bag of vegetables, or collected one at last week’s Slow Food Earth Market in The Levee.

“We’ve had a fabulous response so far, and we’re excited that so many people already have their mystery bag and are working out what they will do with the ingredients,” Ms Dempster said.

“We’re encouraging anyone who wants to eat more local food to enter and enjoy the challenge.”

The Slow Food Eat Local Challenge, which is part of the Menu for Change campaign, was launched on Thursday.

The competition involves cooks creating as many dishes as possible from a list of specific ingredients, and any others they want to throw in.

The strong interest in the competition has prompted Slow Food to give contestants another two weeks to finish the project, instead of wrapping it up on October 31. 

Each contestant will now have until November 16 to cook and submit photographic evidence of all of their meals. 

Register for the challenge by phoning Amorelle Dempster on 0427 548 886.

Then collect them from Readers Cafe and Larder in East Maitland, alongside the library. Or pick it up from the November 2 Slow Food Earth Market in The Levee.

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