Australia's culinary story is one of the most exciting on the planet — and one of the least expected. A country once mocked for its meat-and-three-veg conservatism has transformed, within a generation, into a global gastronomic powerhouse. The combination of extraordinary raw ingredients, multicultural influences from every corner of Asia, Europe, and the Middle East, a fearlessly experimental chef culture, and 65,000 years of Indigenous food knowledge has produced something truly unique. A food tour of Australia isn't just a nice add-on — it's now the reason many people visit.

What sets Australian food apart is its sheer diversity. In a single day in Melbourne, you can start with a flat white from a third-wave roaster in a laneway, lunch on hand-pulled noodles in Chinatown, snack on a lamington from a heritage bakery, and finish with a twelve-course degustation featuring native ingredients you've never heard of — pepperberry, finger lime, wattleseed, saltbush lamb. This is a country where fine dining and street food coexist without hierarchy, where a $10 banh mi is discussed with the same reverence as a $300 tasting menu.

Why Take a Food Tour in Australia?

A dedicated food tour offers what independent eating cannot: context, access, and curation. Australia's best food experiences are often hidden — behind unmarked doors, on farms far from main roads, in communities that don't advertise. A knowledgeable food guide unlocks these places and, crucially, introduces you to the producers, chefs, and artisans whose stories bring every dish to life. When you taste a Barossa shiraz while standing in the vineyard where the grapes were grown, hearing the sixth-generation winemaker talk about their family's craft, the wine tastes different. That's what a food tour gives you.

There's also the practical advantage of guided pacing. Australia's food regions can be spread across vast distances, and combining wine country, coastal seafood, farm visits, and city dining into a coherent, well-paced itinerary requires local knowledge. The best food tour operators handle the logistics — the driving, the bookings, the insider recommendations — leaving you free to eat, drink, and discover.

Australian food has an energy you don't find anywhere else. It's the confidence of a young cuisine that borrows from everywhere but copies no one. Every plate tells you something about the land, the climate, the migrations, the Indigenous knowledge. That's what makes it so compelling to eat your way through this country.

— Jock Zonfrillo, late Australian chef & MasterChef judge

Australia's Great Food Regions

Melbourne & Victoria

Melbourne is, without argument, Australia's food capital. The city's laneway café culture, world-class restaurant scene, and astonishing multicultural dining make it a destination in its own right. Beyond the city, Victoria offers the Yarra Valley's cool-climate wines and farm-gate trail, the Mornington Peninsula's vineyard restaurants and coastal seafood, and the Great Ocean Road's artisan cheese makers and boutique producers. A Victorian food tour is dense with experiences — you could spend a week and barely scratch the surface.

Barossa Valley & South Australia

South Australia is Australia's wine and produce heartland. The Barossa Valley — with its old-vine shiraz, German heritage, and farm-to-table dining culture — is the country's most celebrated food destination outside Melbourne. Adelaide's Central Market is one of the southern hemisphere's great food markets, while McLaren Vale, Clare Valley, and Adelaide Hills each offer distinct wine and food experiences within easy driving distance. The region's "paddock to plate" philosophy isn't marketing — it's simply how people eat here.

Sydney & New South Wales

Sydney's food scene is defined by its relationship with the harbour and the ocean. The Sydney Fish Market is a starting point for understanding the city's seafood obsession, while the inner-city dining precincts of Surry Hills, Newtown, and Enmore showcase the multicultural influences — Vietnamese, Lebanese, Japanese, Thai — that have shaped modern Australian cuisine. Beyond the city, the Hunter Valley offers Australia's oldest wine region paired with artisan cheese, olive oil, and chocolate, while the South Coast's oyster trail is a revelation.

Tasmania

Tasmania has exploded onto the Australian food scene with a farm-to-fork culture that rivals anywhere in the world. The island's clean air, cold waters, and rich soils produce extraordinary ingredients — Pacific oysters, Atlantic salmon, heritage apples, wasabi, truffles, and some of Australia's most exciting cool-climate wines. Hobart's waterfront restaurants, the Bruny Island cheese and oyster trail, and the Tamar Valley's cellar doors form the backbone of a Tasmanian food tour that's increasingly being compared to the best of regional France or Italy.

Margaret River & Western Australia

Margaret River punches spectacularly above its weight. This compact wine region three hours south of Perth produces world-class cabernet sauvignon and chardonnay alongside artisan chocolate, olive oil, craft beer, and some of Australia's most acclaimed restaurants. The short distances between cellar doors make it ideal for a food-focused tour — you can visit six or seven producers in a single day without exhaustion. The surrounding coastline adds extraordinary seafood to the mix, and the region's relaxed atmosphere makes every meal feel like a celebration.

Tropical North Queensland

Far North Queensland offers a food experience unlike anywhere else in the country. The tropical climate produces exotic ingredients — finger limes, Davidson plums, macadamias, tropical fruits, cane sugar — that form the basis of a unique regional cuisine. Indigenous bush tucker experiences add another layer, connecting visitors with food traditions stretching back tens of thousands of years. The Atherton Tablelands behind Cairns are a treasure trove of farm visits, coffee plantations, and chocolate makers, while the coastal seafood — mud crab, barramundi, coral trout — is sensational.