Not every festival announces itself with a single big event. But this one spreads across three weeks from July to August in the forests and farms around Noojee in West Gippsland – truffle hunts with trained dogs, chef-led dinners, long lunches and seasonal menus across local cafes and country pubs. French black truffles, grown in the cool soils of the region and dug at peak season, are the thread running through it all. Worth combining with a stay in the Baw Baw Ranges. When: July-August: noojeetrufflefestival.com.au

The Curated Plate, held in late July and August, is one of Australia’s best food and wine festivals for sheer ambition. It includes 30-plus events curated by culinary director Peter Kuruvita using the Sunshine Coast’s farms and coastline as a canvas. Expect Sri Lankan feasts in garden settings, fire-driven lunches in the hinterland, treetop breakfasts, bee-keeping workshops, coastal degustation dinners and a tuna-cutting demonstration at Walker’s Seafood. Mooloolaba seafood and hinterland produce anchor every event. When: July-August thecuratedplate.com.au

Ten days of food, wine, culture and community are spread across Tropical North Queensland – from Cairns to Port Douglas, Innisfail, Mareeba and Yungaburra in July and August. Degustation dinners, a grand food and wine day, Gala Ball and the Mareeba Sausage and Salami Festival sit alongside events honouring the migrants (like my nonno) who shaped the region’s farming history. Hard to overstate how much the region loves its Italian heritage. When: July-August. cairnsitalianfestival.com.au

Kangaroo Island’s oysters are harvested metres from where you’ll eat them – shucked fresh, smoked and flame-grilled – at Smoke on the Water Festival at American River on Kangaroo Island. Chef Kane Pollard leads the roaming seafood feast for KI oysters every which way, miso-grilled squid, seafood chowder and a honey and saltbush s’more, paired with Spring Seed and False Cape wines. Mercure Kangaroo Island Lodge is on the shores of American River, making it a natural base for the weekend.$110pp. When: August events.humanitix.com

Set between two World Heritage-listed icons – the Great Barrier Reef and the Daintree Rainforest – Taste Port Douglas brings together top Australian and international chefs, passionate producers and hospitality leaders for an intimate celebration of flavour and place each August. Masterclasses, long lunches amid a grove of palms overlooking the ocean and restaurant takeovers around Port Douglas make this four-day festival as much about the destination as the food. When: August tasteportdouglas.com.au

The food, wine and creative communities of the Central West fling open their doors over 10 days in August, for the The Orange Region Fire Festival. It kicks off with the Millthorpe Fire Fair, when quaint Pym Street is lit with the blaze of firepits and overtaken with local entertainers, providores and drinks makers; introducing a program centred around the region’s acclaimed food and wine industry that includes fireside feasts, bonfire sessions and one-off food and wine events at local businesses. When: August orange360.com.au

What started as a bet between two friends – one Calabrian, one Abruzzian – about who makes the best salami has become one of Australia’s most joyful food events: the Griffith Salami Festival. Salamis arrive from across the country to be judged for the competition, which falls on the last day of A Taste of Italy Griffith, held in August each year. Winners are announced over a long lunch with live folk music at the festival hub in Pioneer Park. This is for food lovers who are passionate about Italian culture. When: August atasteofitalygriffith.com.au

While Darwin Festival is primarily about celebrating Top End culture, food is increasingly at its centre. Think coconut-crumbed barramundi tacos from Sanchos, Sri Lankan hoppers from MasterChef alumna Minoli De Silva, cardamom donuts from Christine’s Exotic Eats and Jimmy Shu’s Hanuman showcasing the city’s multicultural flavours. The Taste of Darwin program also features events such as a Seven Seasons native ingredients dinner, sunset seafood session with NT fishermen and Darwin Wine Party featuring 60 Australian wines. When: August darwinfestival.org.au

The annual Moreton Bay Food + Wine Festival has quietly become one of south-east Queensland’s most crowd-pleasing annual events. Over three days, around 180 food and drink producers set up along more than a kilometre of waterfront on the Woody Point foreshore. Expect celebrity chef demonstrations, a proper cellar door and live music running across multiple stages as the sun drops over the bay. Arrive hungry. When: August moretonbayfoodandwine.com.au

Canberra’s wattle is often in bloom by August, and there’s no better reason to get outside. Born in 2014 from the ethos ‘Eat, Drink, Groove’ The Forage is one of the best food and drink festivals in Australia for its sense of community. The carefully curated street food event transforms some of the nation capital’s underutilised city spaces into lively, place-based experiences. Food trucks, restaurants and mobile vendors serve restaurant-quality food alongside local live music. The capital’s food culture, distilled into one very good afternoon. When: August theforage.com.au

The Gascoyne Food Festival runs over 16 days in some of Australia’s most remote and rugged landscapes, where red earth meets turquoise seas. Think long-table dining in a mango plantation, fireside yarns with Fervor’s Paul ‘Yoda’ Iskov beneath outback skies, a wild hoedown in Exmouth and a station feast at Bullara under a ceiling of stars. Each event offers rare access to places and people not typically open to visitors. The finale, Australia’s Last Sunset on Dirk Hartog Island, is exactly that. When: August-September gascoynefoodfestival.com.au

After a triumphant first year, the Australian Native Food Festival returns to Sydney’s Carriageworks. Curated by Weilwan woman Sharon Winsor and her Mudgee-based company Indigiearth, the two-day festival brings together Indigenous and non-Indigenous food leaders and chefs including Mindy Woods and Masterchef Nat Thaipun for live demonstrations and workshops, with more than 30 First Nations-owned and -run businesses sharing their goods at a pop-up market. When: September carriageworks.com.au

Mudgee’s biggest food and wine festival takes over the main streets each September, bringing together local producers and artisans for an afternoon of tastings, workshops and live entertainment. Tasting packages with a souvenir glass are available for those who want to taste the terroir. Entry is free. The spring event is a fixture on the NSW food and wine festival calendar and part of the greater Wine + Food Month. When: September flavoursofmudgee.com.au

Forbes’ progressive picnic is back. Swap out the white tablecloths for a folding chair and 2.5-kilometre stroll around NSW’s Central West for the zero-waste culinary trek along a secret riverbank. On Saturday, September 12, Grazing Down the Lachlan invites visitors to board a bus from town to discover curated pop-up stations serving native-inspired dishes paired with regional wine. Expect giant lawn games, pristine nature and an entirely unique way to taste the area’s agricultural bounty. Tickets are $210. When: September. grazingdownthelachlan.com

Father’s Day weekend in Halls Gap just got a whole lot smokier. Australia’s leading pitmasters – including Jimmy Brisket, who has represented Australia twice at the World Championship Barbecue Cook-Off in Texas – descend on the Grampians for three days of live-fire cooking, fiery pitmaster competitions and more than $13,000 in prize money. Blues and roots music, regional food and drink producers and a self-guided BBQ Trail through Halls Gap and Pomonal are all part of the program. When:September grampiansbbqfestival.com.au