Launceston named City of Gastronomy by UNESCO project

"This is a pivotal moment in the history of the city," said Andrew Pitt, chairperson of the Creative Cities Steering Group, which championed the city's inclusion on the list.

"It's wonderful to have a UNESCO endorsement for our vision for Northern Tasmania as one of the world's great food regions," he added.

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UNESCO's City of Gastronomy Project celebrates and enshrines areas of the world renowned for culinary and agricultural excellence, examining the full sweep of a region's food production chain and heritage.

When describing the food culture of Northern Tasmania, FermenTas chairperson Kim Seagram zeroed in on one word: "deep" - noting both the influence of First Nations people and the early colonists on the region's culinary heritage.

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Looking to the modern day, Ms Seagram believes the region's world-class culinary culture covers both heritage producers and innovative entrepreneurs.

"We've got everything from a 140-year-old brewery in the middle of Launceston - which has to be one of the oldest in the country - and we've got this incredibly strong culture of craft brewing that is just absolutely brimming right now," she added.

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Other cites tapped for the honour include Thessaloniki in Greece, Rouen in France and Lankaran in Azerbaijan. Launceston is only the second city in Australia to win the designation, joining Bendigo back who made the list in 2019.

To help develop the application, the Creative Cities Steering Group brought together a wide array tourism and hospitality groups like FermenTasmania, Visit Northern Tasmania, Launceston City Council and the Launceston Chamber of Commerce, as well as UTAS and a bevy of supporting councils.

FermenTas chief executive Karina Dambergs said the idea to develop a group to spearhead the application first came when one of her colleagues visited Ostersund in Sweden, not long after it received the accolade.

"It's been a long time coming. We really started preparing for the bid in 2018."

Despite taking more than three years to come to fruition, Ms Dambergs believes that extra time was put to good use.

"It meant we could take a ground-up approach. The application has really come out of the region's food community." she said.

More than just an accolade, proponents are hoping the award will help firmly cement Launceston's standing as a foodie destination and present a spring pad for tourism in the region.

With that in mind, Visit Northern Tasmania chief executive Chris Griffin, believes the international nod will have a long-term effect on the region.

"The designation wraps around what we already knew about our food culture and we want the next generation to grow up with that same culture," he said.

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