A food festival booking blunder has caused heartache for a grieving family who have been forced to delay the funeral of their grandmother.

Vanessa Guerra was told she could not lay her 96-year-old grandmother to rest at Melbourne General Cemetery in Parkville due to a historical food tour being held as part of the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival on Friday.

Melbourne General Cemetery

Food enthusiasts are invited to the cemetery for a "historical cemetery tour of Melbourne's culinary past" on April 7.

The tour, which costs $123 per head, will take culinary connoisseurs to "the final resting places of Melbourne's finest foodies, pausing at notable grave sites to taste signature dishes ... with a background of charming Italian music".