Vegan chef headlines Adelaide Beer and BBQ festival

Smith & Daughters chef Shannon Martinez will headline the Adelaide Beer and BBQ festival (ABBF) this month. The festival, which runs over three days from 28–30 July, features a line-up of Australian and international chefs, including Martinez, Duncan Welgemoed, and Mike Patrick.

While Martinez doesn’t follow a vegan diet, the Melbourne-based chef says that’s what gives her the edge.


“It’s a great part of what we do every day — replicating the tastes and textures of meat, rather than putting out the same old bland, predictable, vegan food. Sometimes it is the textures that are missing in vegan foods, and the fats. You need these to get the right mouth feel,” she says.

“Many people believe veganism is a trend, that all vegan food tastes the same boring way and, above all, that it is uncreative, not filling and lacks flavour. I like to turn that on its head.”


Martinez’s dishes include ‘chorizo’ and potato, Spanish ‘meatballs’ in a saffron almond sauce, chipotle cashew ‘cheese’, ‘tuna’ and green pea croquettes.

“Shannon is at the forefront of vegan food and she’s an ass kicking, name-taking, beautiful chef that encompasses all that’s great about a festival with no real rules or boundaries,” says Africola’s Duncan Welgemoed, ABBF BBQ ambassador.


At the festival, chef Patrick of Melbourne’s Fancy Hanks will team up with Adelaide’s Low & Slow to showcase dishes such as beef brisket with black pepper rub, pork ribs, and beef and pork andouille sausage links.

Also joining the line-up are JKs BBQ & Smoke, Qweilo Gaijin Ghetto BBQ, Lyndoch Hill, Drew’s Blues & BBQ, Gilbert Street Wings and NOLA.

Canadian chef Matty Matheson, of Dead Set on Life fame, will be in Adelaide for the first time to share his BBQ with guests.

Martinez’s business partner Mo Wyse will present at the upcoming Restaurant Leaders Summit in Sydney on 31 July.

Last year, Hospitality spoke to Wyse about the rise of vegan-focused menus.