The 100-mile diet theme for this year’s celebration was chosen to encourage people to think global while eating local, by showcasing the array of produce ready to be discovered within a 100-Mile (160km) radius of Orange.

The highlight of this celebration was the inaugural 100-Mile Dinner on Monday night.

More than 300 guests gathered in Canowindra’s historical main street to savour the best food and wine from the major regions of Orange, Bathurst, Canowindra and Mudgee.

As FOOD Week organisers declared the initiative a success, the dinner’s host Edwena Mitchell hoped it showed how to reduce food miles and eat more sustainably.

“United we stand, divided we fall,” she said.

“If everything’s linked and there is easy access, then it is easy for people to share in our region.”

Tourism NSW, Events NSW and the Sydney International Food Festival (SIFF) organisers have also hailed the concept as a great way to maximise exposure of food and wine in regional areas.

SIFF organisers are now working with Taste Orange to plan a 100-Mile Dinner in Bondi and one here in Orange as part of the 2009 SIFF in October, and to create a mentor program for Orange TAFE hospitality students.

SIFF Events Manager Vanessa Pilla said the 100-mile initiative is a great way for regional areas to work in partnership with metropolitan cousins in tourist and commercial promotion.

“We’re using what Orange is doing so successfully in other regions,” she said.

“The whole concept of slow food will build regional producer relationships in Sydney. It provides bigger opportunities to promote small producers.”

“There needs to be a collaborative effort ... it’s about producers helping each other in order to help themselves.”

FOOD Week continues this week, with 50 events still left to promote the region before the celebration wraps up next Sunday.