The 16th Narooma Oyster Festival to be held from May 5-7

The program kicks off on Friday night with a three-hour, cocktail-style gathering, with contemporary food fusions that showcase Indigenous ingredients like lemon myrtle, strawberry gum, native ginger, saltbush and lilly pilly, paired with blackfish, pork and chicken on a menu from Indigenous caterers Dwayne and Amelia of Miritya Mundya.

Cath Peachey has been the chair of the festival since 2012 and loves how the weekend takes a different turn each year.

"We're excited by the focus of the native food, alongside the oysters of course," she says. "There's a full program of food, music and storytelling across the weekend in the new Yuin tipi."

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Peachey said she's also excited by the top-line chefs on the program, from the Merrivale Group's Hussein Sarhan (Freds on Oxford St), to Corey Costelloe (Neil Perry's Rockpool Bar and Grill) and Martin Bosley, who is chef ambassador for New Zealand.

"Martin's hanging around after judging oysters at the Sydney Aquaculture Show and he's a firm believer in the whole seasonality and sustainability ethos," she says.

On the Saturday one event not to be missed is the shucking competition where the special guest will be Zoe Jacobson who won the recent Tasmanian state titles.

"There's a bit more this year about learning to shuck and oyster integrity in Oyster Farmers Alley," Peachey says.

"We'll have the farmers there and while they've had a relatively good season the past few years with fires and floods are starting to catch up with them. But they're confident there'll be plenty of oysters available, last year's festival we served up 70,000 oysters and we're looking at that again."

General admission tickets are $30 which includes access to cooking demonstrations, tastings and admission to the Yuin Bunaan area and the kids' zone. Other feature events are ticketed separately.

Wollongong-based Five Barrel Brewing has announced a special-edition potato sparkling ale set to launch at the Robertson Potato Festival. Spud Sparkling Ale is being brewed using potatoes from Hills Family Farming in Robertson, who also supply potatoes to the likes of The Natural Chip Company.

The potatoes will be added, very fittingly, in the mash tun during the brewing process. One of the only potato-based beers brewed in Australia in the last few years, the spud-tacular brew goes well alongside a bowl of salty chips or cultural fave, a chip on a stick.

Celebrating all things potato, the Robertson Potato Festival will feature cooking demonstrations, kids activities, hessian-themed fashion shows, mead-making classes, live music, potato eating competitions, helicopter rides, and more. May 6-7, Robertson Showgrounds.

Join a seasonal walk through the National Museum's Christina and Trevor Kennedy Garden, a living museum of Indigenous food and medicine plants from across Australia. Enjoy the sights and scents of the season as Adam Shipp shares his passion for native plants. Each tour finishes with the opportunity to sample some of the flavours found in the Kennedy Garden and around the Canberra region. Adam is a Wiradjuri man based in Canberra, a skilled communicator and enthusiastic bush-food advocate. His passion for his culture and people drives him to share his abundant knowledge of the food and medicine plants that grow in the ACT.

Thursday, May 4, 12.30pm and 3pm. Saturday, May 6, 9.30am and noon. Tours run when plants in the garden are most likely to be flowering or producing. Tours include tea in the garden (weather permitting), with ingredients found in and around Canberra. $25 adult. $20 concession. $60 family.

See: nma.gov.au

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