South Australians are being tasked with a tough decision – choosing which cheese toastie made from local produce is the ‘big cheese’ of the lot.

Brand SA have brought back the popular competition as part of our partnership with CheeseFest 2023, where South Australians are invited to vote for one of three toasties made with SA produce ahead of the event which will be held in Rundle Park on 18 and 19 November 2023.

The winning toastie will be crowned the ‘Brand SA Toastie’ and sold at the festival, while six lucky voters will win two general passes to the event and a CheeseFest tote bag filled with local products.

CheeseFest attracts the country’s top cheesemakers along with leading winemakers, distillers, food producers and chefs. More than 70 local producers will feature at this year’s CheeseFest, representing the best in cheese, food, wine, beer and gin across the State.

Brand SA will also sponsor a festival first ‘SA Regions Bar’ to showcase beverages from 12 South Australian regions to hundreds of interstate and international visitors. The iconic and emerging South Australian companies featured at the new bar will be:

• Big Shed Brewing (Beer), Adelaide
• Bird In Hand (Sparkling), Adelaide Hills
• Coffin Bay Spirits (Gin cans), Eyre Peninsula
• Flinders Food Co (Native Sodas), Flinders Ranges
• Kangaroo Island Brewery (Beer), Kangaroo Island
• Lake Breeze Wines (Rose), Murray Lakes and Coorong
• Leconfield Wines (Riesling), Limestone Coast
• Paulette Wines (Riesling), Clare Valley
• Polka De Alc (Non-alcoholic Wine), Riverland
• Riot Wines (Wine Spritz), Fleurieu Peninsula
• Seppeltsfield Wines (Shiraz), Barossa Valley
• Watsacowie Brewing Co (Vodka Selzers), Yorke Peninsula

Both initiatives build on Brand SA’s ‘Buy SA. For SA.’ campaign, which encourages shoppers to buy local rather than interstate or overseas products to help generate hundreds of millions of dollars in support for South Australian businesses.

Dairy is now Australia’s third largest agricultural industry, with South Australia contributing nearly 6 per cent of Australia’s total milk production and its dairy industry generating revenue of $690 million in 2021-22.

SA’s dairy industry produces around 10,000 tonnes of cheese annually, worth an estimated $69 million. In 2021-22, South Australia exported 5,000 tonnes of cheese, worth $31 million, highlighting growing global demand for the State’s local produce.

Vote for your favourite toastie HERE!

Voting closes Friday, 10 November 2023.

Tickets to CheeseFest 2023 are available at cheesefest.com.au