For the last few years, the shortest day of the year has been marked in Hobart by the nude solstice swim. On the 21st of June each year, thousands arrive at the beach before light, ready to plunge into the water at sunrise, a celebration to welcome back the light after the longest night of the year. The naked solstice swim also marks the culmination of the Dark Mofo program of events. The brainchild of David Walsh, owner of Mona (Museum of Old and New Art), Dark Mofo has been running for over 10 years and was designed to encourage locals and tourists to venture out during winter. As well as more mainstream events as part of its program, the festival has, at times, been controversial. In 2015, Hermann Nitch’s 150 featured the ritual slaughtering of a bull and 500 litres of blood. In 2018, artist Mike Parr was entombed under one of Hobart’s busiest streets for three days before the bitumen was peeled back for Parr to emerge. It was symbolic of burying Australia’s violent past and the loss of Tasmania’s Indigenous people, but as art should, divided opinions. In 2021, First Nations people were asked to donate blood to be used in an artwork making a statement against colonialism. This proved to be a tipping point with an outcry much greater than usual, a number of participants withdrawing their involvement, and the artwork was cancelled.
This year the festival is on somewhat of a hiatus, it’s undergoing a reimagining. Its popularity has meant that crowds are increasingly difficult to accommodate, over 100,000 people attended an Dark Mofo event in the last year. Creating events for a few hundred participants is possible, but remaining edgy for several thousand is much more high risk. Despite this, the Off Season has seeped into the Tasmanian psyche, and making the most of winter is almost a given, so even without a full calendar of diary of Dark Mofo events, there has been no stopping some of them. The nude solstice swim, with increased capacity, is one of them. Night Shift, described as two nights of dark, dank dancefloor debauchery, is returning. And there couldn’t be a Tasmanian festival without sustenance. The Winter Feast is held at Princes Wharf on Hobart’s waterfront and showcases Tasmanian food, wine and spirits. It runs over two weekends, and despite its innocuous title, the Winter Feast, like many of the events, is imbued with a sense of the unorthodox. One option is provided by guest chef Vaughan Mabee from New Zealand, who is partnering with Mona’s chef, Vince Trim, to produce a menu designed to challenge and surprise.
Tasmanians have embraced the festival, and even in its absence this year, the light bulbs have once again been swapped and the State is awash in red lights. Even our little town gets into the spirit of things not just with a red hue but later night openings at the wine bar, displays at the visitors centre and a general enthusiasm for celebrating the cold.
If Dark Mofo is all art and culture, the Beaker Street Festival, which follows in August, is art meets science. This year, the Hobart waterfront is being turned into Hobartica, recognition of the city’s status as the gateway to Antarctica and an opportunity to take the local version of the polar plunge. In the spirit of this rite of passage for those working in Antarctica, you will be able to dive into Antarctic plunge pools and then warm up in a Finnish sauna tent. Chat with roving scientists, enjoy an antarctic cocktail, peer through telescopes, or enjoy a meal that imagines our culinary future. Slime mould forest walks, dark sky dinners and mushroom growing in abandoned railway tunnels, it is an eclectic program of events that once again has residents and visitors venturing out in the cold.
It really is genius marketing, a fabulous idea to turn around a typically slow tourism season and make into into something desirable. Officially it is the ‘Off Season’, with its catch cry ‘Become a Winter Person’. It encompasses not just Dark Mofo but an entire app’s worth of winter events. There are food tastings, dinners, ghost tours, farm events, nighttime gatherings, and pagan rituals. It’s no lie when I say there’s something for everyone.
In the spirit of the unorthodox, this week’s recipe is a complete contrast to the winter events of the Off Season but rather is a reminder of warmer days and tropical climes. With dried pineapple, mango, coconut and turmeric, this oaty flapjack (I’m speaking here of the British version of a flapjack, not the American one) is reminiscent of summer. I could eat almost any variation of a flapjack, from the basic oats, butter and golden syrup one to fancier fruit and seed-filled versions like this one. I like the turmeric, both for it’s sunny colour and unique flavour, but if turmeric isn’t your thing, you could leave it out and up the cinnamon a little. What I haven’t changed too much is the amount of butter and sugar that appears in the traditional recipes. Whilst this has elements of being good for you, it’s definitely not a health food! It is a great lunchbox or hiking snack and will stand in for breakfast on the go.
Tropical Flapjack
Makes 12 squares
285 g rolled oats (not quick oats)
2 teaspoon turmeric
½ teaspoon cinnamon
60 g toasted macadamia nuts (or cashew nuts)
60 g dried mango, chopped into smallish pieces
60 g dried pineapple, chopped into smallish pieces
30 g flaked coconut
160 g salted butter
80 g golden syrup
80 g brown sugar
Grease and line a 20 cm square baking tin. Preheat the oven to 160°C.
Mix the oats, turmeric and cinnamon in a large bowl. Add the nuts, dried fruit and coconut and toss gently to combine.
Melt the butter, golden syrup and sugar in a small saucepan over a medium heat, stirring regularly. Pour this over the dry ingredients and mix well.
Tip the mixture into the prepared tin. Spread it out and press down gently. Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until the flapjack is golden. Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin. Once cooled, lift the flapjack out and cut into 12 even pieces. Store in an airtight container for a week or so.
Next week: hidden places + a savoury scone
Each week, I share the latest instalment of the book I am writing here on Substack, Home Baked: a Year of Seasonal Baking. A subscription will ensure you don’t miss any of the stories and recipes. You might also want to consider a paid subscription, which, until the end of June, is 30% off. A paid subscription will give you access to previous recipes, as well as printer-friendly recipe cards and bonus material. There is also an additional newsletter on Friday, which is a mixed bag and touches on all manner of food topics. I’d love for you to be a part of it.
Paid subscribers will find the printer-friendly recipe card by clicking on the button, as well as other flapjack inspiration.
The wild and wonderful winter solstice customs of Hobart make a terrific read! I can only imagine how much fun it would be to witness and partake in the goings-on. Definitely puts our summer solstice beach plunge to shame. I can’t get over that solstice menu—especially penicillin as an ingredient! And that “flapjack” (which to us means only pancake) sounds yummy and healthy. Thanks for this very entertaining post, Julia!
Julia, I’m reading this newsletter by the fire on the winter solstice. Warming my bones, literally, after plunging into the ocean this afternoon for a mid-winter dip with my family. It really is the most wonderful (slightly unorthodox) way to celebrate the longest night of the year and the return of the sun. We wore our bathers. But earlier, I had jumped in wearing just my skin, as we Tasmanians do! I love our off season.
Slice looks yummy and the turmeric like a little bit of sunshine, thank you.