By CASEY NEILL
GUIDED tours are helping visitors and residents alike explore Greater Dandenong’s rich cultural precincts.
Food, groceries, clothing, carpets and much more are covered during the City of Greater Dandenong events.
The Sensational Springvale Cultural Tour takes participants beyond Springvale Road, through arcades and laneways, to expose them to cultural traditions, alternative medical practices, and food from across South East Asia.
Springvale is home to more than 300 businesses, including more than 50 restaurants and cafes and another 50 fresh food retailers, ranging from Chinese to Cambodian, Vietnamese, Uyghur, Korean, Laotian, Thai and Indian.
Participants taste Peking duck and pork, Vietnamese deli goods, Malaysian sweets and much more.
A Springvale tour is scheduled for 10am on Thursday 9 October.
The Afghan Bazaar tour covers culture, fashion and music and concludes with a meal at an Afghan restaurant.
It visits a carpet and homewares store, a Tandoori bread shop and supermarkets stocked with exotic ingredients.
The Little India tour explores Indian culture through clothing, jewellery, food, film and music.
An introduction to Bollywood, authentic spices, Punjab sweets and colourful saris are highlights, and a meal concludes the evening.
The next tour is scheduled for 6pm on Thursday 18 September.
An African Food Tour from 11am on Thursday 16 October will visit traders as they prepare a feast with spices and share how they’ve passed down traditions for generations.
There are Food Lovers Tours in Springvale and Dandenong.
The Springvale event covers Cambodian, Thai, Vietnamese/Chinese cuisine, and there’s one coming up from 5.50pm on Thursday 30 October.
The Dandenong Food Lovers Tour covers Indian and Sri Lankan delicacies and Afghan bread and food.
The tour finishes at a Polish restaurant for an authentic lunch, and there’s a tour scheduled from 9.50am on Wednesday 24 September.
One-off events like a Progressive Polish Food Tour and a Winter Warmer Food Tour also crop up regularly.
Tours take about two hours and are capped at 16 people. Tours cost $45 per person, including tastings and a meal.
Bookings are essential. Call 8571 1377 or visit www.greaterdandenong.com/tours.
