Melbourne Food & Wine Festival 2015: Visiting chefs

Iconic figures and rising stars on the global food scene are an annual drawcard at the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival, notably at the Langham Melbourne masterclasses to be held on the weekend of March 7-8. What's new in 2015? A series of dinners and other events that teams overseas guests with some of Melbourne's best venues and hottest hospitality talent. Here are just a few of the international names coming our way.

Dan Barber

He's one of America's, and arguably the world's, most interesting thinkers on the way we eat, a writer and TEDx presenter on food, ethics and sustainability. He's also The Third Plate: Field Notes on the Future of Food

Rodney Scott

Rodney Scott knows a thing or 30 about going the whole hog. He was 11 when he cooked his first smoky, succulent pig at his family's South Carolina wooden cookhouse and grew up to be one of America's great pit masters. The Scott family's Southern barbecue store is held in such regard that when it burned down in 2013, fellow barbecue practitioners rallied to support him in a fund-raising road trip. Scott's "Bar-B-Que in Exile" tour took him and a portable barbecue pit from Nashville to New Orleans and beyond, dishing up his fabled slow-cooked pork to raise money to rebuild the family's pits. Scott will preside at the festival opening party at Belle's Hot Chicken on February 27. He'll join Casey Wall at Rockwell & Sons in Collingwood on March 1 for an all-day, no-bookings affair with a special menu of his food; and he'll be at Chef Jam at the Artisan Bakery and Bar on March 2.

Ruth Rogers

From little things – a modest cafe designed to function as a canteen for her husband's architecture practice – Ruth Rogers has seen big things grow. Now well into its third decade, London's River Cafe has spawned imitators, best-selling cookbooks and Jamie Oliver. When the River Cafe opened in 1987, its credo of allowing top-quality ingredients to shine in simple dishes seemed revelatory to London diners. Rogers will hold a Langham Melbourne masterclass.

Jeremy Charles

A huntin', shootin', fishin' phenomenon, Jeremy Charles has netted almost as many restaurant awards as he has caught wild Atlantic salmon off the coast of his native Newfoundland. Historically, this sprawling Canadian island has been better known for its wildlife and wild weather than fine dining. That changed when Charles returned from earning his cooking stripes in mainland North America. Since he opened Raymond's Restaurant in the port city of St John's, top-flight chefs, food writers and lovers of fine dining have flown in from far and wide to sample his take on the terroir of Canada's far north-east. Thanks to Newfoundland's unique hunting laws and Charles' Nordic-influenced commitment to local ingredients, his menus might include moose ravioli, cod tongues or – controversially – seal flippers. Raymond's was named Canada's Best New Restaurant in 2011; Charles is a Langham Melbourne masterclass presenter and will join Woodland House chefs Hayden McFarland and Thomas Woods for an international chef dinner on March 11.

Janice Wong

If Janice Wong continued on the path on which she set out – studying economics in Melbourne – chances are she might never have made her way to Le Cordon Bleu in Paris; staged around the world for a Who's Who of pastry maestros; or opened Singapore's extraordinary 2am:dessertbar. Nor would she have been named Asia's best pastry chef two years running in the San Pellegrino Asia's 50 Best Restaurants Awards, at which judges described her as the cutting-edge, "undisputed queen of Asia's pastry scene". Wong's work, which includes avant-garde versions of classic European desserts and personal interpretations of Asian favourites, often explores the zone where sweet meets savoury. Her talents extend to edible art: striking installations using ingredients that might include marshmallow, mango, chocolate, bergamot or lychee. Wong returns to Melbourne to present a Langham Melbourne masterclass and a high tea at the Langham on March 5.

Jamie Bissonette

Lots of chefs have tatts. Few have tatts exhorting the onlooker to "eat offal". Fewer still would proffer such advice had they spent seven years as a vegan. One-time punk rocker Jamie Bissonette does, and did. He also has a CV that includes a stint in Paris and a commitment to nose-to-tail cookery that ensures his Boston and New York restaurants, Coppa and Toro, feature dishes such as beef heart pastrami crostini, pork liver mousse, or pig-ear terrine. It's not all about offal; American food critics have noted his skill with seafood, and Bisonette's relaxed approach to Mediterranean flavours has made his carbonara with sea urchin a signature at Coppa. Known for his flair for charcuterie, Bissonette will hold a Langham Melbourne masterclass as well as teaming with the crew from Melbourne's Bomba for an international chef dinner on March 4; plus a special event for Age/SMH readers.

Eric Werner

Ever thought of running away to Mexico to start a beachside restaurant? New Yorker Eric Werner abandoned a busy life in Brooklyn to open Hartwood, a sustainable restaurant on Mexico's south-east coast. A New York Times journalist who visited earlier this year reported "there are no stoves, no convection ovens, no deep fryers: only wood fire to cook with". The sole appliance is reportedly a blender, and yet queues for Werner's food – using produce grown by locals in the lush hinterland – attest to the appetite for his novel, "not-Mexican" approach to traditional ingredients farmed using techniques that date back to the ancient Mayan civilisation. St Kilda's Newmarket Hotel will welcome Werner for an international chef dinner on March 1, and he'll be at the Artisan Bakery and Bar Chef Jam on March 2.