Melbourne Gluten Free Expo
Often dubbed the gluten-free community’s Christmas, Coeliac Australia’s Gluten-Free Expo is back and bigger than ever, landing at the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre on Saturday 17 and Sunday 18 October 2026. As the country’s single largest gathering for people living with coeliac disease, this is the weekend our community looks forward to all year long.
Presented alongside gold sponsor Simply Wize and showbag sponsor OMG! Decadent Donuts, the two-day celebration brings together hundreds of trusted and delicious products under one roof, serving up endless safe tastings, practical cooking masterclasses, expert medical insights, and that rare, incredible feeling of walking into a room where everything is made just for you!
Designed for people with Coeliac Disease, gluten intolerance and anyone looking to explore gluten-free food and lifestyle options, the Expo will feature a broad mix of established brands, emerging producers and specialist businesses. Confirmed exhibitors include Arnott’s Biscuits, Ayam, Simply Wize, Two Bays Brewing Co, The Happy Snack Company, Venerdi, YESYOUCAN, YipPEA!, OMG! Decadent Donuts, Wun Hung Lo Dumpling Co, The Very Hungry Coeliac and many more.
A Big Weekend for Gluten-Free Families
Families are a major focus of this year’s Expo, with dedicated activities designed for children, teenagers and young adults.
For the first time ever in Melbourne, Coeliac Australia are launching The Taste Lab, a dedicated hands-on cooking space hosted by the legends from Melbourne’s own Shop 225 to get the next generation of cooks genuinely excited to get their hands dirty. They’ll be running tailored sessions all weekend long, with under 6s getting stuck into icing and decorating biscuits and cupcakes, 7 to 12s rolling up their sleeves to whip up homemade bliss balls, and teens taking on the ultimate kitchen flex by mastering fresh, pillowy gluten-free potato gnocchi totally from scratch.
And for the little ones, Jack the Silly Yak is heading to Melbourne in puppet form! If you’ve seen Alex perform before, you already know the crowd goes wild, but bringing the actual Jack puppet into the mix takes the whole show up a notch. It’s loud, funny, packed with music, and gives kids (and parents!) the ultimate green light to get up on their feet and dance around.
Beyond the laughs, Jack plays a huge role in helping young kids make sense of a coeliac diagnosis. Seeing a funny, relatable character go through the same things they do helps normalise the diet and shows them they aren’t doing it alone.
You can meet Alex and Jack at their interactive stand all weekend, or catch them live on stage every day at 12:00 pm.
And for those with a serious appetite, the OMG Donut Eating Competition will return with a kids-only showdown each day at 12.30pm, with the winner receiving a voucher for 12 six-packs of OMG Donuts.
Visitors will also have the chance to win one of two hampers valued at more than $500 each, featuring products from exhibitors and partners, a $150 EFTPOS voucher and a Panasonic Bread Maker. A hamper will be drawn at 3pm each day.
Expert Advice for Living Well with Coeliac Disease
Alongside the food and family fun, the Expo will provide visitors with direct access to leading clinicians, dietitians and experts discussing the practical realities of living with Coeliac Disease.
Saturday’s schedule covers everything from skin and autoimmune health to supermarket realities, with Dr Niyati Sharma exploring conditions like dermatitis herpetiformis and alopecia areata, an expert panel debunking common coeliac myths, and Coeliac Australia’s Lead Dietitian and Health Advocacy Officer, Dr Kim Faulkner-Hogg, breaking down label reading and precautionary gluten statements.
The lineup continues on Sunday with dietitian Kim Canale examining the link between coeliac disease and bone health, alongside practical management sessions from Dr Faulkner-Hogg and a multidisciplinary panel. Across both days, MasterChef Australia alumna and bestselling author Melanie Persson will take to the kitchen stage for live cooking demonstrations.
Discover What’s New in Gluten Free
Beyond the familiar favourites, the Melbourne Gluten-Free Expo is a chance to unearth brand-new product launches, tap into fresh food trends, and chat with the passionate Aussie producers behind them. Think fresh pasta, steaming dumplings, warm brownies, artisan beer, spices, and everyday pantry staples you can actually try before you buy, all working to prove that gluten-free living never has to mean missing out. Best of all, with 5,000 free showbags up for grabs across the weekend (2,500 handed out on a first-come, first-served basis each day), visitors can pack a piece of the magic straight into their own pantries.
2026 Gluten Free Expo Melbourne Details:
Saturday 17 & Sunday 18 October 2026
Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre
Enter via Concourse Door 4.
Tickets:
Coeliac Australia Members – FREE
General Admission online – $31.90 + booking fee
Concession / Full-Time Student online – $23.10 + booking fee
General Admission at the door – $35.50
Concession at the door – $28.40
Tickets and further information can be found here: https://coeliac.org.au/gluten-free-expo/melbourne/.