Its recent designation came after two years of research and planning.

Bendigo joins five other Australian cities, including three in Victoria, to receive one of UNESCO's seven creative cities designations.

The title bestowed on Bendigo encompasses not just the city of Bendigo, but nine neighbouring municipalities across Dja Dja Wurrung country.

Council's regional sustainable development manager Trevor Budge said gastronomy is about more than food.

"Gastronomy is about looking at the agricultural region, the food producing region and the history of wine and other beverages," Mr Budge said.

"We have some of the oldest examples of sustainably living off the land in the world with the Dja Dja Wurrung people, so it made sense to showcase this region as a City of Gastronomy," he said.

Bendigo and its surrounds' multiculturalism and array of offerings from high end restaurants to small scale, bespoke food producers has helped elevate it to a unique place in the Australian gastronomy scene.

For Bendigo to maintain its title as a City of Gastronomy, it is required to devise a four year plan, be active within the UNESCO network and promote Bendigo as a gastronomical destination.

One aspect of this four year plan is to weave gastronomy into future Bendigo Writers Festival stagings in a more significant way, making the festival one of the biggest gastronomy writing festivals anywhere in the world.

The creation of a series of gourmet food precincts and trails, blending urban and rural food retailers with local history, tourism and culture is another area of development, with Harcourt proposed as an example city.

Bendigo's submission to UNESCO was supported by its coordinator of gastronomy cities Dag Hartman, who acted as a mentor for Bendigo's bid.

Bendigo and Australia's cuisine is unlike most other cities of gastronomy in that it does not have a single 'traditional' dish.

"We are pretty representative of everything you can have in Australia," Mr Budge said.

From a variety of fruits and vegetables, to meats and dairy, wine, beer and cider, Bendigo has a gamut of delights to show the world.

That chance may come soon, with cities in the network periodically invited to send a chef to showcase what their city has to offer.

Macau is expected to invite and subsidise a trip for a Bendigo chef to do just that in April next year, with the details yet to be finalised.

Becoming a City of Gastronomy is expected to yield tremendous results for Bendigo across a range of sectors and put it on the map internationally, according to Mr Budge.

Council has already noted that tourism will be a major byproduct of the designation.

A number of future events are eager to integrate gastronomy into their events, despite them not being gastronomically themed.