Soapbox:
- Last week this article graced the cover of Bloomberg Business Week. You must read it. It’s an in-depth look at the tangled mess that antibiotics have made in a centuries-old aquaponics system in China: “Chinese agriculture has thrived for thousands of years on this kind of recycling—the nutrients that fatten the pigs and geese also feed the fish. But the introduction of antibiotics into animal feed has transformed ecological efficiency into a threat to global public health.” Research suggests as much as 90 percent of the antibiotics administered to pigs pass though the animal un-degraded, which is subsequently passed directly onto the fish - this, in addition to the antibiotics that are actually added to the water to "prevent and treat aquatic disease outbreaks." Scary.
And don’t think this doesn’t affect you - imported seafood is everywhere and it's not just a matter of saying no to China. The article goes on to explain country-of-origin labels are not as clear cut as we would hope (at least in America) “… the distribution networks that move the seafood around the world are often as murky as the waters in which the fish are raised.” Also scary.
Read the article and then cross your fingers Mum ordered the local prawns this year ...
A few of my favourites from the year:
- The thoughts of poetic food historian Dr Pushpesh Pant (TWTW 14 January), among them: being fussy about food is "irrefutable evidence that one is serious about life"; the similarities between eating and sex, as the only activities that consume "all five senses ... marked by the same cycle of anticipation, ecstatic absorption and satiation, only this cycle is a much more frequent one"; and his plans to map Indian food - "I want to make a different kind of food map of India, one in which zones are demarcated based on what they traditionally use as a souring agent - tamarind or kokum, dried mango or vinegar, starfruit or lime - or what is the base spice for their gravies." Yes. Just yes.
- The New Yorker’s annual food issue (TWTW 31 March), which had some excellent articles that varied from the history of Mezcal to a chat with Claus Meyer (co-founder of Noma); they also looked at the annual French agriculture exhibition and talked about “the quinoa of the future”.
- The Sugar Conspiracy (TWTW 14 April): a story of scientist pitted against scientist (anti-sugar man vs anti-fat man) and how we found ourselves in the anti-fat fad of the '80s (as opposed to an anti-sugar fad). It’s a tale of dodgy board appointments, big business funding, popularity contests. I don’t agree sugar is solely to blame, but the tale of how fat was pushed out of our food while sugar stayed in (everything!) is sordid and fascinating.
- Saveur's French issue (TWTW 28 April): a wonderful tale of terroir through the eyes of some serious culinary stars: from the Aubrac (Wylie Dufresne on meeting Michel Bras) to Bordeaux (building the “Guggenheim of Wine”); from Lyon (Boulud on their acclaimed bouchons) to Normandy (the reign of apples and Calvados); back down south to the exquisite mountains of Chartreuse, home to the wild alpine roots that flavour the bitter French aperitif amer; and finally, to that beautiful part of the world where Provence meets the Med and the enchanting tale of Lulu Peyraud of Domaine Tempier, the epitome à la bonne franquette.
- Then there are the classics: Orwell’s fantasy pub, The Moon Under Water (TWTW 1 June) and anything by AA Gill. Go back to last week and click the links, except the one to Gill's last column for GT, which I mucked up. It's here.
The week that was (16 December 2016)
And so to the list of all the 2016 lists:
- Whet your appetite with a list of dishes the team at GT enjoyed most this year, starting with Embla’s anchovy on toast. It’s a good one. You could also check out the Cravat's selection for NSW, Vic and QLD dishes in delicious.
- Conversely you can read the list of dishes Lethlean hated this year. I am a little surprised the editorial team let this list go through to the keeper (reader). Particularly as Lethlean did not revisit them, to see if anything changed. Clickbait or just another opportunity to rub salt in the wound?
- The Guardian asked chefs around the world (incl. Nigella, Rene, Massimo, but also much lesser known names) for their favourite dish of 2016. It’s a very excellent list that takes in tiny places all around the globe, from a jackfruit curry in Sri Lanka, to fish cured with pastirma spices on the Bosphorous (and later in Crete), squid Bolognese at (the soon to close) Koffmans, veal brains at Le Baratin and the buttery resting juices of roasted lobster out the back of a festival. There is so much in there to inspire. Do start reading it – you will be hard pressed to stop.
- I also liked this from Pete Wells in NYC, who wrote a considered list of restaurants under $125 a head. “The cost of running a restaurant is notoriously punishing. Often the pain is passed on to us, but sometimes it inspires chefs to think a little harder. This year, those are the restaurants I want to tell you about ... roughly in the order of the intensity of my desire to go back again, which diverges here and there from the number of stars that flew above their reviews.” Restaurants include Le Coucou, Claus Meyer’s Agern and Le Coq Rico.
- And given the faves were all further afield, should it come as a massive shock that our papers are navigating troubled waters? Along with the distinct lack of subs, it appears the Tele are clearing out the food writers. At the bottom of this week's review Lizzie noted it’s her last for Taste. I hear she’s not alone (read the whole editorial team). The death knell has sounded over many creative fields this year (read below about A.A. Gill). But will 2016 also toll the death of our weekly food paper? No more Tuesday Taste lift out, presumably to be replaced by their Sunday version (with delicious.); Good Food, with their thinning pages and regular early online reviews, appear to be preparing to tread the same path; The Australian have been there, done that, dropping Letho’s Tuesday column six months ago for a bulked up Weekend paper. So many new restaurants and no-one willing to tell (or perhaps read) about them ...
- Finally, the death of AA Gill. Where to even begin?
You may start with his scathing review of L’ami Louis (“The cramped tables are set with labially pink cloths, which give it a colonic appeal and the awkward sense that you might be a suppository.”); or read the gentle, emotive Gill with his final column for GT - Being there ("I've been thinking a great deal about food and dishes and the movement of appetite and hunger. And that food in its particular and emotional value is primarily there for the transmission of memory and remembrance, the déjà vu of our mouths. Only food does this. All appetite is a remembrance. I might write about that.") Whatever you do, go and seek him out.
He was a fascinating man. To become a restaurant critic was perhaps an unusual choice for a man who doesn’t drink (30 years ago Gill was told (as a 30 year old) that if he continued drinking he wouldn't see Christmas) and doesn’t write (he has dyslexia that is so debilitating that he still uses a scribe for all his articles and his books - her name is Michelle and, as far as I’m aware, he never met her). And yet his intellect, coupled with the poetry of his words and his clear love of food, travel, conviviality, and the industry at large, shone at every turn - even when he was at his most condemnatory.
Like all the great food writers, Gill wrote about so much more than was on his plate. He dissected the very nature of the restaurants (“… reputation and expectation are the MSG of fine dining …”) and was forever in search of a better understanding of why it is we love to eat (“It comes as a surprise when you’re in an Arab country (where rosewater is used a lot), recognise the flavor and are wafted back into childhood. A sweetmeat in the Marrakesh souk can drop your memory back into a childhood handkerchief draw.").
Read Pat, one of our most eloquent and elegant writers, and his final letter to his friend here.
The week that was (8 December 2016)
There were a number of articles that intrigued me this week, all written with a similar theme at their core; specifically, the positive impact a multi-disciplinary approach to food can have and how that can be used to make serious waves further afield (yes, yes, collaboration).
- Eater summed it up neatly while looking at the work of Dan Barber: “How is it that artists and craftsmen can most profoundly affect culture? They master their chosen medium, and then they push themselves past its established wisdom to something new and immediate. They express the stuff of life in audacious ways that stir the imagination, provoking reaction and emotion. Miles Davis broke open new jazz vistas by relentlessly experimenting with other modern musical styles. Allen Ginsberg wrote "Howl" in a dialect borne from the soul-wrenching insufficiencies of traditional poetic syntax. Zaha Hadid defied staid architecture critics to design buildings around the globe that hurtled forward our ideas about structural fluidity and geometry.”
- And so, we have Barber "a prophet of the soil, working obsessively not only with regional growers but with animal and vegetable breeders, all of them devoted equally to sustainability, land preservation, and the pursuit of superior flavor."
- And Alex Atala, here talking to Letho about his Amazonian mission and ATA Foundation, with their efforts largely focussed on helping Brazilian communities bring the native ingredients of the Amazonas to market (he also talks about how we can draw from that here in Oz). “I feel we have a deeper research into our own ingredients and through our ingredients helping local people ... achieved a collaboration with disciplines — sociologists, psychologists — they are super important for our relationship with the local people. So it is deeper because it’s not just chefs trying to do it …" They now have a market in Sao Paolo devoted to the endeavour.
- In the UK Heston's pushing his new menu with the help of an evolutionary geneticist, anthropologist, cosmologist and a professor of touch … but, perhaps more importantly, within that article I found mention of his work over recent years to help create a new home economics curriculum for British school kids: “Cooking and eating – it’s the only thing you can apply to all the main subjects across the curriculum.” It was put into play this year.
- Rene’s also on the education train – Noma Mexico will be doing free lunches for Mexican culinary students for the final two weeks, and then setting up a culinary scholarship in Copenhagen for Mexican students post pop-up.
In fact, Rene’s been “spilling the beans” (lol) on his Mexico pop-up all over the joint. In his convo with Jill, I liked: “Everything in Japan was eaten with tiny sticks of wood, you never touch anything. In Mexico, you touch everything, you put your hand in it and on it, and eat with your hands.” And this from his convo with David Prior: “Here, people eat tortillas no matter who they are and what they have. I think it’s a mark of a real cuisine and a democratic one.”
- If you want to see collaboration at play in Australia, check out the delicious line up (across the board) for the Adelaide Festival. There's a series of long lunches to be prepared by great Adelaide chefs (Firla, Manfield, Best, Kerry, Liew, Ryan) chosen by Gill Minervini in collab with Duncan Welgemoed, all designed to celebrate the '80s (think Possums, Petaluma, Uraidla Aristologist, Neddy’s). “Adelaide really kick started as a culinary crucible in the 1980s, with such creativity and experimentation across the city, it was a really exciting and really dynamic time ...” (Minervin). It did. I think it’s doing it again now … particularly when you look at their wine scene. It’s no secret I have been flirting with Adelaide of late and this, ladies and gents, is why.
- If you’re not in Adelaide next March, you might consider Tassie. Alain Passard is, as is Dominique Crenn, as is Christian Puglisi. Delightfully they are there thanks to Christopher McGimpsey, the tourism and hospitality school's education manager of TasTAFE (and an alumnus of restaurants including Est Est Est and Jacques Reymond). More details in GT. Tix to the dinners they will each be hosting on the apple isle will be on sale tomorrow … here.
- In the spirit of a good collab, let's bring all this together: see Shewry on the future for Australian bread, see Barber above on the importance of wheat, see Atala on encouraging indigenous ingredients, see Heston and McGimpsey on educating ... and then check out the Gurandgu Munjie Pozible Campaign. It's got it all. Get in.
The week that was (1 December 2016)
- This week Letho argued the (printed) guide book is dead. He was referencing the Gault et Millau guide, which, to be fair, may have been dismissed before it had even began here in Australia. To this end, he acknowledges his gripe with the editor - you may remember the uproar when the guide launched? To be fair, Letho's dissing of the guide is pretty valid: it's riddled with errors and is subsequently largely ignored, at least by the industry.
“Guides that do the job really well are struggling, in hard copy form anyway, to remain relevant. By producing such a lacklustre example, poorly written, unreliable and uncurated, Gault & Millau just makes the job harder for everyone next year. Don't buy it.”
Of course, inadequate fact-checking is rife everywhere, printed guide book or not, even in the News stable. On this, see last week’s delicious.100 citing Matteo still at the helm of Pilu, in spite of his highly publicised departure and indeed opening a new restaurant in Surry. It was incorrect at the time of printing, it is still incorrect online.
- There's quite a bit of this relevancy chatter around the food media traps at the moment (in fact, media everywhere is anxious). And so, I have been interested to note just how many scoops Gourmet Traveller (a monthly magazine) is getting (read: all the scoops, all the time). We can probably largely put that down to Pat; the cynical will suggest that’s because he has mates, the Pollyanna’s will suggest it’s because he writes well. I vote a little from column A and a little from column B. We should also note their diversification over the years from mag to online to social.
The mag is killing the game – of course I don’t know how that translates in dollars, but the general industry respect is unquestionable. And so, on a selfish note, I'm sad to see Anthea Loucas, their long-standing editor, is leaving. She’s been incredible. Congratulations on a fabulous tenure, Anthea. They are very big shoes you leave behind to be filled.
- Rootstock. What an incredible weekend. So many of the things I think our food and wine industry should be about were just a given over the weekend: sustainability, collaboration, conviviality. It meant that every conversation started from that point and worked up. There was no preaching, no pandering, everyone was there to share, support each other and have a great time - and obviously drink great wine. So many wonderful old friends, some fabulous new ones. Thank you to Mike, James and Giorgio for making it happen each year. You are stellar. Xxx
(If you missed out and you’re in Adelaide tomorrow get to The Summertown Aristologist and taste the wine of these legends. Alternatively, if you’re in Melbs you should get to Soulfor Wine on Sunday for a soupçon or two - or if you're really patient, wait until next year's MFWF where they are taking a mini version on a roadshow.
- Finally, my friend Raff aka the cartonographer, has pulled together a delightful look at the fruit and veg cartons he celebrates in his art with little interactive vids that strip the branding from the art works on the boxes. It’s brilliant – better on a desktop but still worth a peek on the mobes. Beauty in the mundane.
The week that was (24 November 2016)
- Another week, another writer professing love for the Adelaide Hills and her wine makers. This time it’s Jon Bonné for Punch. Read part one (the overview) and part two (looking at six rising stars). The Adelaide Hot 100 is also announced next week (1 December). I love the sound of this event: a delicious combo of wine, food, music and culture.
- Come see what all this Adelaide Hills fuss is about, at least on the wine front, by coming down to the drink their wares at Rootstock this weekend. Many of their vignerons will be there, alongside the best natural wine makers from all around Australia - not to mention those flying in from the corners of the globe. I don’t know if I need a disclaimer for a not-for-profit but here’s mine anyway; I help out with the RS communications each year. Obviously I volunteer my time - I do it because I love the boys and think all they do is incredible, but more than that, I do it because the event is brilliant, it stands for so many things I think are fundamental to a good life. It brings together all the delights mentioned above (art, music, wine, food), but it also runs a hard line on the environment - it's intelligent and it's so much fun. I’ll be there all weekend. Can. Not. Wait.
- In other thoughtful food events, the Symposium of Australian Gastronomy is held next weekend in Melbourne. The brain-child of chefs including Gay Bilson, Phillip Searle, Stephanie Alexander and Duré Dara, who joined forces with writers Marion Halligan and Alan Davidson, winemaker Max Lake, food scholars Barbara Santich and Michael Symons and politician Don Dunstan, to create a conversation about Australian gastronomy. It was 1984 (it was also, incidentally, in Adelaide) and their hope was to change how we thought about food in Australia (oh, to be a fly on that wall!!). The 21st symposium will be held in Melbourne next weekend, the topic is Utopian Appetites. If you are south of the border, you may want to check it out.
- This week Melbourne Food and Wine released their masterclass line up for 2017. There are some great names on the list, but every one of them is connected to a penis. Again. What the?? Apparently there is still one name to come, but I’m not holding my breath. You can find other festival highlights here. Do keep in mind Melbourne Food and Wine has been timed around the 50 Best, so there will be a plethora of excellent chefs in the ’hood.
- On topic, The 50 Best have launched a little series of “show us your flavour” vids … Pynty was the most recent, with Estela before him (I loved their idea of “Goldilocks dishes”) and the wonderful Dominque Crenn before them (who was in WA this week talking about feeling at odds with the idea of winning Best Female Chef).
- And so, I do not even know where to begin with this article. Women, apparently, are eating out more. It comes as part of the, actually quite interesting, study from Dimmi on how to mine dining data and how they are now using LinkedIn to dig deeper. Read about it here, or you could read on in the Fin (link above) for insightful comments such as “... women were "social animals" who were no longer opting for coffee catch ups and were more educated in their dining choices than ever before.” FFS.
The week that was (17 November 2016)
- Want to know how they milk salmon for caviar? Huck has your back … “The roe is glorious, but it’s all very intimate and revealing. I feel like I should have bought her dinner first. Or a drink at the very least.”
- Do read Max on the Georgian wine makers coming to Rootstock Sydney. I loved this from John of Pheasant's Tears: “In Georgia, wine isn’t commercial plonk,” he told me during one of his previous visits. “It is culture itself. People don’t sip wine for its own sake; it is an integral part of the meal. There are many toasts, some with horns, some with drinking bowls, you talk about love, you talk about your mother, you talk about your ancestors, you talk about your relationship with the earth, you talk about religion — it’s this whole ritual in which wine is not a beverage, wine is a sacred elixir. So for me, as an artist, Georgian wines made sense.” Rootstock Sydney is next weekend. You really should be there if you can. It’s most excellent.
- And here’s one I’ve been banging on about for a bit. Jay Rainer wrote this article on the cost of food (and how it’s fuelling a culture of underpaid restaurant staff). “Yes, there are people getting rich from restaurants. They’re usually the venture capitalists behind the dreary high-street chains, which use economies of scale to keep costs low. As to the rest, it’s a struggle. The middle classes will rally to the cause of low-paid workers in a sports merchandise warehouse but when it comes to the exploited ranks cooking their dinner they moan endlessly about price.” Yep. He references this article in GQ penned by Dave Chang. I missed it. It’s good. And guess what? Chang also thinks “food” should be more expensive (“I put “food” in quotes because every tiny part of a restaurant is in the cost of that dish, from dripping faucets to broken plates.”)
- While we don’t make money, we’re generally a pretty generous bunch. And so you may want to check out this crowd funded campaign from The Big Feed.
- Finally, Danny Meyer wrote a rather lovely letter to his staff post Trump's election last week - "Enlightened Hospitality works and over the course of our company’s history, whenever we have been tested by challenges, whenever our world has been rocked, and times are uncertain - we have turned to what we know and do best: first taking care of ourselves, so that we can do a remarkable job at taking care of others. I’m holding myself accountable to that, and need you to do the same. And that begins with listening." It reminded me how important hospitality is. For everything. For everyone. Always.
The week that was (11 November 2016)
- That’s a lot of openings and a lot of closings. I read recently we gained 3000 seats in the past six weeks. SIX WEEKS. To panic or to trust in market forces?
While you ponder, do read Huck’s rant on the lazy reliance on clickbait concepts, looking specifically at the idea fine dining is dying. His article is level-headed and thoughtful. He adds some staggering stats to the chat: “The exit and entry rate of all foodservice businesses is astoundingly capricious – around 20 per cent a year. Equally as staggering, only one in two hospitality businesses survive four years of operation (51.9 per cent) ...”
But he's not calling death, in fact the opposite, he was calling for people to be thoughtful about the industry and about their commentary - "By that I mean rabid news scribes. The glee in the tone of some is incredibly grating. Spraying bullets with the same old loaded rhetoric as if they’re social equality warriors in their own fantasy of Sean of the Dead."
- You might also read this piece in The Thousands on all the food on offer at Barangaroo - at its core a question of whether food is being used to replace culture. Is food culture? I say yes, I say it's one of the greatest forms of culture. However, I do agree that one should not be lauded at the exclusion of the other. I also think it's fundamental we keep the developers in check - I fear their desire (requirement?) for restaurants in every new development could create a false economy; and we all know it will be the chefs and restaurateurs left behind who will suffer.
- For an insider's take on opening restaurants, read Keith McNally in the NY Times on opening his 14th - "In my case, it’s partly to pay the bills but mostly a result of an urge to correct the mistakes I’ve made with previous restaurants. Despite their relative success, there isn’t one that doesn’t possess elements that make me wince every time I enter the space." And I thought this was interesting - “Reviews are almost always disappointing, even the good ones. But they’re the way of things, and one must accept them. And I do. Usually by praying for the reviewer to be pulverized by a hit-and-run driver who is possibly my cousin. Then I become more philosophical, and realize he doesn’t have to be my cousin.” I had a similar conversation recently, talking to a chef about the innate dissapointment of a review even if it's good. It must be very hard to have that kind of open criticism of your work simply considered par for the course.
- And finally, a little rant before I say my farewells. I was frustrated to see another comment about the cost of "simple" food without context. Food with incredible provenance, cooked with incredible care, is valuable. It should cost. I believe it's the food writer's role to explain that, instead of sensationalising it for an opinion you think your readers have. We need to start talking up to people - if they don't understand you need to work to explain it, give it context.
My blood pressure rose further as I read Amy Harris’s review of Bodega 1904 – I generally avoid her writing as I find it gushy and lacking substance. But I’m including it this week, because I am pissed. This:
“Take the blood cake – a type of blood sausage made to a ratio of around 60/40 pig’s blood to pig’s head meat, infused with cumin and coriander and served with yoghurt and a spicy salsa verde. If you can get past what you’re eating, it’s one of the tastiest and most inventive dishes in the city right now.”
Of course it sounds delicious, but blood cake is hardly reinventing the wheel. And then there's the whole “get past what you’re eating”? What? Are you a child or a food writer?
As journalists we need to take responsibility for the stories we tell; to disseminate information and to play a part in educating, that's not about getting up on your high horse, but it is about being thoughtful. That seems particularly poignant today.
- And so if, like me, you’re looking for somewhere to wait out the impending apocalypse, you might (again like me) want to consider the Adelaide Hills. Last week another cracking wine bar/restaurant opened (or so I’ve been told on pretty good authority). The Summertown Aristologist is in part named for the restaurant Jennifer Hillier and Michael Symons (of One Continuous Picnic fame) had in Uraidla in the '80s. The aristologist name is now in the hands of wine makers Anton van Klopper and Jasper Button (who also, incidentally, both have fantastic names). South Australia has long held an interesting place in Australia’s culinary culture as an incubator of sorts (think Maggie, think Cheong) – their food fascinates – the connection between producer and city fascinates – and these collaborative, producer run, cellar-door-meets-restaurant (also see Lost in a Forest) are another step in the right direction. If you're looking for me ...
The week that was (4 November 2016)
- If you need a little beauty in your day, watch the Seed trailer. It holds more than beauty – it’s important. We have lost 94% of our vegetable seed varieties since the turn of the 20th century. “The diversity in our seed stocks is as endangered as a panda or a polar bear.” If you’re in Noosa this weekend you will be able to see it at the film festival – Byron and Tasie are also on the cards. Sydney would be nice ...
- You should also check out Massimo’s doco – One person’s waste, is another’s treasure. You can buy tix to this across Australia. In typical Massimo style, it looks to be the kind of movie that makes your heart soar.
- Further to our look at FOTE last week, I had a chat to Jock about what he was doing there - the answer is launching The Orana Foundation - at Gastronomika (San Seb), FOTE (Ireland) and he's now en route to Istanbul for Give Back. It's interesting to note so much overseas interest and so little local. What is that?!? Watch the vid, read about the foundation. We need to do more: "In 20 or 30 years that culture will be wiped out. Will be gone forever."
- Finally, there's the fall out from the salmon farm exposé on Four Corners on Monday. It had many shades of Erin Brockovich, alongside a little corporate vs corporate. You can read a brief summary in The Mercury. I called Sus to have a chat about it all. He suggested more context was required. Some points he raised about aquaculture:
- Salmon are among the tightest schooling fish. I had not considered the difference between a ranging mammal and a schooling fish in regards to farming style.
- Just under 50% of Australian fish is farmed – just over 50% on a global level.
- Aquaculture is split into two main camps – benign aquaculture (not requiring feed – mussels, clams, etc) and that which requires husbandry (ie feeding and antibiotics).
- While salmon are not endemic to our region, neither are Wagyu, Aylesbury ducks or Chardonnay grapes – in fact the vast majority of the food we consume originated elsewhere.
On the other side of the coin, I read this on FB from Steven Snow (Fins): "Great episode that everyone should watch. This is why Fins has NEVER served salmon or farmed finned fish. The chicken of the sea in my opinion... they are fed chemicals and bovine/poultry off cuts. Worst of all consumers are lied to. Salmon is certified "sustainable" by many so called environmental companies and this is far from the truth. Dirty work. Locally sourced, wild caught fish is the best way forward."
I'll leave that for you to ponder. If all else fails, there's always the cricket.
The week that was (27 October 2016)
- Something to discover: I’ve enjoyed watching the goings-on at Ireland’s Food on the Edge festival via Jock and Lara’s instagram accounts. A few things I am hoping to hear more about: the need to talk seaweed, Fool talking the future of food journalism, Jock on the future of Australian food, Massimo talking no more excuses and waste as a failure of the imagination.
- Something to admire: the beautiful photographs featured in The Plant Kingdom of Charles Jones - a collection of amazing early photographs taken by a professional gardener in the late 19th century. Alice Waters writes in the preface: “Of course the photographer would have had to be a gardener, or a cook — and a good one, with a keen, unjaded eye. Who else would have composed still lifes so alive they are hardly still at all?” I'm mad for a still life and these have an almost sensual quality. Nice work Charlie Jones (and great name!).
- Something to watch: this is an oldie but an absolute favourite. Dans le cochon tout est bon … sauf le cri. Of course it’s French. It’s also incredible. The literal translation is “everything is good in the pig … except the squeal.” The squeamish should start at 35 secs. (Also, via more traditional/literal channels, you might like “For the Love of Meat” with Matthew Evans on SBS tonight. I'll also be watching the Four Corners story this Monday on salmon farming).
- Something to drink: I saw mention of Okar in one of the reviews this week. I looked it up. It turns out it's our very own amaro-style drink (think Camparri and Aperol) made with Australian natives - predominantly riberry. The name is a rather cute play on the word ochre. Has anyone tried this? Anyone serving it in Sydney?
Your two cents –
- I love how many of you write back each week. Thank you, thank you, thank you. It actually makes my heart swell. Last week, among the regular delightful responses, I received the two corrections below:
This from Dan Sharp at Sixpenny -
“Just a quick note on cucumbers – they do have a very high water content and due to the high specific heat of water they stay cool for long periods.
However, your statement “Due to their high water content, the inside of a cucumber is actually, literally cooler than room temperature” is false. If left out of the fridge long enough a cucumber will have exactly the same temperature as its surroundings. Any other scenario violates the (oddly named) zeroth law of thermodynamics.” Love it. Thanks Dan. x
And this from Necia Wilden at The Australian -
“With respect - you had a go at Lizzie Meryment a while back for mauling the French language, but you can't even spell "peek" - as in sneak peek - a fairly basic word in English, I submit. I'm not entirely sure what a sneak peak is, perhaps a practice run at Mt Kiliminjaro (sic) ...”
The week that was (21 October 2016)
- On Wednesday night, Gourmet Traveller celebrated 50 years in the game with a whole lot of tequila. Pat and Neil made some just for the occasion. This is no mean feat - did you know it takes seven years for one piña to ripen? That’s only enough to make two or three bottles.
Their special edition mag (out next week) looks at the 50 most influential people in food, with lots of fabulous and familiar faces (i.e. not dominated by “celebrity chefs”) on their eclectic list. The list includes: Joost Bakker (environmental activist/florist), Sarah Doyle (front-of-house extraordinaire/restaurateur), Bruce Pascoe (through his work spotlighting indigenous agriculture and thus exposing the myth of terra nullius), Giorgio de Maria (all things natural wines), Maggie Beer (her work on food in aged care is so important), Ronni Kahn (always fighting waste), Maurice Terzini (redefining all the things, all the time), Jock Zonfrillo (he has experiments and ferments using native ingredients that go way back), Richard Gunner (killing the providore game). From the snapshot I have seen it’s a pretty interesting bunch.
There were also the 50 dishes that define Australian cuisine, an age-old question with no resounding answer. It included: Sixpenny’s potatoes with oyster and raw mushrooms, Kylie’s saltbush cakes, Bennelong’s yabby pikelets, the bottarga/pretzel business at 10 Willy, stracchiatella at Embla, a blood sausage sanga at Ester, the anchovy with its bones at Provenance and those croissants at Lune. It would be a delightful list to inform your dining decisions over the coming months.
Finally, they take us through the key players over the decades and invite us to “Meet Generation Next. Smart, passionate, bold, they’re forging their own paths and reshaping the Australian dining landscape.” It’s a list of eight: Ben Devlin (Paper Daisy), Josh Lewis (Fleet), Mat Lindsay (Ester), David Moyle(Franklin), Daniel Pepperell (Hubert), Daniel Puskas (Sixpenny), Aaron Turner (Igni) and Duncan Welgemoed (Africola). So, there is no question our dining landscape is in good hands – individually and collectively their food is excellent. It was also good to see a future that is spread across both towns and cities (half of those restaurants are not big city). But why, oh why, are there only penises on our horizon?
- Joanna Savill collated an excellent list of her favourite food memoirs: Rulhman, Slater, Bourdain, Hamilton, David, de Neefe, Reichl, Dunlop, Bilson, Buford, Steingarten and Gray, If you are looking for a book for bed, look no further. Do start with ED.
Port Douglas musings:
(1) There's a a furious perfume of fermenting fish in the streets right now, more prominent at night. It was kind of like holidaying in an amphora of garum. Turns out it's a local tree that produces the odour to encourage bats to eat the fruit - I think it's the Great Morinda, but would love to know if you know.
(2) The mud crabs are currently shedding their carapace (which means sadly they were not on my plate). This moulting is said to occur around the full moon, which also means, much to my nephew’s dismay, the fish were not biting - instead feasting on the defenceless crabs.
But those not being eaten are getting laid. Prior to moulting the female, if up for it, will release a hormone to attract the male, if he feels likewise he will court her by carrying her around for a few days (waiting for the moulting to occur), this is followed by a day of action and then three days where he protects her (by sitting on her) allowing the shell to grow over her eggs. Nifty. If you haven’t seen a crab shedding its shell, today is your lucky day.
(3) If you want to cool down, eat a cucumber. Due to their high water content, the inside of a cucumber is actually, literally cooler than room temperature. I have long loved that idea. Read many other incredible thoughts about cucumbers by our very clever friend Miss O Tama here.