The week that was (14 January 2016)

Soap box:

- As with the beginning of every year, everyone is pulling out their crystal ball to talk to our future. The SMH suggest seaweed is the new kale (yawn), along with camel milk and savoury ice-cream, while in bars it's small batch gins, mescals and tequilas along with picklebacks and boilermakers (paired beer and whisky). The Tele is suggesting more veg dishes, ranch dressing, insects, pop-ups and pub grub (did they just roll out their predictions from five years ago?)

- The veg trend is probably overdue and may just take off. We should all be eating more veg anyway. The Fink family are banking on it, reportedly asking their chefs across all restaurants to reduce meat dishes on their menu, alongside a 25% reduction in sugar in desserts. As meat prices continue to rocket and the nitrite/nitrate debate continues to rage chefs may be left with little choice. Read this article looking at the difference between a nitrate and nitrite and the specific circumstances required to make them potentially harmful.

- Of course, talking trends, there will also be anything and everything to come out of Noma Australia. I often wonder at the value of having the world’s eyes turn to us, surely aided by Conde Nast Traveller announcing us as their destination of choice for 2016 (check out David Prior's Instagram for the visual, he is doing a spectacular job promoting our country). They had some beautiful stories looking at Australian culture and, to combine the two, this article from Rene saying where he likes to eat while he's here. I suggest the value is huge, and thus ask the question in how many languages can people find your restaurant website? 

- Continuing the Noma theme, Daniel Giusti is leaving (he has been head chef since 2013) to launch Brigaid in the US, a company that will attempt to change the way schools feed their students. This article in Lucky Peach is a great read. Obviously it’s a big leap from cooking food that is about “developing masterpieces” to food that is about feeding people for $3.07 a head, but for Giusti this is what it's all about “I'm making them happy and I'm changing the way they live because I'm changing the way they eat.” I created a Churchill Fellowship proposal on the same topic (sadly knocked back), but it is hard to argue with the importance of making good food accessible for all children. I'm looking forward to seeing what he comes up with. 

- You can breathe easy for the fine people of Copenhagen too, who have not been forgotten in all the upheaval. Noma has been temporarily  transformed into 108, the second resto by the peeps of Noma in partnership with Kristian Baumann. It will find it's permanent home in Christianshavn in spring. 

- Over the summer break I have developed two new food crushes that I would like to share:

(1) I was introduced to the poetic food historian Dr Pushpesh Pant by Miss O Tama. If you have not heard of him, do read this delightful article. A few of my favourite thoughts: Dr Pant (as if his name is not enough!) thinks being fussy about food is "irrefutable evidence that one is serious about life"; compares eating to sex as the only activity that consumes "all five senses ... marked by the same cycle of anticipation, ecstatic absorption and satiation, only this cycle is a much more frequent one"; I loved his ideas around the way tastes and palates change with culture and even cultural aspiration (“ … the dialogue between what he calls "the DNA of taste" and "the acquisition of taste" - the intrinsic character of any person's palate, the food they were exposed to as children, and then the nature of the circumstances that led them to adapt, explore, innovate."); And finally 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. 
 
- My other new/old crush is Lulu Peyraud. I stumbled across a copy of Richard Olney’s Lulu’s Provencal Table pre-Christmas and swiftly bought it (the ultimate boomerang present for my bf). I have seen Lulu’s book once before at the table of the Bersons, dear friends and wine makers of Victory Point in WA. It was over a decade ago, but her story stayed with me. I have consumed much of the Peyraud’s Domaine Tempier wine, considered by many as the pinnacle of Bandol rosés. The book is stunning, the recipes delightful, the sentiment beautiful, the cuisine simple and perfectly Provencal. She was the kind of woman who kept a menu diary, so as not to serve the same meal twice. She is the kind of woman I want to be, when I am not wanting to be Elizabeth David!

- I leave you on the happy news that Saveur have killed the word foodie. Ding, dong. 

The week that was (17 December 2015)

Soap box:

- Prawns are in the spotlight this week. Thai Union, a Thai prawn processing business supplying Coles, Woolies and Aldi, were exposed for using child-labour and "some workers, mainly from Myanmar, locked inside or otherwise unable to leave the factory", which sounds a little like slavery to me. 

Prawns are problematic at the best of times, with some chefs not using prawns at all due to the impact on the environment of both dredging (wild prawns) and farming. "When farmed, the feed used for prawns is often made from wild-caught fish, and while the CSIRO is working with prawn farmers to develop less intensive prawn-food, it is by no means perfect yet. Wild-caught prawns account for most of Australia’s locally harvested prawns (around 80 per cent). Unfortunately, prawn-trawling generates the highest amount of by-catch (accidental catching and wastage of other species) of all fisheries" (via Broadsheet).

For more about the enviro and social issues above read this. For help purchasing local prawns check out this great infographic from Greenpeace taking you through the best (and worst) species. As a simple starting point, local is the go.

The week that was (10 December 2015)

Soapbox:

- Reading Jacques Pépin talking “affective memory” in the NY Times this week reminded me why I want to be French. “There is something evanescent, temporary and fragile about food. You make it, it goes, and what remains are memories. But these memories of food are very powerful. In the words of George Bernard Shaw, “There is no love more sincere than the love of food.” Lin Yutang, a Chinese philosopher, tells us that “Patriotism is the love of the dishes of our childhood.” Yes, the dishes of our childhood stay with us forever.” Swoon.

The food descriptions of his childhood will also make you want for his life: potatoes straight from the garden sautéed in butter with mustard and garlic scented oil, chicken in cream sauce with morels, chicken liver flan with tomato concasse, olives and mushrooms, and boudin noir with buttered sautéed apples and fresh mashed potato. Swoon.

He concludes: “The majority of people can live well with 20 or 30 recipes and, in fact, all of their family traditions and rituals are expressed through those recipes. For most people, the dishes that matter are the dishes that have been cooked with love, dishes that are part of a family’s structure, passed down from a grandmother, mother, spouse, aunt, uncle or cousin.” Swoon.  
 
- Lacking the desire to delve too far into the negative today, but enjoying a little controversy, I am jumping across the pond for two scathing British reviews:

Tanya Gold at The Spectator hammered Sexy Fish. “In the basement private room there is a fish tank, where the ‘sexy’ fish — brightly coloured, minute and somehow heartbreaking — swim like tiny fishy slaves. I have never seen a restaurant whose ethos is so clearly and comprehensively, so preeningly and unapologetically: ‘Fuck you, I’m rich and I want a golden cave and servants. I want a pony and all the hookers I can strangle. I want a pyramid of cocaine and an Audi -Quattro.’”
 

Meanwhile, Jay Rayner took aim at German Gymnasium. “… half a free-range duck makes me wish the poor animal had been allowed to stay free. It is completely overcooked, to a point where all trace of moisture has been driven from the flesh. It is dense and heavy, a total waste of animal.” And, a little later in the piece: “Spiced roast butternut squash turns out to be a completely overworked purée with the consistency of wallpaper paste but none of the utility.

 
- Prince Charles was in France last week for the climate change talks and made headlines warning the French that the survival of their cheeses “was threatened by the “bacteriological correctness” of European and national food safety regulation.” The article notes up to 50 French cheeses are reported to have disappeared over the past four decades and only about 10% said to be “genuine”, that is made with untreated milk. The article suggests it’s not so much the threat of the disappearance of cheeses, but rather “The real danger – and the reality in many cases – is their conversion into something bland and characterless, which betrays our traditions.”

The week that was (3 December 2015)

Soapbox (a Rootstock wrap-up):

Last weekend was Rootstock Sydney, a festival on all things sustainable and artisan. I told you to go. A few of my highlights (and learnings) below.

On understanding Aboriginal agriculture: 
The more I read about indigenous ingredients and Aboriginal agriculture, the more I believe we are (finally) on the brink of a massive cultural revolution. The interest could, and should, result in respect for the things we don’t yet know about Australia's culinary past and respect for a culture we know way too little about.

Meeting Bruce Pascoe was the highlight I expected it to be. His book Dark Emu is important (“I write books because I can’t find books that tell the history of our country. If we want to close the gap we have to close the gap in our history”), the work he is doing to bring these practices to light is even more important. I have mentioned the Gurandgi Munjie Pozible campaign in previous weeks (Sow the seed: Aboriginal agriculture). It is aimed at bringing the yam daisy back into commercial cultivation. "We have to give our culture away to save it. We have to share. But I would like people to say this is an aboriginal plant, I am lucky enough to live in a country where it grows, I am lucky enough to grow it. This is about teaching soft history. You can eat the history. You take it in to you." 

Did you know the first bread is traced back to Australian Aboriginals some 32,000 years ago? That’s 15,000 years earlier than first thought (by the Egyptians). It was made using native grasses and seeds. These plants are adapted to our harsh environment. Norman Tindale, an American, observed a native grass wheat belt that cut a swathe through the centre of our country, arid land that we currently ignore (“It seems that all the people who are interested in Australian agriculture have come from somewhere else.”) These native plants have water requirements and require less pesticides. We must learn more about them and encourage people to use them. We must cut through government red tape and get this happening.

“What I have experienced out here in the room has been extraordinary. There are so many people in this building today who have a very unusual look in life, talk to Christoph and he talks about his cows and grass [not just making cheese], talk to the bee man and he tells you about wax ... I think we're on the brink of something happening in Australia. We're going to have a conversation. That conversation has been impossible until now.”

On natural wine:
"Natural wine is not the end, what is most important in the end is for the wine to be good, the natural process can help you get there ... But if you make wine with a little bit of character don't get too upset if not everyone likes it." - Thierry Puzelat

"It's [natural wine] a bottom up system, not necessarily a movement but a set of shared values, grown by contagion, by relationships ..." - Jamie Goode 

"The problem is too many don't look to beauty or deliciousness, they look to faults." - Mike Bennie 

On raw milk cheese:
We got an insight into the work ASCA (via Holy Goat and other artisan cheese makers) have been doing with scientist Ian Powell to extract native microbes from raw milk (whether native to a region/terroir or to a specific dairy) and use these to inject flavour back into their pasteurised cheeses. This allows the cheese makers to create cheeses with a taste of place (Australian cheesemakers have traditionally been limited to a small handful of commercial starters). We were lucky enough to taste some of the spoils. It’s a fascinating process with amazing potential for the industry. We are one of only three countries currently working on a project like this … You can read a little background here and read the results of the blind tasting here. 

The week that was (26 November 2015)

Soap box -

- Speaking of Sydney streets, according to Necia (The Oz) they are hot, hot, hot right now, and she's not just speaking literally. She penned an article looking at the surge of dining establishments in our hood. This quote from NSW Trade, Tourism and Major Events Minister Stuart Ayres stood out: “We had a record 3.3 million international visitors in the year to June, over a million more than our nearest competitor [Victoria] … Of those, over 90 per cent listed dining out as their favourite activity.” Quite the honeypot, leading me to think we owe a thing or two to Tourism Aust (also noting that, for this article, Necia "visited Sydney with the assistance of Destination NSW").

Necia also explored the growth in mid-range dining. You will remember this was the big trend Jonathon Gold suggested in his 101 LA restos a couple of weeks back (he referred to it as “reverse fusion”). The idea being the young chefs who have plied their trade (and learnt the art) from the fine dining chefs of the world are now taking it back a peg, applying the same nouse to food they grew up with, albeit in much lower price bracket. Winning.    

- The Guardian took a look at AA Gill’s autobiography Pour Me. The book tells of his descent into alcoholism and the road out of that hole (and onto the pages of our newspapers). From the book reviews I learnt a few things I did not know about Mr Gill: he has dyslexia that is so debilitating that he still uses a scribe for all his articles and his book (her name is Michelle and he’s never met her); His brother Nick was a Michelin-starred chef who went missing in 1998 and hasn't been heard of since; It’s 30 years since Gill was told (as a 30 year old) that if he continued drinking he wouldn't see Christmas. The Independent says “... often it is hopelessly overwritten, full of clichés, and punctuated by attempts at wit and aphorism that repeatedly misfire. Does this matter? Not really. This is a book to be read as one suspects it was written: quickly and carelessly, and in thrall to the joys of narrative. It might not all be beautiful; it might not all be true. But that does little to diminish the pleasure to be found in its story.” I would happily add it to my Santa list.
 
- If you want this week’s list (you will recall last week's list warning) check out Gourmet Traveller’sfavourite dishes of 2015 as chosen by the state eds.

- I'm going to leave the last word to Paulette Whitney from Provenance Growers in Tassie. Her produce article in Gourmet makes my heart flutter every month - thoughtful, insightful and beautiful. This month was no different: "After harvest most crops sense they are detached from their mother plant and begin transforming delicious sugars into more stable starches. My peas think they need to store their energy until the time is right to germinate and grow, and they will quickly become bland if left too long after picking. Freshly dug potatoes are the same, their skins slipping off easily under the cool tap. I'll steam them while their hearts are still beating and they will be buttery and sweet." I had a very delightful chef (and lovely friend) gush about her first experience cooking a potato straight from the earth last week, I know this beating heart description will resonate.   

The week that was (19 November 2015)

Soap box:

- Danny Meyer’s “Hospitality Included” no tipping policy starts at Modern today in NYC. This has been splashed across the papers for a few weeks now and, while it is acutely American, the struggle to pay restaurant staff appropriately is not. The below comes from a melange of articles (links included):

Legally all tips in New York are the sole property of the wait staff and thus can not be re-distributed to the kitchen. This has seen the disparity between front and back of house wages grow. According to Meyer over the past 30 years “kitchen income has gone up no more than 25 percent. Meanwhile, dining room pay has gone up 200 percent.” In the Oz they note “At one point his restaurant North End Grill had more Culinary Institute of America graduates working as waiters than in the kitchen.” Meyer decided to kill the disparity he had to kill the tips.

Of course to supplement the wages he has put up the food prices (not a simple 20% across the board, with lobster up by $10, crab fritters by $1 and the truffle actually dropping by $10). A ballsy move, but he is assuring his customers the total bill will remain pretty much the same.

The change is all about paying staff more. The thought that has gone into this scheme is fascinating (it’s definitely worth reading this great article on Eater if you are a business owner in the industry). Of particular interest is his revenue share program, which is how he plans to compensate the wait staff. It will be calculated on the restaurant’s weekly revenue (weekly to avoid people chasing the most lucrative shifts) and has promised to reap the same financial benefits as the tipping system. This will link employees to the restaurant’s financial performance, as it is now directly tied to their compensation, but also ideally making the restaurant more profitable.

But the buck doesn't stop there. Next step for Meyer is the inevitable online payments, an Uber type system that he feels could bring back customer opinion. "What if we could retain the consumer’s ability to praise or punish or just remark, and make it a fun game?" Meyer has no plans to create this interface, instead, he’s hoping whoever ends up being "the dominant player in what he calls the "wild west" of mobile payments will help speak to his needs.”
 
- In Lucky Peach, they were also questioning the future of the industry from a financial rather than artistic perspective. Jason Hammel notes “Food you make and grow for yourself should be cheap. Food made by others shouldn’t be—at any level. The street-food cart should support its cooks just as much as the local bistro should.” He throws up a few suggestions, including price scaled by peak times, government support etc, but settles on collaboration: “The question of where we are going is not just an artistic question … It requires all of us. I’d like to learn about models in other countries ... about new ideas for efficiencies and for the motivation of staff.”

- Of course, many restaurants still lean on the free labour of the stagiaire (Noma, for example, has more stagiaires than paid employees). This article in the Guardian looks at the experience of six stagiaires around the world and provides some lovely insights. "... the whole exercise can cost thousands of pounds – but when weighed against the skills and creativity they hope to acquire, and the prestige that comes from working in a world-famous kitchen, many deem it worthwhile.”

- Don’t think that copying the team at Noma is going to bring you the spoils. If you need convincing on that front, read this article about the “long lingering death of the edible lecture” (ie new Nordic cuisine).

- Finally, for a completely different spin on how you can make some cash in this game, check out Nuno Mendes’ crowd funded campaign to build his “world-class destination restaurant.” He’s seeking investors on the crowd-sourced Seedrs site and has added perks beyond the shares (priority booking etc etc). There’s a vid of his vision if you want to watch, and a £1,400,000 gap if you want to get involved.

- For something a little closer to home check out the Gurandgi Munje Pozible campaign. It’s all about "sowing the seed for Aboriginal agriculture" and is aimed at giving a financial leg up to Gurandgi Munjie, a group of Aboriginal men and women determined to recover the traditional food plants of their culture, for wider, public consumption. Of course this kind of support is of critical importance to the future of Australian food production and environmental protection. It’s supported by Rootstock Sydney. Come down next weekend if you want to learn more. 

The week that was (12 November 2015)

Soap box -
 
- David Blackmore has withdrawn his application to Murrindindi Shire Council and is moving his herd elsewhere. I have told his story on these pages before. David is the kind of farmer we need more of. This is not just devastating for the Blackmore family (the Blackmore business will continue to operate with David handing the reigns over to his children) it is also devastating for the positive precedent his farm could be setting. Neil Perry quite rightly points out: "This could have been the beginning of many people going down this path, not only with Wagyu but with grain-fed cattle," he said. "It would've been a better outcome for the cattle, it would've been a better outcome for the diners and most importantly, I think for Australia, it would've been world's best practice." Click the link if you don't know the story. His innovative approach to free-ranging ration-feeding should be known and celebrated. 
 
- I enjoyed this op ed piece in the NY Times. It tells a sad tale for supermarkets and the world's big food brands about shifting consumer behaviour (that will make your heart sing): soft drink sales down 25% since 1998 (oj down 45%), packaged cereal down 25% since 2000, frozen meals are also down, conversely the sale of fresh prepared food has grown 30%. “The outlook for the centre of the store (where the non-fresh is found) is so glum that industry insiders have begun to refer to that space as the morgue.”

Cue scrambling ... The supermarkets are bolstering their fresh food offering, giving it greater space and pride of place, while the big brands are also making changes: “Consumers are walking away from America’s most iconic food brands. Big food manufacturers are reacting by cleaning up their ingredient labels, acquiring healthier brands and coming out with a prodigious array of new products.” This is all good news.

With all that in mind how, oh how, did this ad get through both Michelle Bridges’ and Woolies’ marketing departments??
 
- I also enjoyed this story in the LA Times explaining Dock to Dish, a program connecting fishermen and chefs. They look at LA restaurant Providence, who pay a weekly subscription of $750 to receive a guaranteed haul of at least 75 pounds of fish caught by 16 small fishermen. What is not guaranteed is what that haul contains. “That weekly subscription gives these small fishermen a solid economic basis from which to work. It offers a chance to give a little fine-dining exposure to what are often otherwise wallflower fish. And it connects restaurant kitchens even more closely with the sources of their ingredients.”

Not only do I love the link between chef and producer, but I love the traceability of this program, the human element, particularly in their email which: “… not only explains what fish is coming in, but who caught it, where and how. So, for example, Cimarusti's email that night told him that the halibut had been caught with a rod-and-reel by Morgan Castagnola aboard the Cecelia, and the whelks and lobsters had been caught in traps by Shane Robinson aboard the Miss Conception. It also detailed ocean conditions and some of the work that went into catching the fish.” Check out the Dock to Dish Instagram feed, it’s everything it should be - salty, raw and beautiful.

You should also check out Jonathan Gold’s little vid about Providence's signature dish The Ugly Bunch. It encapsulates the philosophy behind both Providence and Dock to Dish. It’s lovely.

- You will need to scroll to get there, and may get distracted by Gold’s video on his 101 best LA restaurants, announced last week. That’s ok, it's worth listening to. Gold talks vegetable forward restaurants, the rise in the standard of Mexican cooking in LA and “reverse fusion” restaurants. Incidentally, Providence was his number one.
 
- Have you seen the shorts for the Noma doco? If not, you can watch it here.

- Finally, to Switzerland and a little insight into the life of a cheese maker. Carmen Bateson wrote a lovely story for the ASCA website that chronicles her time with our favourite French cheese-maker Christophe. The romance of the traditions of alpage and the respect afforded to cheese in Europe just have to make you happy. "What is also interesting to observe during discussion with the cheese maker and alpage operators is that, despite their different roles in the production, they all understand that the cheese is an outcome of the landscape, the breed of cow, the herdsmen, the cheese maker and the natural caves used to mature the cheese at an altitude of between 1500m and 2000m." Be still my beating heart ... If you don't know Christophe, you should. He will be at Rootstock this year, you can buy a ticket to his talk here.

The week that was (5 November 2015)

And the soap box:
 
- I thoroughly enjoyed this read about La Varenne’s cookbook Le Cuisinier François, published in 1651. “Through his work, La Varenne proved that food and cooking could be the topic of serious debate, and that food instruction didn’t have to be learned in kitchens of the Aristocracy—it was something that could also be learned through writing.”
 
His work was much more than this. A few years ago I attended a talk on 17th Century French food. The discussion turned to the French economic dependence on the spice route in the 16/17th centuries and the ways the French sought to tackle this; essentially they made a decision to turn their cuisine back inwards, promoting the ingredients and culinary heritage of France. The result was not just to loosen the grip of the spice trade, but to create an identity that became France, a defining part of French nationhood that endured for centuries to follow.
 
Culinary identity as tourist driver is now a familiar concept. Redzepi is almost solely responsible for turning Copenhagen's culinary glance inwards, a move that eventually led to the world glancing (glaring) in their direction. Alex Atala of D.O.M. in Brazil has done likewise, with his use of native Brazilian ingredients seeing the 50 Best adding a third geographic region in their 'hood due to increased demand, while Magnus Nilsson, as mentioned last week, has written the book on it for Sweden.
 
Of course, we are seeing it here too. It's a big deal, not just because I think it will bring the people, but because I think it has potential to put a positive spotlight on the culinary culture of indigenous Australia. An opportunity to celebrate knowledge and build respect. About time.  
 
- If you have similar food history nerd tendencies, you will also want to read this article about an 84 year-old librarian who has spent half her life cataloguing cookbooks throughout history.

- Finally, to my favourite article this week, Who’s to Judge, published in the New Yorker, it's a cracking article looking at the highs and lows of the World’s 50 Best. There is so much in here for you …

The article looks the Euro-centricity of the cooking, the male domination, the San-Pell corporate greed, the anti-movement (Occupy 50 Best, hilariously run by the Frenchies who have it in for the English run scheme), the judges (one interviewee claiming "They blow-jobbed their way through this. Pseudo critics— are they allowed to judge?”) and some of the tactics restaurants have used to garner votes. All this leads them to Australia and our invite the world to dinner campaign, which saw us doubling our presence on the list (Tourism Australia did invite a quarter of the regional chairs to the party).

Some may think this flash of Aussie cash is extreme, but not the Frenchies who, as per La Varenne's book above, practically invented the concept of gastro-identity. They will not let the beefeaters have it alone. The government have elected a “gastrodiplomat”, who has in turn published a committee report “20 Measures for 2020” (with the help of chefs Alain Ducasse and Guy Savoy). “The paper was technically a blueprint for helping French food and wine to “re-enchant the world.” 

The article suggests the report is actually a “war plan plan for combatting the World’s 50 Best” and that Faure is working on La Liste: “a ‘serious and honest’ international restaurant guide, compiled according to a complicated-sounding algorithm that he likened to tennis’s A.T.P. rankings.” It’s due to launch around Christmas this year. I love this stuff.

The week that was (29 October 2015)

The soap box:

- Is bacon killing you? God I hope not. This week the International Agency for Research on Cancerreport categorised processed meat (meaning not fresh, including cured, cultured, smoked etc) as a group 1 carcinogen (cancer causing), while red meat was categorised as a group 2 carcinogen (probable cancer causing). Of course there has been uproar (and an infestation of bacon loving memes). I found the most sensible explanation at the Cancer Research UK site: “The results showed that those who ate the most processed meat had around a 17 per cent higher risk of developing bowel cancer, compared to those who ate the least.” They stress this is a relative risk, with the article continuing to say “WCRF’s analysis suggests that, among 1000 people who eat the most processed meat, you’d expect 66 to develop bowel cancer at some point in their lives – 10 more than the group who eat the least processed meat.” As you were.

- Good Food Month hosted a talk with Jonathan Gold, the only food critic to have been awarded a Pulitzer and Chris Ying, co-editor of Lucky Peach last Sunday. Myffy was (rather nervously) hosting, while Tezza was also on the panel. A few take outs:

Gold talked about the weight of responsibility of (potentially) putting 40 or 50 people out of a job for aesthetic issues or issues of personal taste. He noted that while you have to be able to stab friends in the back to be a good critic, it's dreadfully unfair to review a restaurant in its first few weeks. His rule is never before 2 or 3 months, while also visiting up to 4 times. Cue squirming from the SMH representatives.  

Chris didn't get much time with the mic, but when he did showed a different perspective, “we're the dick and fart magazine of the food world. I cooked in restaurant and am running a mag, but that doesn't give me the level of experience. I like hanging out with chefs and them sending me stuff, but I'm not qualified to be a professional critic.” He noted his ideal “review” is to ask an expert on the topic to profile (not review) his favourites. 

So what makes a professional (Pulitzer prize winning) critic? They screened City of Gold (Jonathan's new doco), looking at how Gold has used his food writing/restaurant critiques to articulate the tapestry of LA's society, essentially looking at his role as cultural commentator. For Gold it's about context, where food fits and how it's moving the culture forward or not. Gold does write beautifully, his focus largely on the ethnic, low-key restaurants of LA, from taco truck to Thai restaurant. His writing is considered and well-researched. The impact of a good writer to plot the culinary lay of the land (I'm thinking Brillat-Savarin or Elizabeth David) is hugely valuable and should be revered. 
 
- Looking at the role of food and place, Magnus Nilsson’s new book is out and garnering a lot of attention. Two years in the making (Nilsson also took the photographs) the book is designed for the domestic kitchen. In contrast to his first book, that chronicled his restaurant Faviken, The Nordic Cookbook chronicles the culinary heritage of Sweden. “Eighty percent of the recipes are very approachable for a home cook, and the remaining 20 percent are totally unapproachable because you’ll never find a puffin at Whole Foods,” says Nilsson. No, no you won't, nor will you find pilot whale meat, “I fought very hard to include those pictures of bloody whales to the point I would not submit the book if I didn’t get them in, because I don’t think it’s right to censor culture,” says Nilsson. “I could have made the book look like a fairy-tale version of Nordic cooking, but what point would that be?” This NY Times Style Mag article provides a nice insight into the man and his reasons behind the book.

Still not sure if this has relevance to your kitchen? Magnus will be here next month to launch his book on our shores. Barbara Sweeney of Food and Words will be chatting to him on the evening of the 26th November ($85 including the book (RRP $60), see more details here). While at Rootstock Sydney they are hosting a breakfast with Magnus (with David Moyle cooking a dish in line with Nilsson's local philosophy) on Saturday morning (the 28th). Tickets are $50 without the book and $80 with. They’reavailable here and while you're at it check out the rest of the Rootstock Sydney program here.

- I have never understood why someone would want to look in someone else’s medicine cabinet ... fridges on the other hand (and book shelves) I get. Thus I loved this peak into the fridge of five great European chefs: Bo Bech, Massimo Bottura, Hélène Daroze, Sven Elverfield and Magnus Nilsson. Of particular interest to me was the fermented lupin paste at the bottom of Nilsson's fridge. Lupins, a commodity rotation crop, seem to be everywhere at the moment. My sister and her husband, who are sheep farmers, grow them to ferment, turn to silage and feed to the sheep. In contrast last week Peter Gilmore posted a precious little pile of lupin beans in the kitchen at Quay. A little cursory research suggests they are commonly brined and served as a snack, primarily around the Med and South America.

The week that was (22 October 2015)

And finally the soap box:

- Spring is about asparagus and broadies and, as I discovered today, Magpie Goose, an indigenous game bird that I know embarrassingly little about. I am sad to say I have never eaten it. Like most indigenous ingredients, there is very little to be read on the web either.

Here's a very basic idea of how it rolls: each year an estimated 2-3 million magpie geese take to the skies in coastal northern Australia. The hunting season typically begins in September and runs for four months. This year licences are restricted to 7 birds per person (dropped from 10 due to drought condition in the last couple of years). Different hunting regulations apply to Indigenous and non-Indigenous people: for example native title holders can hunt on traditional lands, while non-Indigenous hunters are restricted to three reserves around Darwin. Watch Jock Zonfrillo/The Orana Foundation's beautiful vid here. Rumour has it there may be a wholesaler looking to supply a limited number into restaurants too.  

-  Is sugar the new tobacco? Jamie's getting all up in sugar's grill, and has taken his Sugar Rush campaign to David Cameron to pitch a 7p tax on all soft drinks (with a teaspoon sugar count on bottles and a ban on junk food advertising until 9pm for good measure). This week the SMH cover story looked at the same. I am not a fan of demonising a food group, but think this story has merits in regards to spotlighting the hidden sugars added into "low-fat" product, in "wholegrain" cereals etc. The article notes: "... you can endlessly define the world by what it's not. What we should be saying is what it is. My last meal had no plutonium in it either." 

- On the other side of the scale I liked the review of Dan Buettner's Blue Zone in the Oz, a look at the diets of people in regions (the blue zone) who significantly outlive the rest of us. "They include, cheeringly, drinking wine (people in all blue zones “drink wine moderately and regularly”); natural movement, such as walking to work or doing housework; eating mostly plant-based food (what he calls the plant slant) and stopping eating when your stomach is 80 per cent full (blue zones eat their smallest meal by early evening). Blue zones also drink strong coffee ... When it comes to beverages, the blue zone way is to have coffee at breakfast, tea in the afternoon, wine at 5pm and water all day, and never to have fizzy drinks, including diet ones." There's also less meat (next to none), replaced by beans and lentils. I'm not one for diets but I like the sociological/historical perspective in his studies. And I also like a glass of wine.