RELAX
Food Mavericks
re’s
apo
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It takes cojones to decide, one
day, to go toe to toe against
some of the biggest food
brands in the world, with their
multi-million dollar budgets
and high-tech
production kitchens. The four
local food mavericks featured
here have decided to do
just that because they think
families deserve better items
on the dining table.
By Farhan Shah
Eastern Granola
“Being as resource scarce as we are, it’s inevitable that we
rely on imports. But I think, on some level, people crave
a real connection with their food. They like to know what
exactly goes into it and who makes it.”
Eastern Granola, the brainchild of former dining editor Hui
Wen, is a homage to iconic Asian dishes such as rojak and
Thai mango salad, with the exception that they are broken
down a la molecular granola-my. The ingredients are from
different parts of Asia and Hui Wen blends all of them
together in a central kitchen in Macpherson. She’s even
thinking of crafting a chicken-rice flavoured granola too!
“Local produce doesn’t have to travel for long periods
of time to reach you, so it’s fresher. Also, less petrol is
wasted on vehicles to transport the produce, so there’s less
pollution. Besides, tropical fruit and flavours are so unique,
so why not make full use of our easy access to them?”
“I have nothing against kaya toast! I love it. In fact, I’m coming
up with a kaya toast granola next.”
Mass produced commercial cereals, with their additives and
preservatives, are not exactly the ideal breakfast food for
growing children, yet many parents regularly serve it in the
morning. Hui Wen hopes to pep up bland morning breakfasts
with her funky flavoured granola so that kids and families don’t
get bored with their meals. It’s a noble and delicious cause.
Eastern Granola
www.easterngranola.com
The funky flavoured granola by Eastern Granola is available at
Active Life Center, JuicyS, Mondays Off, Naiise.com and HipVan.
com. You can also order it from the menu at
Cafe@The Showroom.
Hui Wen admits that the market for local
food is at the moment somewhat a niche
industry but she foresees a rosy future
for local food producers. Having been in
the industry, first as a journalist and now
a maker, she wants to help other small
scale handcrafted food businesses make
the transition from flea markets and
independent cafes and supermarkets.
She’s already on that path; she’s selfpublishing a biannual indie journal coming
out in September about everyone’s two
favourite sins – food and sex.
The Hunters’
Kitchenette
“My wife and I always loved eating
nuts. So, after knowing that nuts have
been an important part of human
evolution, we started incorporating
them into our daily meals and tried to
make our own nut butters.”
It started as a quest to lead a healthy
lifestyle, which led to the discovery of
the Palaeolithic diet, an eating plan
centred on the foods that our huntergatherer ancestors eat. Herbert and his
wife Natalia began roasting their own
nut butters, the antithesis of Skippy
peanut butter and the Nutella hazelnut
chocolate spread, and sold 10 bottles
on a whim at a farmers’ market. The
response was amazing and they decided
to rope in a few more friends to turn
it into a business. That was how The
Hunters’ Kitchenette was formed.
“Most commercial peanut butters
are mixed with hydrogenated oils,
which is fat derived from seeds oil and
exposed to extreme heat and hydrogen,
changing its molecular structure to
become solid at room temperature. It
26
Family & Life • Aug 2014
does not exist in nature and is highly
toxic to the human body.”
to dispose of a ba