Infuse Infuse 10 December 2019 | Page 28

learning butchery skills, and how to prepare a whole fish, to reduce waste and be more cost efficient. Our group of experienced chefs had an educational day they will never forget. Even patissier Christopher The, from BlackStar Pastry, learnt how to cook damper in the open fire from Auntie Sue. Afterwards, we invited the greater Aboriginal community so they could enjoy the feast; the conviviality was extraordinary, authentic, and real. It touched my soul. T: In addition, the use of and continued education around indigenous ingredients from a culinary and health perspective. Plant based foods and creative protein alternatives are certainly on the rise. We're also seeing reduction or elimination of plastic and packaging which is a continuation of Lucy’s comment about going back and re-learning old skills as new skills which is consistent with the growing need to be sustainable. L: One of my favourite memories is that Tawnya and I had the incredible opportunity to take a group of the World's 50 best chefs and food media on a regional food tour with Visit Victoria. We took them out to the Grampians region, and crammed a two- to three-day tour into a one-day tour, because their schedules were so crazy. What is your favourite food experience to-date? It was quite a simple experience in many ways, but it had so much depth to it. Sometimes it just takes experiences like this to realise how lucky we are in Australia with what we have here. It was an incredibly memorable tour, that I'll always keep close to my heart. T: We have had so many but for me, it was very much, one of our tours that took three years from concept to delivery. We prepared a meal with the local Indigenous community in Ceduna, South Australia, on the Eyre Peninsula. We had a group of 20 chefs from all over Australia. This was the first time this Aboriginal community had engaged from a culinary sense with a hospitality group like ours. During our time together we built fires, worked alongside the elders to prepare a meal together using locally hunted and foraged ingredients, and explored bush medicines. Some of the local Aboriginal children baked us delicous quandong pies. LEARN MORE: www.straighttothesource.com.au @straight_to_the_source facebook.com/straighttothesourcefoodtours @straight-to-the-source Join Straight to the Source's Slow Food in a Fast World Tour after Dietitians Unite on 2 May 2020 Visit here to learn more: https://straighttothesource.com.au/slow-food-in-a-fast-world-tour-booking © Dietitian Connection 28 Infuse | December 2019