Interview: Stewart White

There is no sharper observer of our culinary scene, not only from his viewpoint as a National Chief Judge for a peak Industry Association, but as a successful PR and Marketing expert, and leading Hospitality Professional

As one of the most highly respected and long-standing Industry figures, in your opinion how would you best define Aussie Cuisine?

Australian Cuisine rubs shoulders with the notion of Modern or Contemporary Australian Cuisine. They both evolved from the culinary influences of ethnic (and more recently Indigenous) communities that have become part of Australia’s Anglo heritage landscape. It is an inspirational melting pot of the edible cultural elements of its immigrants and first nation bush tucker. It is tempered and massaged by combining their techniques and ingredients with Australian produce, together with the influence of the local climate and seasons. It’s a blending of European and Asian flavours, combined with modern, global traditional and artisanal techniques to often produce unique but indirectly familiar eating experiences that resonate with the contemporary Australian palate.

Which Chefs do you consider had the most influence in that evolution?

Peter Gilmore, Martin Benn, Andrew McConnell, Tetsuya Wakuda and Raymond Capaldi I’ve admired for their cutting-edge menus. Brent Savage and Josh Niland push the outside of their respective culinary envelopes. Flying under the radar, Darren Templeman, employs his French classical training to produce less-is-more hybrid dishes that exude a passport of global influences. But cast your mind back to 1984 and Jean-Paul Bruneteau and his Sydney Rowntree restaurant, with servings of witchetty grubs and a still memorable roasted wattle seed pavlova. Jean-Paul went on to fly the Australian food flag at Woolloomooloo restaurant in Paris in 2001, serving kangaroo with Tasmanian pepper berries (much to the chagrin of movie star turned animal liberationist, Brigitte Bardot). Among other notable homegrown ingredient champions, Andrew Fielke’s extraordinary Red Ochre in Adelaide, brother and sister bush tucker pioneers Raymond and Jennice Kersh at the iconic Edna’s Table. Indigenous chefs Mark Olive and Clayton Donovan, Kylie Kwong delivering bushtucker Chinese specialties. And let’s not forget the late Bill Grainger who put new world Aussie breakfasts on the global map.

What scope and direction do you think Aussie Cuisine has looking forward?

The sky’s the limit, so long as it isn’t manufactured meat.

Are there any specific ingredients that give us a unique and substantial point of difference?

Indigenous produce like wattle seed, lemon myrtle, pepper berries, Davidson’s plums and muntries – and who could forget the macadamia nut that Hawaii so efficiently appropriated. We ran away from our macropods – kangaroo and wallaby – hard to find on menus these days, although much is sold overseas. Poland being the biggest – a lot of Bigos stew?? Saltbush grazed livestock has a unique flavour especially given the current propensity to cook with an open flame.

You have travelled the world, and indulged in cuisine from a diversity of cultures, what in your opinion have been the driving influences on Aussie Cuisine?

Obviously colonial British food origins hold sway with its Mother England roots. Then the subsequent influences from the migration of Cantonese gold rush Chinese, to the post war Mediterranean immigration of Greeks, Italians and Lebanese. And French as the corner stone of haute cuisine and cooking techniques. French has had a resurgence in its bistro form, but its time-honoured techniques were always there as the backbone of classical culinary training and the discipline of the kitchen brigade. Italy has evolved and morphed from its crowd-pleasing Aussie favourites of Bolognese and pizza persona to proudly exert the influences of its regional differences. From the obligatory arancini for event finger food to tiramisu and panna cotta to finish. Chinese still holds sway albeit with the once ubiquitous Cantonese comfort food being challenged by regional mainland cuisines. There’d be no Chiko Roll without the spring roll. The subtlety of Japanese increasingly lends itself to be pushed, pulled and appropriated to complement, and be integrated into, almost any direction of Aussie cuisine.

You are also an authority in Wine, how important is terroir in defining our identity?

In Australia varietals generally define a perceived framework of drinking expectation to consumers, while terroir distinguishes its regional uniqueness. Viticulturally, this wide brown land is a vast and varied piece of real estate. It is not a one-size-fits all. It is a mosaic of stylistic endeavours that reflect their terroir. Coonawarra reds from terra rosa soil, big Barossa reds like Grange and Hill of Grace shiraz, the elegance of Margaret River wines, the uniqueness of Hunter Valley semillons and the Burgundian Yarra Valley offerings. On a global stage, Australian wines still continue to imply sunshine and lifestyle. Acknowledgement of the regional and terroir subtleties is growing locally and abroad.