‘Going local’ in the Brisbane area? City chefs are discussing Indigenous agriculture
Brisbane’s growing sustainable and ethical food scene will be the focus of an industry-led event, ‘Fair Food Chefs’, hosted by the Food Connect Foundation today.
Led by award-winning author of Dark Emu, Bruce Pascoe, the event is intended to explore how Brisbane’s chefs can design their menus that truly align with their values. Chefs and members of the wider hospitality industry will learn of pre-colonial Aboriginal agriculture and how the first bread ever made was likely to be Australian.
Pascoe will also discuss a project to revitalise Australia’s indigenous farming traditions with young indigenous Australians. “He’s been establishing farms to try and grow and sell traditional produce. Particularly focusing on the staples, tubers and grains,” says Robert Pekin, chair of the Food Connect Foundation.
Pascoe’s aim is to have native yam daisies and bread made with indigenous millet on every table in Australia. Fair Food Chefs will at least give him a chance to get it into their minds that they can play a role in supporting a sustainable future for Australian indigenous agriculture.
Fair Food Chefs is an ongoing research project led by Paula Hardie, a Design Futures student from Griffith University, in collaboration with the Food Connect Foundation & Brisbane chefs. “As a visual communication designer with an interest in food & hospitality practices, I wanted to identify the attitudes & practices chefs may adopt in order to perpetuate fairer food values in Brisbane’s mainstream hospitality culture,” says Paula. “The objective is to highlight alternative foodways in a bid to democratise access to local & ‘fair food’ farmers, producers & distributors.”
The Food Connect Foundation’s vision is a world where all Australians can access healthy, local, ecologically-grown food that is fair to growers, eaters and the planet.
The sold-out event starts at 6pm at Wandering Cooks, South Brisbane, on Monday, 5 December, 2016.
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