SBS Food Journey

 

One of the brilliant things about being single with no kids is the ability to wake up and decide to do something on the spur of the moment. Without imposing on others or having to be somewhere else. Sunday was one of those spur of the moment days. Twitter informed me that it was the SBS Food Journey festival at The Royal Exhibition Centre in Carlton. And so after a shower, some chores and a small fill of petrol (have you seen the ridiculous price?!?) I set off to the festival.

What a beautiful day! It got rather hot for me so I was pleased to sit in the shade watching cooking demonstrations.

I went to the ATM at the Melbourne Museum and saw this - so cute! I think it was a van that delivered flowers in wartime.

The Food Journey festival was packed with stalls selling delicious foods, and offering free tastings. When I say free, I mean the tastings were covered by the entry fee ($18) which I thought was a little expensive since no other freebies were given out. Anyhow, I tasted a lot of food, and saw a good share of cooking demonstrations.

There were so many cultures and food-types showcased - Indonesian, Indian, Italian, Spanish, and seeds, fresh produce, cheese, wine, sauces and icecreams.

There were spicy sausages from Dunav Butchers and Smallgoods in Springvale

 

Beautiful coloured Middle Eastern sweets

Native Australian citrus from William Anglis Tafe - including blood limes, finger limes - the blood lime tasted a bit like Aerogard smells, but in a good way!

William Angliss also had lemon myrtle and strawberry scented gum - both smelt amazing!

I had a varied lunch. 

 

Two oysters. 

 

Freshly shucked by this man.

A squiggly potato. It was like a giant potato cake but yummier.

And my favourite of the day.

Meaty goodness from the Argentinian BBQ, Senor BBQ.

They encouraged photography at Senor BBQ.

It smelt so good - smoky and sweet.

 That guy in the red shirt is Bo - he had the gift of the gab.

 

 And tasted fantastic too! I had a plate of ribs - juicy and flavoursome.

 

I was desperately seeking shade, so for most of my time at the festival, I sat at the Outdoor Entertainment stage. It had a real garden feel - with plants provided by Chisholm Tafe.

 

 The first demonstration I saw was by Tony Chiodo, chef and author of Feel Good Food.

Tony cooked a vegetarian meal on a BBQ. He was a great presenter, and the meal was very attainable.

 It was corn on the cob and a salad of quinoa, raddicchio, raw pumpkin, red onion and toasted seeds.

He encouraged us to improvise - that's what makes cooking exciting - making up your own recipe.

We all received plates of corn and salad when he had finished cooking.

So tasty! And he served the corn with my favourite Thomy mayonnaise! Yum!

 Next up was Costa Georgiadis, the passionate gardener.

Costa had a lively stage presence - darting and running about so much.

He spoke about the importance of sustainable, ethical and socially responsible eating. Dead against the big two supermarkets (apt considering the current milk wars), genetically modified foods and rushing through the world, Costa encouraged buying locally and taking care with what we eat. It was really interesting, and I am now glad to have recently shifted from buying my produce from supermarkets to the local grocer, butcher and deli strip.

I deviated from Costa for a short time to see French chef Gabriel Gate.

It was hot and quite crowded so I didn't stay long. There was another reason I didn't stay long to watch Gabriel.

He was talking about how many meals chefs cook through their lives. And that if a chef couldn't cut an onion by the end of their career, they are 'retarded'.

The crowd became vocal, Gabriel tried to laugh the slur off, laughing at the camera, and then saying it's difficult to be politically incorrect in Australia. And at that, I left. He hadn't won me over.

I went back to Costa. I loved his passion about good sustainable food. I had a chat to Costa after his presentation. He was so lovely and friendly, and may well read my blog!

I am so glad I went to the SBS Food Journey festival. Melbourne is such a fortunate and diverse city - I love where I live!

 

I was so inspired to cook a fresh and healthy salad when I got home. And so I did.

I dry toasted some pumpkin and linseeds with salt and smoked paprika.

 It took about five minutes on low heat.

 The linseeds popped like popcorn in the pan.

 Next in the pan was one chopped eggplant, a cooked sweet potato and some garlic.

 I also added some leftover chicken to the pan - and a generous splash of olive oil.

I cooked up frekkeh - a grain my Mum introduced me to.

 It's like burghul. I love frekkeh and it's easier to cook than quinoa.

 

 I added raw fruit and vegetables - half a red onion, some vine ripened tomatoes, spinach and figs from my parents' garden.

 The salad was finished with feta and a good splash of raspberry balsamic vinegar.

 Ta-dah! Thanks Costa and Tony for the inspiration :)

Sausage making

Last weekend was spent at my parents' house in the country. We had lots of great food. From earth to table. The food theme was not limited to my parents' house.

It was a very cold morning last Sunday. Mum said we were going to her and Dad's Italian friends' house to watch some sausage making. She had little faith in my stamina, thinking I'd get bored from all the outdoorsiness. At one point Dad asked whether I wanted something more glamourous. I surprised them both, and even myself - I had a great time. I put on my journalist and photographer hats and did some research in the name of Tune into Radio Carly. The hats were only metaphors. If I had worn a hat, I would have been much warmer! I think my enjoyment also came from wearing sensible shoes for the trip, too.

As Faux Fuschia says, vegetarians, look away now!

It was such an educational experience. It was like real life Food Safari! Aside from the sausages, so much produce is grown and made on these peoples' land. They provide vegies for the local markets. They make their own wines. I loved the self sufficiency of it all.

Mum and Dad's friends do an annual pig slaughter and sausage making fest on the Queen's Birthday Long Weekend. They have lots of their friends helping them out - they come from interstate for the event.

The pigs get slaughtered on Friday, the butchering is done on Saturday, sausage making is done on Sunday and clean up on Monday.

The sausages are made in a fully equipped shed.

This is a huge tray of pork mince for the sausages and salami. It is flavoured with chilli, salt and coriander. They mix the herbs and spices through it by hand.

The mince is cooked on the stove and taste tested to see whether more flavour needs to be added. Here's what I ate. Tasted good.

These are natural sausage skins, soaking in water, ready to be filled with mince. The skins are tied with string.

The mince is held in a big machine and someone winds a handle to feed the mince through a pipe. The sausage skin is attached to the end of the pipe.

Here is a salami being made.

The salami was THIS BIG!

These are sausages. They can be cooked and eaten straight away.

And these are salamis. They will be hung to dry.


I learned that the salt and chilli preserve the mince so the salami keeps fresh. The sausages are pricked to remove the air so they don't explode when cooking. I also learned that sausage making is a messy, cold job. I imagine being so self sufficient is tiring, but rewarding.

This is prosciutto being salted...

...and hung. Prosciutto is the Greek word for ham. You can find out more about it here.


This pot sits on a gas cooker. It's filled with stock for a cabbage soup.

This home built wood stove was lovely.


Here are some goats that their neighbour keeps.

The goats had recently given birth to eight kids. The kids were high up on the hill away from the humans.

The goats eat everything in sight. And they make a different sound to a sheep.

They had a cute dog that looked a bit like Toby.


It was a fantastic morning and I thank Mum and Dad's friends for letting me take photos and write about their tradition on my blog.