A new alliance between restaurateurs and food producers in parts of regional New South Wales is aiming to strengthen the agriculture and tourism sectors.
Around the world, the ‘slow food’ movement has been working to conserve traditional food practices and biodiversity by promoting local produce.
East Maitland chef Amorelle Dempster is the leader of Slow Food Hunter Valley and international councillor for Slow Food Australia, non-profit organisations working to strengthen traditional food practices.
She has started what is believed to be NSW’s first ‘slow food alliance’ — a project aiming to connect farmers and chefs in the NSW Hunter Valley.
“The alliance is a way to connect chefs with the local food system, to connect them with the biodiversity that exists,” Ms Dempster said.
“With biodiversity comes choice, a lot of variety in the food system, so we’re celebrating the non-homogenisation of food, or the non-industrialisation of food.
“The chefs celebrate small artisan producers, regionalised food, and they make a commitment to use that food in their menu to promote the local farmer.
“It’s a matter of connecting the dots, connecting the chefs, and saying ‘Let’s come together so we can make this a prominent part of the food system and make that commitment to what we put on the plate’.”
Hopes alliance will be a win-win
Ms Dempster said the idea of building formalised relationships between farmers and chefs could spread to other regions in the country.
“We’re teaching farmers not to just grow one type of potato, but to grow many varieties and find all the varieties that used to be grown in the region,” she said.
“Let’s celebrate the biodiversity that does exist.
“Whatever they grow, if the chefs can absorb that into their menus, there’s no wastage. So it’s a real win-win situation.
“They’re getting produce that’s grown, picked and delivered on the same day.”
Ms Dempster said there could be some logistical issues for farmers transporting their produce but hoped, within a year, 30 Hunter Valley chefs would be on board.
“If we have 30 chefs, we can make a huge difference to what farmers can produce and supply,” Ms Dempster said.
“We’ve got to work in with the growing seasons as well.
“If the chefs come on board, we can say ‘Here are the producers, next season this is what they can grow, we can put that on the plate’.”