Exchange program lets chefs loose on farms
A pair of Italian chefs had no idea what went into growing the vegetables they cooked with until a recent stint working at an organic farm and orchard in South Australia.
Dominque Sill and Anna Rier spent three weeks working at an organic orchard and farm in the mid-north, getting an appreciation for the produce they prepared in their kitchen.
Life in an orchard was a new experience
"We are here in Wirrabara Forest at O'Reilly's orchard, working a little, picking leeks or whatever needs picking," Mr Sill said, as he cheerfully foraged in one of the farm's big vegetable patches.
"It's a little bit different to in Italy because our area is 1,200 metres and not everything grows there, so we are a bit limited with the vegetables, but here it grows nearly everything."
Sweaty and dirty after a morning of weeding and picking, he said the chance to learn about vegetable growing was invaluable.
"For us as chefs it is very interesting to know where all the vegetables come from and what the work is to get this to the supermarket," he said.
"I think a few chefs don't even know where a capsicum grows and how it grows."
Tending to another big row of vegetables, Ms Rier agreed it was good to see first-hand how fruit and vegetables grew.
"It's also nice to see that it's not all picked in one day, you have to wait," she said.
The pair was taking part in the international Willing Workers on Organic Farms program, under which travellers help out in orchards and gardens in exchange for food and accommodation.
It took some getting used to the persistence of Australian flies, but most of the time the pair wandered happily and picked produce as they pondered what dishes to create in the evening.
"Last time we picked a lot of eggplants so we made an eggplant lasagne. What we pick the most we make something with," Ms Rier said.
"If we know what we'd like to have for lunch we go out and pick it. They have here their own tomatoes, their own potatoes and then we make gnocchi with tomato sauce, it's one of the best dishes you can have," Mr Sill said.
The Italian chefs said they were impressed by the quality of South Australian produce.
Mr Sill said he had previously assumed Australia was mostly-infertile desert country.
"What we think back home is that it's one of the driest countries and I thought it would be hard to grow something here, but we're surprised now we know it better," he said.
Ms Rier said they were surprised more people were not using fresh ingredients.
"They have very nice products and it's not nice to see that people buy lots of canned foods," she said.
"It's so nice to make your own tomato sauce and not open up the can and put it in the pan."
She said life as an Italian chef would now be different.
"Maybe we're going to have our own small vegetable garden with the vegetables that grow in our area and then we use them for producing our own food," she said.
"You work differently with it because you know it takes longer to grow and you try and use all parts of the vegetables."
Source: ABC News, 22 May 2013
