FTA Lead Preview: On Country Kitchen
Chef Mark Olive has no problem bringing traditional ingredients back to the Australian palate. The Bunjalung chef from Wollongong has championed incredible and bizarre produce around the world. Fortunately, now people are beginning to see the benefits of these strange cooking habits. Apparently, things like the bush tomato are superfoods, perfect for delivering excellent nutrition.
According to Olive, people are starting to go beyond the basics with the herbs and spices they use, and they’re starting to explore indigenous solutions instead. Curiosity is building for things like the bush tomato and river mint. However, you do have critics out there that still think it’s sacrilegious to eat things like the kangaroo and emu.
Second Season of On Country Kitchen
In the new season of On Country Kitchen, Olive teams up with Derek Nannup to cook on location using produce that he finds in the local area. Nannup and Olive make a unique and interesting team for waters to enjoy. The first episode of the show includes paddle boarding and pruning olive trees, with Nannup playing the hilarious apprentice. There’s even an explanation of indigenous fishing techniques and other educational segments to explore.
The show covers the welcome to the country ceremony that highlights each of the regions featured on the show, helping viewers to rediscover the culture of the land. According to Olive, on the south coast, they’re starting to play the Aboriginal names on the towns that you visit, and people are beginning to learn more about the location’s background.
What’s more, as part of the show’s journey, the two lead stars meet some of the leading Indigenous foodie talents from the area. Olive believes that it’s great to see the impact of things like his youth workshops, which he’s been running for more than 20 years.
The only real downside to the bush tucker boom is that smaller chefs might begin to lose their favorite products to the big corporations of the country. Sometimes, they’re struggling to access the herbs that they want, and over the next few years, it might become increasingly difficult to make the weird and wonderful meals that people are beginning to love.
