Deep in the Weeds - A Food Podcast with Anthony Huckstep

After a successful career as an AFL footballer Daniel Motlop (Something Wild, Native Co., Seven Seasons) started a native Australian food company with his brothers and father. After building strong relationships with Indigenous communities around Australia, Daniel, a proud Larrakia man, set about promoting the ethical, sustainable and permitted use of native Australian ingredients and the impact h...

After spending his early childhood in Melbourne, then his teens in Italy, Maurice Terzini (Iceberg’s Dining Group) returned to Australia and threw himself into the hospitality sector. Although successful he felt unsettled until a chance move to Sydney created a stepping stone to one of Australia’s best restaurants, and more importantly gave him a sense of stability and a true sense of purpose on t...

For the last six months, award-winning chef Matt Stone (Future Food System) and his partner Jo Barrett have attempted to live solely off the food and resources produced by futurefoodsystem – a self-sustaining, zero waste, productive house that demonstrates the potential of our homes to provide shelter, produce food and generate energy in Federation Square Melbourne. The project has raised many con...

The Huon Valley is one of Tasmania’s most picturesque regions and famous for Apples and cherries. But it’s fast becoming famous for incredible free range Berkshire pork, fed a vegetarian diet that includes the best fruits of the valley. For pig farmer Lillian Reardon (Mimosa Park Pork), the lifestyle, genetics and diet of these incredible pigs is producing an outstanding top of class fresh pork. h...

After working with some of Australia’s best pastry chefs, Phil Khoury (Harrods) found himself a job making pastries daily in one of the world’s most magical dessert and pastry institutions – Harrods, London. After creating incredible afternoon tea offerings that had to consider all manner of dietaries he started to explore plant-based pastries, that were as good as, if not better than those relayi...

With a long line of influential chefs in her family, Daniela Maiorano spent her childhood rolling gnocchi in the restaurant opened by her great-grandfather after the second world war, and now run by her father Clemente in Sulmona, Abruzzo, Italy. Although she’s been surrounded by food all her life, she fell into the wrong crowd, became addicted to heroin and battled with it for a decade. But findi...

After a career in some of the world’s best restaurants, Ben Devlin (Pipit Restaurant) was drawn back to the region he grew up in, in the New South Wales Northern Rivers to run a restaurant. Expecting it to be a short pit stop to something in a major city, he soon fell in love with the more laidback lifestyle and different mode of operation in a restaurant. It lead to a yearning to settle, and toge...

After a career building the foundation of many of Brisbane’s most successful restaurants Peter Marchant (Market Bistro + Wine Store) discovered early on what it takes to create a successful front of house offering, and in particular how to deliver the sommelier experience – free of pretension, and focused on what consumers like, not what the sommelier wants to sell. As Queensland’s culinary landsc...

After learning his craft in some of Australia’s best restaurants, Banjo Harris Plane (Good Pair Days) became one of Australia’s best Sommeliers. Keen for change and always with education in mind he began an event to bring hospitality professionals together and started an online wine store that assesses the tastes of each buyer to create personalised recommendations and it’s changed the way we orde...

While running a dessert business, Pierre Issa (Pepe Saya) found himself with 10 litres of cream leftover heading into the holiday season. Not wanting to waste it, he decided to attempt to make butter. The moment triggered an appetite to create the very best Australian cultured butter, batch churned from single origin cream that is no not only found in restaurants, cafes and on Qantas, but has beco...

After feeling out of his depth as a leader in a kitchen while working as a chef, Darren O’Rourke (Vic’s Meats) decided to reassess his career in the food industry. The moment led him to move into butchery, and a decade later he’s become one of Australia’s very best. https://www.instagram.com/darren.x.orourke/?hl=en Follow The Crackling https://www.instagram.com/thecracklingpodcast/ Follow Huck htt...

After taking maternity leave for the birth of her first child Penny Grant (Shaw + Smith) returned to work only to find her role as Group Sommelier had changed. While grappling with parenthood and a role that wasn’t as fulfilling as she had been used to, the pandemic landed and gave her a chance for change. Now she’s in a role that utilises all of her skills obtained working as a sommelier, and all...

After plying her trade in three states at some of Australia’s best restaurants, Eileen Horsnell (Napier Quarter) found the lure to work with former colleagues too powerful to ignore. The connection has spawned one of Australia’s most unique and popular venues, built on the foundation of a shared vision and strong connection with the producers that underpin the food menu. http://napierquarter.com.a...

After growing up in a low socio-economic neighbourhood in Toronto, Canada Jesse Orleans (Happyfield), thought the only way to get ahead was to find an illegal side hustle, but when his mother saved enough money to get him into cooking school he started to see his future differently. When an Australian friend spoke of opportunities down under, he bought a plane ticket and nine years later and he’s...

After an incredible career with some of Sydney’s best restaurants in tandem with her husband Jeremy, Jane Strode’s (A by Adina) world fell apart when he died by suicide. With time to understand the impact, she’s found a way to put herself back together and it’s resulted in perhaps the biggest moment in her career, heading the food team of a new hotel and restaurant that, for the first time in her...

After opening their dream modern Korean restaurant Illa Kim and Daero Lee (Soul Dining and Soul Deli) felt the impact from loss of trade due to the construction of light rail on their street, and then the pandemic hit. With less than a month’s cash in the bank, the two took a chance on an empty site a few doors down and launched the first Korean deli in Australia. https://souldining.com.au Follow...

After growing up in a Vietnamese family in Brisbane, Jerry Mai got an appetite for cooking the cuisine of her heritage. After years of plying her trade learning many other cuisines she embarked on a journey in Melbourne to explore the authentic flavours and combinations of her family home, and her impact on Melbourne’s culinary landscape has been monumental. https://www.instagram.com/chefjerrymai/...

Leading the team of a renowned family-owned restaurant in Western Australia, Jake Atkinson (Mojo’s) has changed the brand and offering many times to ensure viability and stay relevant. In 2019, long before the pandemic, he created a unique in restaurant bottle shop to make a point of difference, and when the lockdown hit the restaurant sector it not only saved the business from going under, but ha...

After growing up in the family hospitality business, Kristy Austin (We are Neighbourgood) learned the art of catering large events early on in her childhood. After building a career in the events industry and being behind some of Australia’s very best food festivals, the pandemic landed and took all of her business away. After time to download, she’s finding a greater sense of purpose and connecti...

After working in kitchens all over Italy, Orazio D’Elia (Matteo Double Bay and Downtown) returned home to Pomigliano d’Arco, Naples, to join his family business selling baby supplies. Realising that trading potties for pasta was not in his heart, he embarked on a trip to Australia to make his mark as a chef. After running the kitchen of some award-winning venues for other operators he built up the...

After carving out a career in some of Sydney and London’s best restaurants Joel Humphreys (Scotties, Lost Boys Kebabs, Maitland Growers Market) left the big cities for a quieter life and ply his craft in in the country. After finding his feet with a 40-seater restaurant he scored a job curating the local growers market and it’s changed the way he cooks. https://www.instagram.com/joelhumphreys/?hl=...

After building the foundation of his career in influential, iconic venues in Melbourne David Moyle (Harvest, Barrio, Sparrow Coffee) moved to Byron Bay for work and it triggered a connection with produce of the local land and sea. Ever since he’s been on a journey across Australia to find a greater connection to the produce he cooks, and exploring the challenges and rewards of hunting and sourcing...

After buying a large property in the Hunter near his award-winning restaurant Troy Rhoades-Brown (Muse) started growing vegetables, housing chickens and soon enough fulfilled a long-time dream of having his own pigs. Although he’d always had great connections with local pig producers, the personal experience of raising pigs was life changing. https://musedining.com.au Follow The Crackling https://...

After funding and growing a wine venture entirely on front of house fine-dining paychecks in Northern California, Australian Erin Frances Pooley (Little Frances Wines) began her quest to make wine inspired by affordable, food–friendly wines she remembered from Australia. After the pandemic landed she made her way back to Australia and chanced her arm on connecting with local Victorian grape produc...

With border closures and a venue housing multiple high-end venues and a boutique hotel Emma Farrelly (State Buildings and Como Treasury, WA) had to not only change their target market, but how they construct the wine program for the across the board. But the changes have brought them closer to locals, and with a clearer perspective on how they’ll cater for international tourists beyond Covid-19. F...