Dirty Linen - A Food Podcast with Dani Valent

With more Australians having trouble getting food on the table, we talk problems and solutions with Dr Rebecca Lindberg, a food researcher at Deakin University and the Co-Chair of The Community Grocer, a subsidised produce market. Rebecca talks about government policy, dignity, choice, structural violence and income which - in the end - is the major cause of food insecurity. https://www.thecommuni...

Chooks At The Rooke is owned by Xavier Prime and Kimberley Burridge. Along with a small team, they produce Premium Pastured Eggs centred around Animal Welfare and Sustainable Farming Practises. But even more interestingly, they’re started rearing Cockerels that would not have otherwise had the full rich lives they’re now experiencing. https://chooksattherooke.com Follow The Producers on Instagram...

Noone likes putting food in the bin but what if zero waste was the principle that drove all the other decisions at a cafe? Today's guest is Laura Boulton, chef at Cassette, a zero-waste cafe in Melbourne's inner west. Laura loves coming to work to check on her ferments, bury eggs in coffee grounds, and chat to customers about what's in their fridges. https://www.instagram.com/the.wandering.chef/?h...

It's event season! We talk to Sydney caterer Savva Savas. What are the joys and perils of running parties for demanding clients? Why is it OK that Charles and Di ate soup from a wheelie bin? And what makes food such a great force for good? https://www.plated.com.au Follow Dirty Linen on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/dirtylinenpodcast Follow Dani Valent https://www.instagram.com/danivalent Fo...

The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide has just been released, shining a light on restaurants and dining culture in New South Wales. We chat to editor Callan Boys. What's hot, what's hotter, what's on the way out (maybe) and what keeps him up at night? https://www.instagram.com/callanboys/?hl=en https://www.goodfood.com.au/eat-out/good-food-guides/the-smh-good-food-guide-awards-2023-nsws-best-r...

Yarrie Bangura is the founder and owner of Aunty’s Ginger Tonic. Her delicious beverage is a vehicle for her entrepreneurial ambitions and a tribute to something she grew up making and enjoying as a child in Sierra Leone. After the good times turned to hard times, Yarrie ended up coming to Australia as a 12-year-old refugee. She sees her business as a way of showcasing remembered joys of her birth...

We head to Adelaide for a weekend of eating, drinking and exploring...and a bit more eating. Here's a rundown of some favourites from fire-cooking at Arkhe to soulful Afghani food at Parwana plus coffee, wine and foraged fare. What a great city - full of great flavours, so easy to negotiate, and with doorstep access to great produce, and excellent regional dining and drinking. Adelaide Farmers’ Ma...

We track the path of restaurateur Gaurang Gahoi, owner of Sydney's Foreign Return. Gaurang aims to "free butter chicken from the pressure to perform", shining a light on lesser known Indian dishes. How did hospitality reel him in, what are the differences between working for a hotel group and being an independent restaurateur, and what are the crucial elements to creating a point of difference in...

The Age Good Food Guide has just been released. We interview editor Roslyn Grundy to find out how this mook (magazine/book) is put together. How are reviewers matched with restaurants, who decides on the coveted 'hats', why isn't your favourite restaurant included, and what stands out in this year's crop of Victorian restaurants? https://www.goodfood.com.au/eat-out/good-food-guides/the-age-good-fo...

Byron Fermentary is the creation of Katerina Lazareva, a trained Chef living, farming and making in Byron Bay, Australia. Byron Fermentary is the manifestation of her experience and ancestral traditions in a range of unique fermented products made from seasonal organic produce. https://byronfermentary.com.au Follow The Producers on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/producerspodcast/ Host Dani Va...

How does the head chef of Noma wind up cooking eggs two hours south of Perth? Today's guest is Canadian Ben Ing who - with his partner Kirsty Marchant, Noma's ex-gardener - is running Alberta's in Busselton. We talk about work-life balance, kitchen culture...plus a bit of ice hockey. https://www.instagram.com/albertas_busselton/?hl=en Follow Dirty Linen on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/dirty...

Friday On My Mind It's Friday and this is what's on my mind! The Eat Drink Design Awards which celebrate design brilliance in hospitality, the Chef of the Year awards and what it means with cool comments from Dan Hunter, new food publications including a shout-out to Lee Tran Lam, Turkish bread and revolutions, and Torello Farm and how good it is to shop seasonal produce. Stuff I talked about... T...

At just 25, Cameron Tay-Yap is head chef of Melbourne's fine dining Amaru. He's also one of six finalists in The Age Good Food Guide's Young Chef of the Year award for 2023. Cam's mum hoped he would become a lawyer - forging a path as a chef has taken courage and determination. Why did he do it and what have been the joys and challenges along the way? https://www.instagram.com/cam_taysty/?hl=en Fo...

Leidy Maldonado trained as a psychologist in her native Colombia before moving to Australia to study English and now cookery. She works at Nu Nu restaurant in Cairns, Queensland, and recently competed in the San Pellegrino Young Chef Academy finals in Sydney. Leidy is passionate about mental health in hospitality and sees many synergies (and some important differences) between psychology and cooki...

It’s hard to get your head around picking and packing half a million dollars worth of produce in a single day. But for the six weeks that Kensington Pride mangoes are in season, that’s exactly what happens on Matt Palise’s farm in the Northern Territory. Red Rich Fruits is a family farming business, with Matt part of the third generation. The family started in Victoria’s Yarra Valley but now farms...

With 10,000 Australian venues on its tech platform, Lightspeed has access to plenty of data about sales and trends. We check in with the company's Canadian GM of Hospitality Peter Dougherty to find out what's happening here and around the world. Why does he say eating in Australia is like visiting the future? https://www.lightspeedhq.com.au Follow Dirty Linen on Instagram https://www.instagram.com...

It’s Friday…and this is what’s on my mind! A thrilling Laotian meal at Jeow, seafood symphonies at Margaret, focaccia’s second wind at places including Don’s and Hope St Radio, coffee degustation at Black Vice, Korean soup at DooBoo - my goodness, you’ve been eating, Valent. I also muse on the happy tendency for restaurants with strong identities to express themselves with clarity. Have a great we...

Cafes are the heart of community but just how hard is it to run a cafe these days? We chat to Reiji Honour, owner of Haiku and Future in Melbourne's Camberwell. How do you balance innovation and predictability? Is reducing costs or raising prices the answer? What are some ways to improve team culture and mood? Oh - the big one - how much should you charge for a coffee? Let's find out... https://ha...

Peter Dillon started his career as a chef before moving into journalism and then marketing. He's come full circle and is now running Hotel Canberra in Ballarat with his brother and partner. We talk about career change, the rise of regional dining, the upside to the staffing crisis, the challenges of combining Filipino flavours with an all-Victorian sourcing policy, and the progress made in LGBTQ+...

He may be renowned as one of Australia’s best chefs, but Giovanni Pilu (Pilu Bottarga di Muggine) is making a name for himself by producing Bottarga – a key ingredient of the food from his homeland Sardinia. The story of how it all started, is quite extraordinary. https://pilu.com.au/product/pilu-bottarga-di-muggine/ Follow The Producers on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/producerspodcast/ Hos...

Two weeks ago, farmer Chloe Fox was kayaking around Somerset Heritage Farm, which had become part of the raging Goulburn River in recent floods. All her vegetables had drowned. This weekend, dozens of volunteers descended on the farm to complete the most daunting jobs. We talk about farming on flood plains, optimism and hope, and the joys of growing vegetables for excited chefs and consumers. http...

How can you eat a Rolex? What's wrong with the coffee industry? How can people make a difference to the supply chain and value equation? We chat about all this and more with Commonfolk's Sam Keck. Sam is the owner and founder of a purpose-driven roastery and collection of cafes that aim to connect Australian coffee drinkers with distant farmers and do good along the way. https://www.commonfolkcoff...

Something a bit different today! We sit down with Plate It Forward's Shaun Christie-David at his restaurant Colombo Social (briefly) and Kabul Social, the little canteen at Wynyard Station that feels good and does good, providing purposeful employment for Afghan women who arrived in Sydney as refugees and also for the broader community who connect with these women for daily deliciousness. https://...

Ian Fullerton is a second generation pineapple farmer on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. Growing 1900 tonnes of pineapples a year is more than a business, it’s almost a calling. Unflappable and stoic, Ian has opinions on employment policy, farming tech and the economics of agriculture. But in the end, there’s one thing that makes it all worth it: juicy fresh pineapples grown with integrity and pride....

Chef Noah Crowcroft grew up in Texas and fell into cooking as a teenager by necessity. It's been a circuitous and fascinating journey from Austin to Melbourne, where he's now the executive chef of Rice Paper Scissors and the group's new event space Aunty Kim's. What's it like in the world of weddings and functions a year after lockdowns ended? https://www.instagram.com/chef_crowcroft/?hl=en Follow...