Dirty Linen - A Food Podcast with Dani Valent

South Australia's Robin Wagner, a sous chef at Magill Estate, has just been announced the Pacific winner for the San Pellegrino Young Chef Academy Competition, meaning he'll represent the region in the world finals in Milan in 2023. We find out why he spent five hours cooking a vegan dish with just three ingredients, and why judges Josh Niland, Peter Gilmore and Jacqui Challinor were so impressed....

Where are the staff? Bubble Booker Malcolm is one of a fleet of under 18s working at Middle Eastern restaurant Rumi in Melbourne. The Year 11 student is energised, proud and excited about her role as a cook. What made her take the job and what will keep her in hospitality? https://www.rumirestaurant.com.au Follow Dirty Linen on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/dirtylinenpodcast Follow Dani Vale...

Simon Schulz runs Schulz Organic Dairy, a family company with 50 years of history across three generations. Based in pretty Timboon west of Melbourne, Simon produces organic milk, yoghurt, cream and quark from a single herd of Friesian and Jersey cows. Focused on the impact he can have by putting climate positive operations at the heart of his ambitions, every creamy caffe latte, every dollop of y...

Food waste is a pervasive and demoralising problem for restaurant and home cooks but Alex Elliott-Howery (Cornersmith) knows hundreds of empowering ways to use up bendy veg, odd bits and the last hunk of cheese. We talk about her new book The Food Saver's A-Z, co-written with Jaimee Edwards, which shares practical, realistic and fun ways to keep food out of the bin and onto our plates. https://cor...

A pub without booze sounds like the start of a joke - or maybe a bad dream for those who equate heading to their local with drinking beer or having a glass of wine with a meal and some mates. But drinking is shifting - low and no alcohol beverages are mainstream. We catch up with non-drinking publican Anthony Hammond, owner of Victoria Hotel in Melbourne’s Footscray and Builders Arms in Fitzroy. h...

Srishti Godbole is senior chef de partie at Maximilians in the Adelaide Hills. She's one of 10 chefs competing in the upcoming Pacific Region San Pellegrino Young Chef Academy Competition - the winner will be off to Milan for the finals. Srishti isn't new to competing - she once represented India in karate! We talk about her Mumbai background and her pathway as a chef, including three months at No...

After making a great connection with a local hydroponic farmer, former sparky John Gunn fostered a real interest in this intensive kind of farming. When the opportunity came to take over the farm at Cooroibah Greens, he jumped in with both feet. https://www.cooroibahgreens.com/ Follow The Producers on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/producerspodcast/ Host Dani Valent  https://www.instagram.com...

Sometimes restaurants craft a feeling of belonging as carefully as they craft a menu. John Chinsami owns Munchies, a five-year-old approachable food joint in Berwick, in the outer suburbs of Melbourne. Munchies is about inclusion and welcome as much as it's about wings and burgers. John's experience in fine dining and the way he's still treated sometimes as a brown-skinned man informs his approach...

Restaurants don’t exist without plates! Today we check in with Sam Gordon, a third-generation potter who spends his days making bespoke plates for top restaurants. Sam’s hope is that potters will be seen as artisan producers, just like farmers, appreciated for what they can bring to the dining experience and a restaurant’s identity. https://www.pottersg.com Follow Dirty Linen on Instagram https://...

Simon Evans is executive chef at Bangalay Dining on the south coast of New South Wales, two hours from Sydney. Simon was steeped in the importance of local produce and foraging in his early cheffing jobs in Wales. When he moved to Australia a decade ago, he was determined to investigate the idea of Australian cuisine. Surely it didn't mean lamingtons... https://www.bangalayvillas.com.au/about-us/e...

When Tim McDonald co-founded Fonda in 2010, he wanted to prove that employing hospitality workers could be done with kindness and empathy. We talk about his journey as an employer: what's he proud of, what's been a challenge, and what lessons can any business learn from the Fonda example? https://www.fondamexican.com.au Follow Dirty Linen on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/dirtylinenpodcast Fo...

Some COVID pivots have been stuffed happily in the bin. Others have turned into thriving new enterprises. Alastair Dobbs' South Yarra Deli is an ambitious ready meals business that leverages the brand of the Botanical Hotel that gave rise to it. Al is a self-declared hospo and food retail tragic - what are the challenges and satisfactions of putting shepherd's pie in a microwaveable tray for one?...

Jacob Usher is a Kamilaroi man and apprentice chef working at Neil Perry’s Margaret restaurant in Sydney. What’s it like to work with a star chef that Jacob has watched on TV since he was little? We talk about skills, commitment and pathways as a young chef and the balance of sacrifice and reward. https://www.instagram.com/thenativebbq/?hl=en Follow Dirty Linen on Instagram https://www.instagram.c...

Back in episode 16 in July 2020, we spoke to Bianca Welsh about mental health in hospitality. The Launceston restaurateur makes a welcome return to Dirty Linen to discuss a new study. Deputy's "The Big Shift" report found 93% of Australian workers think emotional and mental wellbeing is as important as pay. Bianca talks about creating a positive environment for workers and how she was able to stre...

Today's he's an associate professor at the University of Queensland's School of Business, but Richard Robinson is also a longtime chef. We talk about his latest research into the hospitality industry, culminating in a troubling report called "Serving up a Fair Go? Surfacing Cultural Issues in Hospitality Employment". How do we measure fairness in restaurant work? What are workers reporting, why mi...

Last time we spoke to Steve Cumper was more than 400 episodes and two years ago. Back then, Steve was overseeing the food at a Hobart pub. Now he's looking after the meals in an aged care setting. It's work with its challenges but full of purpose and meaning and Steve feels he's landed in the right place - so long as he doesn't go too hard on the paella. https://www.instagram.com/stevecumper1/?hl=...

This the seventh and final episode of The Producers in Launceston, a special podcast series celebrating the food, wine and people of this very special part of Tasmania.  Mr Brown and Towns is an urban mushroom farm in the city of Launceston. Best mates Michael Townsend and Fergus Brown grow exotic mushrooms in an old abattoir that’s been given new life as a hub for small businesses and startups. M...

This the sixth episode of The Producers in Launceston, a special podcast series celebrating the food, wine and people of this very special part of Tasmania. Anthony Ashe and his wife Paula run pastured chickens for their eggs at Rosella Roost in Rosevale, 25km west of Launceston. New to farming, they’ve plunged in, using their expertise in other areas of science and agriculture to get things rolli...

This the fifth episode of The Producers in Launceston, a special podcast series celebrating the food, wine and people of this special part of Tasmania. Ian White is the cellar door manager at Clover Hill, a sparkling wine producer 50km northeast of Launceston in the Pipers River wine region. He talks about dismantling the elitism of the Champagne world with sparklingly inclusive experiences and ex...

Jamie Bucirde is an experienced hospitality worker and the founder of Not So Hospitable, a grassroots movement that highlights the prevalence of sexual assault and harassment in the Adelaide hospitality community. Jamie is also studying sexology and has taught respectful relationships and consent in schools. We talk about change: what’s needed, how to get there and how anyone can be part of it. ht...

This is the fourth episode of The Producers in Launceston, a special series celebrating the producers and people of northern Tasmania, in partnership with AgriCULTURED.  Liz and Rick Mahnken grow Angus beef on Summerlea Farm in north Lilydale, 35km north of Launceston. Their children are the 7th generation of Mahnkens on this farm. After a tragic start to their working life here, Liz and Rick are...

In three decades of cooking and running restaurants, Jeff Schroeter has seen it all and done most of it. Perhaps best known for his time at legendary Sydney restaurants Bistro Moncur and Bayswater Brasserie, he’s recently launched Beckett's in Sydney's Glebe. When designing a menu he lets the building tell him what it wants him to cook. Let's find out more… https://www.beckettsbardining.com.au/ Fo...

We continue our special series The Producers in Launceston. Hillwood Berries is a family-run berry farm 25km north of Launceston in the heart of the Tamar Valley. Launched in 2010 off the back of three generations of farming experience in the region, this hilly farm has grown from a two-hectare strawberry patch to more than 40 hectares of strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and blueberries. Si...

Prisy Benson has it all going on: as well as a full-time career as a social worker, she runs a catering business, cooking channel, cake hustle and more. We talk about her Ghanaian background, West African food and what it's like to be an entrepreneur.  https://www.instagram.com/cookingwithprisyb_/?hl=en Follow Dirty Linen on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/dirtylinenpodcast Follow Dani Valent...

For the second episode of The Producers in Launceston, we chat to Massimo Mele, a local chef and restaurateur who has made it a mission to nurture, highlight and champion local farmers and the produce they grow, make and coax into being. We talk about his transformation from a chef who ticked items off an order sheet for next-day delivery to a collaborator who plans menus months in advance alongsi...