A short introduction
I fucking love vegetables.
Seriously, they're great.
In my many years working as a chef I've always hoped I'd be amongst like-minded individuals; other veg-enthusiasts who could wax lyrical about the virtues of the cauliflower or the beauty of the green bean. Unfortunately when I go out to eat, most offerings on the menu are apathetic, lazy tropes designed to exist as 'The Vegetarian Option' rather than the carefully crafted dishes listed above them.
Mushroom risotto, green salad, something with eggplant and goats cheese; sounding familiar?
This approach seems stunningly shortsighted to me, because in Australia (and worldwide, but we'll start small) there are a growing number of people who are deliberately eating less meat. I'm not just talking about vegetarians or vegans, but actual proper Omnivores. Vegetarians and vegans *are* increasing in numbers too, undeniably, but I reckon it's the 'sometimes' vegos that are driving the change. Trust me on the numbers
This is the point where certain people are probably thinking 'Proper Omnivores? Surely you mean flexitarian! There's a word for that!'. To those people I say this: are they eating a flex? Is a flex even an edible thing? No. Language doesn't work that way. Flexitarian isn't a good descriptor, PLUS it sounds super wanky. The people who will purposefully pick a portobello over a pork chop are the people piquing my omnivorous interest.
“There are many ways to love a vegetable. The most sensible way is to love it well-treated”
Now I know, I know, there are people out there bringing the love to veg-enthusiasts (shout out to my man Ottolenghi) but it's far from mainstream in the industry, and quite frankly this is my blog and if I want to talk about vegetables then I will goshdarn it.
So as a proud omnivore and lover of all things veg, I'm bringing my enthusiasm to the people.
The plan here is to create a space where I can write with wild abandon about vegetables. Why I love them, how I -or, more likely, others- grow them and, how I cook and eat them.
And, of course, I'll be making a foray into all kinds of other subjects too; travel, sustainability, food in general, restaurants and more. It's my goddamn blog and I'll write whatever I like.
I hope you'll join me.
This is just a photo of me and a pavlova at Christmas. I'll work on getting some more topical images for future blog posts
