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Taste the MagicA Gastronomic Adventure in South AustraliaBy Suna and Rusi Kanga
RIVERLAND
“Riverland is a very special place, a district of olives, almonds and great fruit,” says a grower. It is soon apparent that the fruit and nut growers are also innovators. Retailer Angas Park serves us sultanas infused with strawberry and raspberry flavours, Handhaven and O’Donohoe’s Chocolates offer handcrafted chocolates with port and other novel centres and Simarloo’s muscatel clusters, bunches of dried grapes, look great on the cheese platters. Sitting around the paddle steamer, we watch a serene picture -- gum trees, birdlife and sandy banks -- unfold while sampling crystallized kumquats, smoked almonds and various fruit juices. “We export 80 percent of our vegetable juices,” notes David Critchley of Kangara Citrus and Angas Park, both exploring Asian markets. “We see Singapore as an excellent opportunity for our limes, navel oranges and red grapefruit,” note Judy and David Ingerson of Ingy’s, a friendly couple who take in backpackers during busy months. Noelle and Ian Tolley of Tolleys Nurseries specialize in glace kumquats, ideal for Lunar New Year snack trays. “The sweet-sharp tang of kumquats brings out the full flavour of stocks and meat sauces. You could also drizzle the glace on hot roast lamb, pork or chicken with a dash of soya sauce,” she suggests.
Lunch at the Banrock Station Visitor Centre offers us a wonderful snapshot of the region’s wines and cuisine. The wines with the two starters include Tandou Wines’ 2002 Broken Earth Verdelho, Banrock Station’s 2003 The Reserve Chardonnay and Angrove’s 2003 Nine Vines Grenache Shiraz Rose. The starter by Banrock Station is a beautiful silver perch and leek filo parcel served with Asian greens and a curried apple-and-pepperleaf dressing. Barmera Country Club’s starter is salmon tango, an attractive offering of Atlantic salmon and sea scallops with spring onions and ginger served with caramelized blood-orange syrup. The Club, which has well-appointed rooms on the golf course, is a couple of hours’ drive from Adelaide The main dish is a superb kangaroo fillet infused with blood orange and red wine jus and served with sweet potato mash, roasted baby beets and anchovy cream. Presented by Liz Bull Catering, the kangaroo meat is tasty and perfectly tenderized.The three wines are Thompson’s 2001 Woolpunda Brown Block Cabernet Tempranillo, Salena Estate Wines’ 1999 Bookpurnong Hill Shiraz and Kingston’s 2000 Empiric Petit Verdot, a full-bodied wine with a rich but soft palate matured in French oak barrels. To round off the meal are Woodside brie and cheddar, candied kumquats, caramelized figs and poppyseed lavosh. Well-designed Banrock Station overlooks a grand landscape and is a perfect location to sit back and savour the goodness of the Riverland. www.riverland.info CLARE VALLEY
In Mintaro village, the historic Magpie & Stump Hotel lawn makes a pretty setting to taste the region’s olive oil produce. The hand-picked olives from Toni and Dennis Brown’s Tothill Olive Grove have a pleasing fruitiness. Country hospitality comes with history in the charming pub-hotel where the owners fired up an 1854 baker’s wood oven for breads, pizzas and the Sunday roast lunch.
Diana Palmer is executive chef of the popular Skillogalee restaurant located in a 1850s settler’s cottage with picturesque creepers. Email: Skilly@chariot.net.au. BAROSSA
Melisa Grigg of Lyndoch Bakery sells German baked goods and spends her earnings on homemade sausages and eggs. John Williams of Cornucopia Olive Oil talks about the Italian producers who helped the “white boy” with tips such as, “prune soon after the first full moon, after the rain stops.” He only sells at the Market, happy that he is his own boss “and olive oil is GST free!” The Market is the idea of resident Angela Clifford who has channelled her passion for the Barossa into a delightful landmark. enquiries@foodbarossa.com
Noted Australian chef and cookbook author Gabriel Gate observes that food has an increasingly important role in tourism. “People who go to a country that does not have good food do not want to stay too long, unless they go to a monastery!” Having “Tasted the Magic” of South Australia, we had experienced the passion of food, wine and beer professionals, listened to spirited discussions, learned the secrets of skilled chefs and marveled at the foresight of a country that conjures a culinary show like no other to reap high rewards in the sphere of food and tourism. TASTING AUSTRALIA: A GREAT MENUTasting Australia is a unique event on the world’s gastronomic calendar. Held in Adelaide every two years, the ten-day festival of Australian food and drinks is generously supported by the government and several sponsors, including Jacob’s Creek, Hahn Premium Beer, Qantas and Lifestyle Channel. South Australia’s dynamic policy has resulted in food and wine exports that amounted to some A$3 billion in 2001-2002. The aim is to increase the value of the food industry to A$15 billion by 2010.
Tasting Australia, held from Oct 3 -12, offered several public and private events. Food specialists participated in interesting discussions at the three-day Hahn Premier Beer, Food and Wine Writers’ Festival, held within a complex of tents near the river. The diverse influences shaping tomorrow’s diet were discussed at Le Cordon Bleu Forum. The three-day Chefs’ Showcase included demonstrations by Nick Nairn, Neil Perry, Shannon Bennett and American Mark Miller of the famous Coyote Café restaurant in Santa Fe.
Tasting Australia dinners were hosted by Penfolds Magill Estate Restaurant highlighting local produce with great artistry. Rare wines of Australia were auctioned at the Oddbins Great Wine Estates of Australia Auction.
Italian coffee company Illy Caffé sponsored coffee at various locations. A distinguished figure in the coffee industry, Chairman Dr Ernesto Illy was full of beans, spreading the gospel of coffee. Illy coffee, made from 100 percent superior Arabica coffee beans, demonstrated its high quality. A grand awards dinner was hosted at the Hyatt Regency by the Lifestyle Channel to announce the winners – the Barossa team -- of the Australian Regional Culinary Competition. Teams of creative chefs, from different regions of Australia, had vied for the national awards at the leading hospitality institution, Regency International Centre for Hospitality, Leisure and Food Studies. Le Cordon Bleu was a sponsor.
The finale was the Jacob’s Creek World Food Media Awards presentation evening at the Festival Centre. The Best Food Book award was won by Australian David Thompson for Thai Food. The Best Recipe Book (hard cover) award went to Food of India published by Australia’s Murdoch Books and Simply Italian, also from Murdoch, won Best Recipe Book (soft cover). Singapore’s noted photographer Edmond Ho picked up a bronze award for Best Food Photography. The celebration bash that followed revealed the secret ingredients of Tasting Australia’s success -- a potent mix of joie de vive and a spirit of camaraderie between like-minded souls. Photo credits: Suna and Rusi Kanga |
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The 10-seater Cessna Conquest drones above the clouds,
heading from Adelaide to the Riverland region. We are on a “Tasting
Australia” tour with international food and wine professionals and media to
‘taste the magic’ of South Australia’s best produce and spread the word.
Festival Director Ian Parmenter and his indefatigable team have organized an
incredible menu of events for this culinary festival with far-reaching
flavors. The Hyatt Regency in Adelaide is the happening place during this
prestigious biennial event.
Renmark,
where we land within 40 minutes, is a small town located along the mighty
Murray River. The region is both dramatically scenic and abundantly
fertile. Farming, food, river water and viticulture are subjects close to
the heart of the producers we meet on board PS Industry, a 92-year-old
paddle steam-cruiser. 
Riverland -- one of South Australia’s premier
ecotourism destinations -- is a popular place to rent a self-piloting
houseboat, stock up on local foods and wines, and cruise leisurely down the
river. At the quaint Loxton Historical Village, we watch the traditional
baker at work, women in costumes churning butter and sample the famous ‘pie
floater,’ a pea soup with a pie topped by tomato sauce. The award-winning
Mallee Fowl Restaurant in Berri is for fascinating Australian native foods
in an old shearing shed crammed with memorabilia. The fare includes billy
tea with damper, the pioneer’s bread baked in the ashes of a dying fire,
perfectly smoked kangaroo and emu, and superb cheesecake of quandong (a
peachy bush tucker fruit) and macadamia by owner Caryl Michael. 
Riverland is known for good, affordable wines and has
several cellar doors including Australia’s largest winery Berri Estates. At
the Banrock Station Wine and Wetland Centre, we stroll along the boardwalk
over spectacular wetlands and taste the White Shiraz 2003. The rosy wine
with lively fruity characters goes well with damper dipped in extra virgin
olive oil and dukkah, a crunchy dip of nuts and seeds. “Protecting the
wetlands ensures that we get better water for better wines,” notes a
spokesman. 
Clare Valley, the next locale of our culinary
adventure, is carpeted in colours when we drive past lush green rolling
hills, brilliant tracts of yellow canola fields and vast tracts of mauve
wildflowers called Salvation Jane. “The yellow plant produces canola oil
while the mauve is Salvation Jane, a weed that once came to the rescue
during a drought but is now considered an annoyance,” we are told. The
beautiful landscape and the stunning settings of the wineries fine-tune our
senses for the region’s sensational Rieslings. 
But first, there is nothing like a hearty breakfast in
true Clare Valley tradition to prime us into action. Our hosts at Tatehams Restaurant in Auburn are Mike, Isabelle and
Heiko Jeandupeux and Chef Patrick Ryan with support from Andrea Mitchell.
Tatehams presents excellent contemporary cuisine with their wines. In true
country style, we sit at long tables within the timber-floored interior and
tuck into venison sausages and superb layered omelettes. Chef Patrick
divulges the recipe: bake thin pancakes of egg and cream sprinkled with
herbs and chopped ham in separate pans. Stack the layers and briefly allow
the omelettes to bind in a hot oven. Amanti coffee and Burra’s Thorogoods
Gold Dust cider precede a taste of award-winning Clare Valley wines. 
Clare Valley contributes just two percent to South
Australia’s lofty production of 70 percent of the country’s wines – but
quality is the hallmark in this region of innovative wine-makers. Dave
Palmer of Skillogalee Vineyards talks about the trend for screw tops for
Reislings and Gurwurts. “We are convinced they will age very well in screw
tops. While we have the whites in screw tops, we would like to see the reds
as well. We want to stand back and see what happens…The educated wine public
is ready to accept screw tops and we are selling well to the U.K.” Pike
Wines is among the bold boutique wine-makers who are throwing away the book
to make wines that complement rather than overpower food.
The Skilly Hills Function Centre, amidst undulating
hills, rows of vines capped by luminous silver-grey clouds, makes a magical
setting for a picnic lunch. Charming Diana Palmer of Skillogalee Wines and
Restaurant has rallied friends to present a superb meal -- Coffin Bay
oysters with Thai flavours, Spencer Gulf King prawns, Saltbush Spring lamb
pies with Blue Chip Shiraz jelly and Chardonnay mint jelly, galantine of
Greenslades grain-fed chicken and mushrooms, possum terrine with pickled
walnuts and more. 
The Barossa wine region, an hour’s drive from Adelaide,
is a fusion of flavours, colours and landscapes. The region with a
British-German heritage is home to well-known labels, like Orlando Wyndham,
Seppelt, Penfolds and Lehmann, and boutique producers. Our wine tasting
experience peaks at the Jacob’s Creek Visitor Centre, a year-old landmark in
environmental architecture boasting a tasting room, restaurant and panoramic
views of gum trees, vines and hills. Dynamic director-winemaker Philip
Laffer introduces us to the art of wine blending while marketing and
international director Stephen Couche hosts an elaborate dinner. Head chef
Robert Yates’ starter of South Australian garfish fillets is paired with the
2003 Jacob’s Creek Reserve Riesling, a young, fresh wine with the potential
to develop with careful maturation in the screw cap sealed bottle. The rack
of Salt Bush hogget, (lamb that has got two teeth), comes with 1998 Jacob’s
Creek Limited Release Shiraz Cabernet, a most enjoyable classic blend with
smoky coffee oak nuances. 
After an overnight stay at the Accor Novotel, we visit
the Barossa Farmers Market in Angaston. The year-old market, in the old
Vitners Sheds, not only protects small family businesses but is a great
place to shop for organic produce on Saturday mornings. We meet the last of
the carrot growers (Lowke’s) and owners of the first Barossa cheesery (Ballycroft).
Saskia Beer’s aromatic chicken and tarragon sausages attract many to her
stall. 
For legendary foodie
Maggie Beer, “a food experience is about great friends, great atmosphere and
great taste.” One of Australia’s most respected food professionals, she lives up to
her beliefs at a showcase luncheon in her beautiful rural home in Tanunda.
The lunch is a Barossa group effort and one feels a rich sense of community
while wandering through the grounds tasting wines and the great dishes: chef
Sandor Palmai’s memorable vine-grilled tarragon rabbit, Gill Radford’s
camp-oven kid, Aileen Proudfoot and Joanne Cattermole’s suckling pig and
barramundi, Michael Voumard’s duck, Victoria Blumenstein’s lamb, and more.
Maggie Beer’s superb milk-fed lamb is pot-roasted with olive oil, bay and
verjuice, the green juice of unripe grapes, a well-loved ingredient in her
kitchen. Maggie owns Beer’s Farm Shop on Keith Street, Tanunda, which stocks
an incredible range of foods for tastings, sales and export. Email:
During
lunch, conversation revolves around the topics of the day. 
Festival Director Ian Parmenter, the moving spirit behind the event, is hoping for more involvement
with the Asian region, particularly through trade and conferences on food,
teaching and history. Parmenter, a television producer/director and star of
television show Consuming Passions, says: “If we all had more meals
together, there would be less conflict in the world.” 
The Adelaide Central Market
presented Tasting the Market, featuring cooking demonstrations by leading
chefs, including Carol Selvarajah and Kylie Kwong. The Jam Factory was the
venue for the Australian Grand Dairy Awards Champion Cheese Experience where
prize-winning cheeses were featured.
At Hyatt Regency Adelaide, Singapore’s Gottfried
Schuetzenberger, Gabriel Gate and other notables held master classes at
culinary studios and executive chef Kamal Verma presented a delightful
mushroom breakfast, Mushroom Phantasmagoria, that
captivated the imagination with mushroom trivia and history.
The entire city celebrated the
Feast for the Senses, a wine, food and beer picnic by the river, attended by
over 30,000 people. About 100 exhibitors set up stalls along the grassy
banks. A Celebrity Kitchen featured cooking with Hahn beer demonstrations by
celebrity TV chefs such as Gabriel Gate, Peter Howard, Elizabeth Chong and
Ian Parmenter.