For sixteen days in June, we roadtripped in a Wicked van across the east coast of Australia from Sydney to Brisbane. Hannah and I teamed up with her old roommate from university in Leeds, Tom, for two and half weeks full of debauchery, dick jokes, beans on toast, if anything TOO many perfect beaches, fighting over who had to sit in the middle seat, perfect weather half the time and torrential rains and epic storms the other half, crazy Darwinian animal life, showering in public places, and couchsurfing and interviewing some of the most unforgettable, inspiring folks.
You’ve already read about a lot of the people we met along the way, including a night of wine and parrots with Mamabake, tasting sweet and spicy homemade chilli sauces with John at the Byron Bay Chilli Company, admiring the beauty of collected oddities with Maria at Real Creative Design, chatting entrepreneurship and giving design students a platform in the real world with Frankie Ratford and The Design Kids, dreamy surfer seascapes with Christie Rigby, eating our hare krishna hearts out at Heart & Halo , ogling all the local goodies at the Byron Bay Farmers Market and meeting and being interviewed ourselves by food writer Victoria Cosford.
So there’s the meat of the matter. But what tied all these incredible stories together was the fact that we had our own set of wheels for the first time on the entire trip. And the van was unforgettable for numerous reasons..
Let’s start at the beginning.
We visited Tom who was living in Sydney and tore up the city for a week while planning out our next moves. We knew we wanted to see the coast, and we also knew we wanted to do it as cheaply as possible since none of us were rolling in the dough.
We decided to go with Wicked Campers because they were young and vulgar like us, and because they gave The Eat Team a sweet discount (thanks John!). Wicked has a special where if you show up to pick up your van naked, they give you an extra day for free. Try as we might, Hannah and I couldn’t convince Tom to join us in clothes-free savings, much to the dismay of the Wicked employee who helped us with our paperwork that day. Marcus told us that not enough people came in naked. We comiserated. Then we hopped in the van and headed straight to the Blue Mountains.
We don’t know if Wicked chose our specific van because of The Eat Team’s foodie project, but it really couldn’t have suited us any better. One side read “FORK YEH!” with a graffiti mural of a fork and spoon. We soon discovered the fork and spoon were actually depicted copulating, which although may have embarrassed us at times when passing by schoolchildren, primarily added to our enjoyment of it because we love dirty jokes almost as much as we love food. So, a perfect fit.
Australia is MASSIVE and so a lot of our trip was driving through empty stretches of nature, not passing a single car. And the route we took was only a tiny portion of one coast. It continually blows my mind how massive the country is.
So that was our trip. It was wild, beautiful, sleep-deprived, smelly, intense, and unforgettable. Should you do it? Most certainly without a doubt motherfuckin’ YES.
It would be hard (read “boring”) to try and recap every day’s details for you, so I’ll give you a short and sweet list of my favorite memories from Roadtrip Australia:
1. Seeing Koala and Kangaroo signs along the roads
2. Stopping at 7-Eleven every day for $1 coffees. Getting angry when we were in the boonies without any 7-Eleven’s about to sustain our addiction.
3. Spotting crazy Darwinian wildlife all over the place–giant sea birds, small fat sea stars, flying foxes hanging from the trees in obscene numbers, and yes, wild Kangaroos!
4. Learning about why so many koalas have chlamydia at the Koala Hospital. Oh and seeing insanely cute koalas up close and personal.
5. Watching our tour guide at said Koala Hospital, who I swear was actually Betty White
6. Not getting bitten by sandflies and mosquitos since we were there during winter (was fucking cold though, you probably wouldn’t imagine!)
7. Getting my nickname “Fat Mel” because I was always a mile behind Tom and Hannah on hikes. “It’s like having a fat friend!”
8. Too many perfect beaches to count. It was literally boring selecting photos for this section because I just took 400 pictures of the same landscapes, trying and failing miserably at getting across the real beauty of Australia. It’s pretty much exactly like California’s coast, only on steroids times 100 and for much longer stretches at a time.
9. Couchsurfing: with our friends of friends Shorty, Sam and Paleo Pete, the cameraderie of good people and tasty cooking. With Ella in Bellingen, roasting marshmallows with her granddaughter and warming up with soup by the fire; with Hamish, making homemade sushi; wining and dining with Chris and his kitty in Port Macquarie;
10. Dipping our toes in Never Never Land (no seriously that’s what its called), the most pristine hidden lake I’ve ever seen, chatting about how traveling has evolved with Ella, how couchsurfing shapes our experiences and how hitchhiking shaped hers when she was our age.
11. Dragging Tom to artsy things and interviews, and just annoying him in general all day every day.
12. Van cooking. There’s going to be a whole segment with our van recipes in the book. I’m excited. You should be too. Basically we ate a lot of beans and eggs and toast. Be prepared for resourcefulness.
13. Coming back to civilization after 16 days on the road.. surreal and disorientating to say the least.
Lessons learned: A group that travels together is like family–you’ve gotta stop thinking “me” and start thinking about the big picture of “us”. What’s good for the whole? I also learned that a hot shower, a warm meal, and a friendly conversation go a long, long way when you’ve gone a couple days without. I do solemnly swear to pay it forward to couchsurfers!
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After 16 days on the road driving up Australia’s east coast from Sydney to Brisbane, we waved goodbye to our Wicked rental van and hopped on a plane to Melbourne. We couchsurfed with perhaps the coolest group of people in the whole city. After learning about The Eat Team, our fearless Melbourne leader, Nathan, introduced us to his sister Robyn, a dietician for the aboriginal population in Victoria.
We met Robyn on a blustery winter’s day where she was finishing her shift at the Victorian Aboriginal Health Center and headed out together towards her home into the suburbs of Melbourne. We popped by the friendly local butcher before heading back to her place to cook.
Nathan and Robyn’s parents joined us for an evening chock full of incredible Australian cheese and wine and we picked Robyn’s brain together after a mega-meal of sweet potato salad and lemon butter cake.
We were fascinated to learn more about the aboriginal culture, and Robyn has an incredible firsthand look into the lives of the aboriginal population in Victoria. We learned about some of the effects that the trauma inflicted upon much of the aboriginal population by the Australian government in the very recent past, and how modern day Australia is trying to move forward in a positive direction.
We were fascinated to hear about some of the projects Robyn has undertaken through the Victorian Aboriginal Health Center, such as an original cookbook, running community kitchens, a radio show to educate people on food, a kids’ fitness program, and a diabetes awareness group. We were blown away by her efforts. Read on for her story.
I’m a Dietitian because I love food. I love people and I love food. If people are cooking then I’m pretty happy.
What does a Dietitian do?
Lots of different things. We can work in community centers, hospitals,
privately, or in industry. Aboriginal health is a niche.
Did you always want to work with Aboriginals?
I wanted to work in food from the age of 16. Everyone I knew who was a chef
was hooked on speed to help them get through the long hours, so I went to
Uni instead to become a Dietitian. It was during my studies that I
discovered that I wanted to work with Aboriginal people.
You help them achieve what they want to achieve?
Yes, which is good but it can be really challenging because the Aboriginal
Health Service is raised up out of Aboriginal people not getting adequate
health care from hospitals and GP’s. They advocated to the Government for
years and years to start their own health services. The one in Sydney was
the first, Melbourne is the second.
How long ago was this?
40 years next year.
Everyone can be healthier than they are but no one is ever going to be perfect.
It’s a fairly recent thing then?
Well, Aboriginal people only got the vote in 1969. Before that they were
counted as animals. The board of directors of the Aboriginal Health Service
are voted in by the wider community, all of the managers are Aboriginal and
about 80% of our staff. Obviously when you need the expertise, for example
doctors, there are plenty of Aboriginal doctors but there’s more that aren’t
so you have to hire other people as well.
How do you find your clients?
The Health Service is part of the community, it’s the heart of it and is
owned by them. People just know about it.
Is it free for people to get involved?
Yes, totally free.
Is it Government funded?
Yes, along with other organizations. We get Government funding for specific
things. When we wrote a cook book last year we got $8,000 from the local
council and this year got another $16,000 from a foundation to reprint it.
What’s the cook book about?
Oh, it was really fun! There’s a lot of cook books made for people in
Western Australia but when I used them here people said, ‘That’s really
great, but they’re not from here!’ We wanted our own and ownership of ours
so we wrote them. We invited the community from the whole of Victoria to
submit their favorite family recipes on a budget, plus we put in a few of
our own, and we wrote lunchbox ideas and fun sandwich fillings. Some of it
has a traditional twist and some of it is just healthier versions of meals
that are really easy to cook on a budget. The challenge in Melbourne is that
not many Aboriginal people actually eat traditional food because they tend
to eat what everyone else does. Whereas, up North, in Western Australia, and
parts of Queensland people eat traditional foods all of the time. For us
it’s part of peoples identity but it’s not part of their everyday.
What was your role in it?
We had a project manager that I worked alongside and checked for
healthiness. We cooked all of the recipes and took photos of them.
Is it available to look at anywhere?
Well, it was for the community so we gave them away. We printed off
1,000 of the first edition, which we gave away. Then got the money to print
2,000 copies, which we want to give away, and also make available to sell to
other organizations. We’re in the middle of editing for edition 2.
What are the Community Kitchens that you run?
It’s groups of people who come together with a facilitator, who is usually a
volunteer. We meet weekly and cook. The principal is that participants put
in for the amount of serves that they want, so if you just want to put in
for your own lunch it might be $2, or if you’re wanting to take some home it
might be $10. Then we design what to cook and go shopping together and cook
it all up. We were doing it a little bit differently as we were paying the
facilitator to provide employment and we were paying for the food. We ran
those for two years. There was a young peoples group for kids that had
dropped out of school. We had a Dads group who went on to start their own
company doing catering for events. Then we did a Mums group too. I oversaw
all three of these kitchens and they all got opportunities to cook for
different community events and we did the food handlers safety
qualifications with them. It went really well. It was really intense but
really good. There’s still positive talk about it now but the funding we had
wasn’t going to be renewed so it stopped.
We invited the community from the whole of Victoria to
submit their favorite family recipes.
How about your radio program?
Yeah, that was really fun! We did a program on the local indigenous radio
station with the breakfast show host. He also worked for my organization and
he said to come along. Every Monday morning we had a different theme. We’d
talk about nutrition and how to cook. We had a recipe that we spoke about
which then went on the website where people could download it. It was mixed
media, which we hadn’t ever done before but it meant we could track how many
hits the recipe page was getting, and it got heaps every week! We were able
to do surveys online and [due to the radio show] people actually made
changes. More fruit, less soft drink. Anthony, the host was really cool as
he knew nothing about the topic and so he asked such good questions. Usually stupid ones that no
one would ever dare ask but everyone thinks, but if you’ve never cooked you
wouldn’t know the answers to them. Things like, ‘Oh, I didn’t know an onion
was a vegetable!’ One time we were talking about salt and how it raises your
blood pressure, and he said, ‘So, if you’re in the ocean and you drink the
sea water, does that mean your blood pressure will go up?’ If you’re in the
ocean and you’re drinking the water you might be drowning, in which case
your blood pressure would definitely go up! …And then from the salt as
well! He wasn’t even being smart and sometimes I could see how it could
apply. Unfortunately he passed away.
The radio host?
Yeah, it was really sad. He was only 44 or something.
Another Aboriginal person dying extremely young…
Yes. The station lost their manager, their breakfast host and their most
popular person.
Could you tell us about circus too?
There’s a company called Westside Circus. (www.westsidecircus.org.au) They
do social circus dealing with confidence skills and fitness. We play lots of
healthy eating related games with kids. For example, we do what used to be
called ‘Sausage rolls’ as you’d lay out and roll down the mat, now we call
it the ‘carrot roll.’
Is it kids from an Aboriginal school?
They’re preschoolers from families that go to Aboriginal play groups.
Are there any other projects that you’re working on at the moment?
We have Diabetes Club, which is a support and education group for people
with Type 2 Diabetes. It’s every fortnight for the whole year, most of the
groups are every week for six weeks but ours is all year.
People kind of ‘do life’ together so that’s pretty cool. Last week we did
label reading, which is super important. Breakfast cereals was the example
so every one had a different one and we went through the nutritional
information panel and wrote the ones with the best energy or fat content. It
taught people how to compare the foods they eat at home. One time I brought
in sugar-free candy, sweetened with Xylitol.
Is that good for you?
It’s like Diet Coke.
Is that good for you?
It’s still a ‘sometimes food’ but it’s better for you than Coke! It’s
sweetened with aspartame.
Is Aspartame better?
Yes.
We’ve heard that if you have too much of it it’s harmful, is that true?
It’s the most heavily investigated food additive in history. It’s still
considered safe for human consumption. However, people still believe that
it’ll give you lung cancer, brain tumors, etc.
Why, because it’s not sugar?
Yes, but we eat the most ridiculous additives! I especially love it when
people say they won’t drink Diet Coke while smoking a cigarette!
I’m like, you know there’s all sorts of horrible things in your cigarettes?!
What’s the difference between a Dietitian and a Nutritionist?
A Dietitian is more highly qualified. The issue is that people can do a 6
week course and call themselves a Nutritionist. Although, as of last year,
there’s an Accredited Nutritionist Qualification, which is more like a
degree. A Dietitian has either done a 4 year degree or a masters and we can
do what’s called Medical Nutrition Therapy, which is therapy for diseases
and conditions.
What is your food philosophy?
Wow, that’s very Master Chef! I’m a Dietitian because I love food. I love
people and I love food. There are other Dietitians that come from different
perspectives, they might love science. If people are cooking then I’m pretty
happy. Everyone can be healthier than they are but no one is ever going to
be perfect. Some Dietitians get worried about eating food in front of
people.
I don’t get worried about
getting too bogged down in the detail, I just meet people where they’re at
and help them with the thing that they need at that time.
They feel that they’re not allowed to eat?
Yeah. In my job, we cook and eat together. I have clients that bring me
doughnuts to appointments! I think they figure that if I worry about my own
weight then I don’t have to worry about theirs. I don’t get worried about
getting too bogged down in the detail, I just meet people where they’re at
and help them with the thing that they need at that time.
Would you say that when you’re cooking with somebody it makes them more
willing to talk about their problems?
Yeah!
And obviously it’s not always about food, it’s a buffer to lead on to more
things?
Yes. A Dietitian should have a co-degree in counseling! It’s amazing what
comes out when you’re just talking about food with clients. It’s more about
the psychology of food. People eat for a reason and obviously hunger is one
of them, but there’s so many more. Especially the dieting mentality of women
who are desperate to weigh themselves, they are so much more than just a
number on the scales! Whatever they tell you you have to just go with it.
Sexual abuse, rape, assault, domestic violence, being removed from your
family, being in foster care, being food deprived, all sorts of horrible
things. A lot of these people are victims of the Child Removal Program,
which was running in Australia until the 1980′s.
Where did they put them?
In white families.
That’s shocking! It’s interesting that anytime you have a problem it effects
every area of your life and obviously that would include food.
Exactly. If there’s been a change in someones eating, there’s got to have
been a reason. Anything from moving house to a relationship breakdown,
there’s pressure and anxiety. You have to keep in mind that I don’t work
with the majority of Australia, I work with an extreme pocket.
What’s your favorite ‘sometimes food’?
Lemon meringue pie, Atomica Caffé Lemon and Pistachio cake
(www.atomicacoffee.com.au), pancakes with lemon butter.
What’s your favorite ‘everyday food’, bananas?
I hate bananas! They’re really good for you and I recommend them to lots of
people but I hate them. I’d say that bell peppers and pumpkin are my favorites.
Are there certain foods that people often assume are good for them when
really they’re not?
Nutri-Grain.
A Dietitian should have a co-degree in counseling! It’s amazing what comes out when you’re just talking about food with clients. It’s more about
the psychology of food. People eat for a reason and obviously hunger is one
of them, but there’s so many more.
Oh, like the bars?
It’s an Australian cereal. It’s advertised as this amazing food for energy.
It’s just sugar, right?
It’s just sugar! Muesli bars are another one, it’s just sugar and oats.
Are they better than Mars Bars?
Marginally.
For more information, please visit:
http://www.vahs.org.au/
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From kitsch to couture, in.cube8r ® has it all under one roof. We stumbled upon this mini mecca of handmade goods on a walk in Brisbane, just a couple blocks shy of where we spotted Harajuku Gyoza.
Enticed by the sign outside “90 Brisbane artists under one roof,” we ducked in, hoping we might spot some more great art. The handmade goods were lovely but it was the business itself that captivated us that afternoon.
Glass boxes full of creative goodies shone like diamonds in the late afternoon sun. Curious, we wandered inside. Brisbane franchise owner Vicki Sinclair welcomed us in with a warm smile and explained the in.cube8r model to us.
“Each in.cube8r® is home to more than 90 of australia’s top crafters. in.cube8r takes no commission on sales. Each gallery is divided up into glass cubicles, shelves, racks and partitions which artists can lease for a small cost, from as little as $21.00 per week over a 3-month period. in.cube8r is the first and original model of this concept. It is open to anyone who makes things by hand and for anyone who loves buying one-off unique items. There is no commission on items sold; when an item is sold the artist receives 100% of the retail price. in.cube8r® runs like a long-term market; this gives its artists and hand crafters the power over display and price.”
Isy Galey, creator of in.cube8er, woke up one morning (after another nanny contract had ended, due to children growing up and going to school) and calculated that she had changed close to 25,000 nappies over the last 20 years, so perhaps it was time to fulfill the dream.
We love the idea of having an affordable platform for both emerging and established artists to display and sell their work.
“Look at that logo Hannah! It’s so f#@$ing cute!” Strolling around Brisbane on a sunny afternoon, we doubled back on ourselves to see what was inside this big, sleek, wooden-paneled building with a giant happy dumpling on the front.
As it turns out, the rest of Harajuku Gyoza is as charming as its cleverly silly logo. Sleek black tables, rows of shiny red barstools, lamps that say “HAI!”, decorative plates designed by a myriad of renowned designers such as our friends at The Hungry Workshop (interview coming soon!), and of course the omnipresent smiling gyoza–the centerpiece of the restaurant, commanding attention and soliciting smiles.
Luckily, manager Andy Jeffreys had time to meet with us that same day. He told us about Harajuku Gyoza’s beginnings and how it came to be one of the hippest spots in town in under a year. We were hardly surprised to learn that this place was created by two designers, Steven Minon and Matthew Bailey, who are also the founders of Junior design and advertising agency. The way every detail is considered, and the extremely aesthetic nature of it all was not just a happy accident. In my opinion, that’s what makes good design good–it appears seamlessly easy and natural, but in reality it takes planning, experience, and confidence to create such elegant simplicity.
Fusing their love of charming and playful Japanese harajuku culture with the clean interior design of Japanese gyoza bars, they let their aesthetic and food speak for themselves, and people happily spread the word.
We also weren’t surprised to learn that Harajuku Gyoza didn’t pay for any formal advertising, yet on their opening night, they were and are still regularly exceeding their seating capacity, with an intense waiting list. How did they get customers lining up for something they knew very little about?
Again, it’s all about the design. For 7 months prior to opening, they were constructing the inside–pedestrian traffic could see the big smiling logo on the outside, and the inside remained a mystery. It’s like smelling Thanksgiving dinner roasting in the oven all day, your hunger growing stronger and more unbearable by the minute, yet you must wait. And when that bird comes out of the oven, your plate full of steaming vegetables, buttery stuffing, and glistening turkey.. you’re in heaven. They gave the customers a glimpse of good things to come, and kept them waiting. When they finally opened their doors after the better part of a year, people were incredibly eager to see exactly what was behind those doors.
The staff is another integral part of the success of this place. Andy himself spent several years in Japan teaching English and was a no-brainer when it came to choosing a manager. The friendly waitresses who served us greeted us with big smiles, and welcomed arriving customers in Japanese.
Harajuku Gyoza still has yet to pay for advertising, but the success only builds. Again, it’s the design. It’s self-propagating. The whole place is just so damn photogenic, people are always tweeting, instagramming, facebooking, and so on–without any incentives or contests or asking on the owner’s part. They simply combined a stunning design with simple, great dumplings. Fusing their love of charming and playful Japanese harajuku culture with the clean interior design of Japanese gyoza bars, they let their aesthetic and food speak for themselves, and people happily spread the word.
They focused on doing one thing, and doing it well. In design and in dumplings, they executed both flawlessly in our opinion.
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For more information, please visit:
Harajuku Gyoza
394 Brunswick Street
Fortitude Valley, Queensland 4006
Australia
www.harajukugyoza.com
+61738524624
Thanks to Andy and the Harajuku Gyoza team!
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She opened her antique suitcase and out spilled layer upon layer of dreamy waterscapes. Women in the sea, overflowing with power and grace reminiscent of Greek goddesses. Christie Rigby’s paintings are mellow and feminine, yet portray immense confidence and strength.
Christie was the guest of honor at our dinner with Mamabake, and she graciously invited us to stay with her in Byron Bay. We accepted, and we’re so glad we did.
We caught her at a very busy time–prepping for an extended trip to Europe, working almost full time at Heart & Halo, curating and framing her paintings and prints for buyers and a group exhibit, painting daily, and trying to squeeze in surfing in the mornings.. her life was packed. Yet somehow she still found time to cook us an incredibly tasty quinoa stir fry (did we mention she’s a trained chef?), show us her studio, and send us in the direction of the industrial estate, where we met Real Creative Design and The Design Kids. Christie was an integral link to our epic Byron Bay experience and we are eternally grateful!
Christie’s paintings are just like her–calm, expressive, honest, energetic, and all about the sea. The daughter of a fisherman and an artist, it all makes perfect sense to us.
A stone’s throw away from Real Creative Design Studio, we moseyed over to round 2 of Byron Bay’s industrial estate and to another heaping spoonful of inspiration. Maria of Real Creative walked us there herself and introduced us to Frankie Ratford, the creator of The Design Kids.
Frankie is all over Australia’s design scene, having worked with Frost in Sydney, studying in Melbourne, managing the Design Kids in Byron Bay, and lecturing in Brisbane. Which is no small feat considering how huge Australia is and how many of those gigs she does simultaneously.
The Design Kids is a platform for emerging designers and creatives in Australia to sell their work. Frankie helps facilitate real world opportunities for design students to get a taste of what the industry is like outside of the classroom, and she’s doing a kick ass job of it. Their most recent exhibition, the Terrible Twos paired each student with an established studio to collaborate, and the sale of each canvas went to a charity of the student’s choosing. More on the win-win scenarios that Frankie’s created below (and a photo of Frankie’s collaboration from the Terrible Two’s exhibit.. the one with the kitchen stove.)
Frankie’s fire fueled our own. She’s got a fantastic mix of the necessary design skills, intuition, and business sense to create some serious damage (the good kind, that is). Finding my favorite business book the 4-hour-workweek on her shelf didn’t surprise me in the slightest.
Keep your eye on this girl. Read on for more about The Design Kids and Frankie’s background.
I have ‘Frankie Fridays’, I don’t work Fridays. You need time away to do what you want and refresh.
How did you fund the show?
I got the space for the show for free and got a drinks sponsor. Desktop magazine got involved too. Sales of the art went to charity and the studios and student got exposure.
Do you make money from this?
I lecture 2 days a week in Brisbane.
When did you move to Australia?
10 years ago I moved from Bournemouth. I lived in Canada, then studied in Melbourne for 4 years. I worked for Frost in Sydney for 4 years and have been in Byron Bay for 6 months. As soon as I had the resources and had learnt about everything creative, I moved here. I made sure to learn about blogging, teaching, and marketing. Once I had the skills, I moved here to set up the business. As soon as you say you’re looking for work, it snowballs!
Do you have any tips for emerging designers?
I would say to stay true to yourself. I have ‘Frankie Fridays’, I don’t work Fridays. You need time away to do what you want and refresh!
For more information on the Design Kids visit:
http://thedesignkids.com.au/
https://www.facebook.com/thedesignkids
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Handmade Ravioli, Australian Honey, Rainbow Fruit Flats
ON THE GLOBE
Byron Bay, Australia
ON THE TEAM
Byron Bay Farmers’ Market
Rainbow fruit and vegetables as far as the eye can see, soulful folk music filling our ears, the scent of chargrilled sausage happily wafting into the ‘ole olfactory and artisan food stalls lined back to back.. in other words, the Byron Bay Farmers’ Market is like Disneyland for foodies. It’s one of the most talked about farmers’ markets in Australia, and for good reason.
They’re the real deal–all the produce, as well as value added products are sourced locally (and checked on a regular basis), they’re highly organized, and have a very strong community following. Anybody and everybody in Byron was at the market that blustery Sunday morning, and despite the unfortunate weather, bright eyes and laughter were out in full force.
We chatted to the pasta maker, the beekeeper, food writer Victoria Cosford, and a man who makes rainbow fruit leathers. Here are their stories.
” Anyone that has had my pasta says it’s different to anything else out there.”
Do you make the pasta by hand?
It passes through my hands and nobody else’s, that way I can control the finished product. I have a lot of machinery but my hands do most of the work. Once you go to the next level it becomes much more manufactured and you lose touch with the product. Anyone that has had my pasta says it’s different to anything else out there because I really take care of the finished product. It has to stand out because it has to be better than the supermarkets, who sell it for a fraction of the cost, it has to be special. Each of the raviolis has a colour on it so my customers know which one their favourite flavour is just by looking at it.
How long have you been selling at the Byron Bay Farmers Market?
We’ve been doing this for about 3 years now. We have very separate roles; he does the sales, book work and accounting stuff, I just deal with making it. I don’t like selling because I tend to give it away and then we come home with no money! I’d be a very poor artist if he didn’t manage the front. It’s a good team.
Do you grow the ingredients yourself?
We grow some of the ingredients and whatever we don’t have we buy here at the market. We get some things in obviously, like the wheat. We use as much organic as we can. The eggs are ours and we organically feed the chickens.
Do you cook it and then freeze it?
No. It’s completely raw when I freeze it so you take it home and cook it.
How would you recommend that people eat it, would they put their own sauce on it?
With a lot of the raviolis, they’re really nice without a sauce. They’re nice just with a drizzle of oil and a sprinkle of cheese. I don’t recommend putting sauces with ravioli because you want to taste the filling. I would advise people who want to make a sauce to use really fresh tomatoes and don’t make it to heavy. Some people do a pesto, but the ravioli are best on their own.
Why is there such a range of colour in your honey?
Usually, the lighter the honey is the milder it tastes. The darker ones are stronger.
What makes them lighter or darker?
It’s if it comes from different trees. I’ve got bee sites all over the place, about 40 odd sites in this area. I take the bees to the tree. I know when they’re flowering, and they all flower at different times. Even if there’s 2 trees flowering together I can tell the difference in the honey.
Are they different prices?
Nope, all the same. The only one that’s a bit dearer is this yellow box because it’s got a unique flavour. We get it from over the gorge, from the western slopes of the great divide, but the rest are local.
So you have to travel with your bees?
Any commercial bee keeper has to as you don’t get the trees flowering all year round.
How do you make sure that other people don’t pinch your honey?
No one is daft enough to go to the bee hive to get the honey! I haven’t had it happen but if it did, it would be another bee keeper. We’re all respectful of each other. A little bit goes on in the metropolitan areas. You get some one wanting to get into the industry quick and easy, so it does happen but not so much around here.
Do you do anything to it once it’s collected?
I don’t interfere with it, no. I don’t heat it or do anything.
So it turns crystallized?
Yeah. Some of them, especially if they’ve got more sugars, turn very quickly. If they turn I make creamed honey, which I just whip until it turns white. It takes quite a while but it turns white with the air going through it. I’ve only just sold the last one, otherwise I could show you!
How are Rainbow Fruit Flats made?
We grow the fruit, we purée it and pour it on to dehydrating trays and leave it for 15 hours. It’s 100% fruit. I’ve been making them for 10 years.
There’s nothing added at all?
Only a plastic bag and a sticky label. It’s pure fruit.
Do you have a dehydrating machine then?
Yes, a dehydrator. We put the puréed fruit in there for 15 – 20 hours. The machine blows out air under 40 degrees.
Is there as much nutrients as eating the fruit fresh?
Yes, because it’s all done below 40 degrees so it’s not cooked.
Do you make it at home?
We’ve got an industrial kitchen. It’s all done at my farm.
Is that where you grow the fruit too?
That’s right.
How long do they keep for?
12 months. Same as anything dehydrated. Back in the old days they used to make dehydrated beef to take on the ships.
Do you find that children prefer to eat fruit in this way?
So long as you don’t tell them it’s not candy! They think they’re sweeties so we don’t tell them any different.
What do you get when you mix a world-famous surf scene, beautiful beaches, hippies, hipsters, a lush region for fruit and veg and a whole lot of sunshine? Answer: a booming hub of creatives working and living in the same tiny space. In our eyes, Byron Bay lived up to all the hype we heard about it and then some.
Surf artist Christie Rigby tipped us off about an industrial estate full of art and design studios just outside the buzzing hum of Byron’s core, and what a treat it was.
We set off in our campervan in the late morning, the sun breaking through the rain clouds for the first time in days, a double rainbow filling the sky, as if to say.. this day is gonna be fucking awesome.
This is the first installment of a small series of the people we met that day.
Maria welcomed us in with a knock-out smile and showed us around their big, bright new studio. Brilliantly curated antiques and op shop goodies collected over the last six years peppered the entire space. Colors splashed all around, old mixed with new; the art and design created in the studio blending seamlessly into their collected treasures.
We chatted to Maria about the design scene in Australia, her immigration from Sweden, and the gorgeous custom surf board covers that she sews. Read on.
Everyone gets together and hangs out, we all have a unique style, so we work together. We put on creative nights all the time where we have parties and do art.
When did you move to Australia?
I moved from Sweden in 2006.
Did you study in Sweden?
Yep, Media. Then I studied design in New Town and moved to Byron Bay in 2009. I spent the holidays in Byron Bay and loved it. As soon as I had the chance I moved here and started Real Creative.
How did it all start?
Real Creative started in internet cafes. Diva and I worked as a team, we called ourselves ‘Real’ and grew from there. For a while we were sharing a studio with The Design Kids on one computer. It wasn’t long before we realised we needed one each as things were taking forever to get done. It hurt our brains! We earned some money, bought another computer, moved in to a new unit, and got going!
How did you find your clients?
We got our initial clients through friends as we had our previous portfolios of work to show. We visited art shows too and got work from those. We’ve also been asked to do Byron Bay Surf Festival.
Is there a lot of competition within the design community in Byron Bay?
No. In Sydney I found it was quite competitive but here not at all! Everyone lives and breathes for each other. Everyone gets together and hangs out, we all have a unique style, so we work together. We put on creative nights all the time where we have parties and do art.
Do you sell the art that you make?
We make most money through design. People don’t like to pay too much for art, especially if you’re not a well-known artist. We get clients from the shows and markets that we do. We sell prints and photo blocks. We find that people just want a little memento from Byron, so the smaller pieces do well. It’s something little, like $20, not a big investment piece.
You have quite a few surf boards here too, do you paint them?
Yeah, we paint them, send them off to get waxed and there’s a company that sells them.
Hannah and I are so excited about our feature in this week’s issue of The Byron Shire Echo. We happened to meet the lovely and oh-so-talented Victoria Cosford at the Byron Bay Farmer’s Market and we’re very pleased to share her article. (Click the images to enlarge and read.)
Big thanks to Victoria and The Echo for your wonderful feature! What an honor!
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Victoria Cosford is the author of the gastro-memoir ‘Amore and Amaretti’ and is a writer for the Byron Shire Echo, Sample magazine, The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide and 2011′s inaugural SMH ‘Good Pub Food Guide. To learn more about her and what she does, visit her website La Vittoria. Her book is available for sale online at Wakefield Press.
Visit and read the rest of this week’s issue of The Byron Shire Echo online at The Echo Online.
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