Locavore @ The Jam Factory, by Brett Tizard
Give and receive. Gratefully. That's the philosophy behind a community of people meeting each Saturday in their local park to share the bounty from their gardens – and it's also the inspiration for Adelaide artist Sunshine March's collection of palm plates for the Locavore exhibition in the world-renowned Jam Factory.
The exhibition brings together a group of 10 emerging and established local artists, inspired by rich and varied locally supplied foods. Curator Wayne McAra notes that the exhibition examines the relationship between food, art and culture in South Australia, and draws inspiration from its outstanding produce.
Reflecting the bountiful harvest of greens, figs, stone fruit, eggs, chillis, herbs, small stripy purple tomatoes, eggplant and citrus that she sees each Saturday morning, Sunshine has created a harvest of individual ceramic plates for all to enjoy. Each plate in her series Gather and Share is handcrafted with its own personality and embossed with a scraffito design featuring a motif lifted directly from the banquet table.
Tom Moore has created a series of 12 whimsical wine glasses, each expressing part of the experience of wine, its flavours and characteristics. His Mixed Dozen will bring a smile to any wine drinker’s face. Jane Robertson has embraced the local theme by using clay from her property to produce her Blue Hues beakers and dishes that are speckled with iron reminiscent of a starry night.
This collection of beautiful handcrafted table ware can be found at Tasting Australia’s Locavore exhibition at the Jam Factory every day until June 7.
Heroes of Australia’s Seafood Frontier: Boston Bay Wines, Port Lincoln, by Suzanne Le Page
Imagine if Martin Bosley, arguably New Zealand’s best seafood chef, came to Adelaide for Tasting Australia. Picture the food he might cook with Tony Ford, well-known chef from his family’s Boston Bay winery and function centre at Port Lincoln on Eyre Peninsula, with all dishes matched with their wines. What if among the 80 guests there were some of the most important food critics from around the world. And there’s more. Tony sources the freshest local seafood from blokes with whom he went to school.
Port Lincoln is a very close community, and everyone supports the local fishing industry, which has made it an enviable culinary tourist destination. You can indulge in Southern bluefin tuna, kingfish, lobster, prawns, abalone, scallops, oysters, snapper and calamari, and the timing is perfect – the tuna season has just opened!
Martin Bosley’s reputation for quality, flavour and innovative plating is exemplified by his book, Martin Bosley (Random House, $55), with photographs by Jane Ussher. This will be available for sale at the luncheon on Saturday April 28.
While Tony will be prepping and plating the first courses, Martin will cook and plate the main - slow-cooked snapper, calamari, blue mussels, cauliflower puree and saffron broth.
The list of critics attending reads like a Who’s Who of world food opinion: John Lethlean (The Weekend Australian), Janet Bouilleau from Canada (Taste and International Traveller), Bingbin Han (China Daily), Michael and Lynnette Lim from Singapore (The Travelling Gourmet and Wine and Dine Magazine), Angeline Thien from Singapore (Women’s Weekly), Matthew Fort from the UK (The Guardian, Great British Menu), Louisa Carter (Conde Naste) and many others.
Their articles describing the lunch will certainly extol the quality and freshness of the local seafood. This can only increase the current interest in food and wines of South Australia, and especially the flourishing seafood and gastronomic tourism industry in the region around Port Lincoln.
Five Senses and the Science of Cravings, by Susan Lang-Lemckert
If you’ve ever wondered why pies taste so good at the football or why you still crave your mother’s homemade apple crumble, I have good news.
At the risk of eclipsing the romance of our passion for food and wine, there are scientific reasons why we relish and crave particular taste experiences, all leading back to the most important organ of taste – the brain.
“We all think we’re just taking in the food, but our brains are taking in all the elements of the eating experience,” says Dr Charles Spence, Professor of Experimental Psychology at Oxford University and a guess panelist at Tasting Australia’s Cravings forum within the Word of Mouth presentations.
Even what we hear can affect how we perceive flavour. “Ethnic food tastes more ethnic with the appropriate music in the background,” he says, “and the heavy notes of red wine are brought out by heavy metal music.”
Mood, too, is crucial – which is why the gourmet delights we enjoyed so much on holiday often disappoint when we try them at home. Or why your mother’s cooking still makes you feel as secure and carefree as when you and your brother were fighting over the top bunk.
So despite widespread judgments peddled by the popular media, cravings are not a sign of weakness, but a symptom of humanity – and there’s documented evidence to support that.
It’s even understood that our finite willpower reserves become depleted through the day, meaning we’re more likely to lapse in the afternoon or evening – and the management of those reserves is a skill we can learn.
See? I told you I had good news.
The Good Oil by Sarah Mayoh
Queensland has the Big Pineapple, New South Wales the Big Banana, and South Australia, appropriately enough, has its very own Big Olive. Olives are one of South Australia’s finest and most renowned crops, growing in many different glossy shapes and sizes. In 2009, 90 per cent of South Australian olive fruit was crushed into 2.1 million litres of olive oil, according to the Olive Industry Fund Management Plan for 2009-2014.
Traditionally, olive oil is an essential component in a Mediterranean diet, but has grown to become a staple used every day in households around Australia. Olives South Australia, the local industry body, notes that the noble olive tree arrived on Australian soil in the early 1800s, and SA began to lead the charge of the olive industry in the 1830s.
There are numerous boutique and large-scale olive oil producers in SA, and it is sold in many forms; cold-pressed, first run, and the ever popluar extra virgin olive oil. Flavourings range from such native plants as lemon myrtle to garlic and Thai infusions.
The Olive Tree, in Adelaide’s Central Market, only stocks local olive oil, and has over 20 different varieties for sale. Some of these South Australian growers are practicing sustainable, organic farming principles to provide products that are increasingly popular among consumers.
The romance of nurturing your own olive grove has clearly appealed to many South Australian producers. The quality and variety of olive oils available clearly illustrate that demand is growing for these fabulous products.
Plants for the Pantry: Treasure Hunt in the Botanic Gardens, by Tania Paola
Deep in the jungle of Adelaide’s lush Botanic Garden, we unearthed new taste sensations to try at home. The discovery of how good hibiscus jam tastes is a revelation. A guided tour group being led through the Botanic Garden is fed segments of cumquat and mandarin for our palate to compare. I am surprised that the sweetness and juiciness of the cumquat defeats the mandarin by a mile, forever to be known as its poor cousin. Our tour guide through this maze of plants informs us, “you don’t eat the skin of the mandarin, just the inside, but you can eat the whole cumquat”.
Jan Lindsay, a volunteer tour guide for the past 10 years with the Friends of the Botanic Gardens, inspires us with her knowledge and enthusiasm. We learn that wild hibiscus has grown in Australia for several thousand years and that native food company Kurrajong now exports its immensely popular champagne dipping flowers to more than 30 countries. “Cumquat is also a good luck symbol,” Jan tells us, “a sign of prosperity originating in China”. The taste of pomegranate juice titillates us further. “A very ancient fruit, the seeds can be used in a salad, marinade and couscous,” Jan says. “The Greeks smash them on the ground at weddings and the Vietnamese thread the seeds to use as necklaces.”
Winding our way through the abundant gardens, we learn about the history and culinary usage of lilly pillies by the early settlers, and that there are over 40 edible native varieties of fig trees.
The biggest surprise on our treasure hunt was the discovery of muntari apples – a bush food from South Australia related to the eucalyptus tree that Jan says will be the next big “superfood”, with four times the antioxidant benefit of blueberries. Tasting them both raw and covered in chocolate was a delight. These tours are held daily at 11am, costing $5 a person.
Selector Word of Mouth Session, by Liz Nicholson
You’re sitting in a restaurant, and your wine arrives, you take it in with your eyes, swirl it around in the glass, inhale deeply to sample that rich smell, and as you tilt the glass to bring the liquid to your lips you hear music coming out of your glass.
Though it might sound strange this is in fact something that Professor Charles Spence of Oxford University discussed during the Word of Mouth sessions at the Feast of the Senses on Saturday. His current research involves pairing wine and food with music as part of an emerging area of neurogastronomy. His work on enhancing the enjoyment of food through all five senses, was behind the experiments leading to the creation of Heston Blumenthal’s famous “the sounds of the sea” dish, featured The Fat Duck restaurant. What sets Heston’s visually stunning sea foam, sand and seafood dish further apart from other dishes is that diners are provided with an iPod encased in a shell and head phones to listen to the sound of waves while eating.
The preceding research included playing different sounds to people eating oysters, such as generic restaurant noises, farmyard sounds and sounds of the sea. They found that the music influenced the enjoyment of the food and people rated the oysters better when listening to sounds of the sea. Professor Spence proved that the same food tastes very different when vastly different music plays in the background. “So much thought that goes into the taste and look of a dish in a restaurant, only to then be ruined by the music that’s been chosen by random by the night manager,” he says.
How do you take this knowledge of pairing food and wine with music in a restaurant when you have a wide variety of customers at various stages in their meals that require different music to enhance their experience? To achieve this, Professor Spence thinks it would be ideal to make dishes, plates and glasses that start playing music when tilted.
Kids In The Kitchen Presented By San Remo, by Bridget McNulty
Thirty-six extremely excited kids gathered around their “foodie” idols. Mums and dads with cameras at the ready captured the moment, and nervous tension was building.
Tiarn, aged 8, and Kimberly, aged 10, from Marden, South Australia, were among the excited participants. Their mum wanted to encourage the girls – who both had an allergy to peanuts – to taste a variety of different foods. This event was free and a deciding factor in mum allowing the girls to participate.
Like bees to a honey pot, the kids gathered around their allocated stations all eagerly waiting to meet their cooking heroes. Each team had 40 minutes to prepare their dishes. Guest chefs included Adam Swanson, Paul Mercurio, Andre Ursini, Lyndey Milan, Miguel Maestro and Bella Jakubiak.
“One, two, three. Let’s start cooking,” said master of ceremonies Sammy Jakubiak, who with her sister Bella won My Kitchen Rules in 2011.
“Read the recipe, if you don’t you won’t know in what order to do things, and you’ll get into a real mess and burn things,” said Paul Mercurio. Paul’s team prepared sushi. “We’re having fun. Don’t worry about the mess,” said Paul. These kids were privileged to receive some expert tuition while having fun at the same time.
Team five, cooking pasta bake, was the first to put its dish in the oven. “Look how fine you’ve chopped your vegetables! Now wait for the food to cool down,” said Lyndey. These were great words of encouragement for our budding cooks.
As Miguel Maestro burst into a rendition of La Bamba, the kids from team Ursini raced their dish to the table.
Inspired by their heroes, these kids will all be returning again next year.
Beware the Chef Groupies, by Angela Malberg
Be confident. Wait. Form eye contact. Stalk. These are some of the strategies needed to secure that elusive photo, and chef groupies Rochelle and Jade Bielby have formed a mother and daughter team using these to take happy snaps with celebrity chefs. A photo each with Maeve O’Meara after her Miele Chef’s showcase session at Tasting Australia helped Jade notch up 13 photos, currently ahead of her mum, with 11. Unfortunately Guy Grossi had already slipped by.
Rochelle, a food service assistant studying hospitality, thought a competition to see who could get the most photos with celebrity chefs was a bit of fun to have with her daughter. Together they regularly enjoy Adelaide Foodie events hoping for the bonus of being snapped with their idols. The vibrant pair love food, love food shows, and love life. They love that the celebrities sometimes even remember them.
They have used all of the above strategies and then some. Jade even had to dance on stage to secure a photo with Manu Feildel. Being first to politely request the photo is important. “Sometimes you need to be pushy because once you get that photo every other person around wants one too.” said Jade. Rochelle hopes they don’t offend but “you watch the chefs get all stressed out sometimes.” She’s convinced that Simon Bryant is afraid of them.
Their latest victim, Matt Stone, happily posed with his fans, just before going on stage for the last Kids in the Kitchen session of the day. While the glorious afternoon sunshine was starting to fade, Rochelle and Jade sat enthralled watching and hoping for another photo opportunity.
Rochelle and Jade are having a ball at Tasting Australia so watch out Maggie Beer, Mathew Kemp, Anna Gare and Phillipe Mouchel, you might be next. Guy Grossi, they might even catch up with you.Selector Word of Mouth: Guy Grossi, by Megan Saw
Fine dining in Australia is changing. It’s becoming more friendly and it’s not happening by accident. This movement is lead by many passionate chefs and Guy Grossi, Australia’s most prominent Italian chef, is getting on board with his empire of restaurants; Melbourne’s Grossi Florentino, Mirka and Merchant Osteria Veneta and Bangkok’s Grossi Trattoria.
While speaking on fine dining at Selector’s Word of Mouth, Guy asked the audience, “Does it have to be structured? I say no. Does it have to be stuffy? I say no.”
He said how dining is becoming more comfortable, even in high-end restaurants such as Grossi Florentino, explaining that he aims to make his guests feel at home without sacrificing the quality of their meal.
Guy and his huge team of chefs are passionate about what they’re plating up, giving each dish a soul that guests can not only taste but also feel.
“It’s about adapting to your surrounds; giving the customer the best local produce, cooked well, taking influence from the region you’re in.” He added that, of course, he does this while paying homage to his Italian heritage.
While some would think Guy might be a bit of a food snob, he proved otherwise. “I would call a barbecue at a mate’s house fine dining,” he said. “A good glass of wine and a good piece of meat, enjoyed with good company – that, to me, is fine dining.”
Guy sees food as a way of life rather than just a means of sustenance, and after hearing about his efforts to ensure guests get the most from their experience, I’ll most definitely be visiting one of his restaurants next time I’m in Melbourne.
From Little Things…Big Things Grow, by Kate Yates
The message is simple. We need to change the way we live, what we eat, the amount, learn where our food comes from, remember the seasons and enjoy the experience. Australia’s insatiable consumer appetite for a quick instant fix, where we take for granted food supply all year round, is out of sync with the environment and the seasons. A change in thinking and practice is needed. The consequences could otherwise be diabolical to our health as Australia faces an epidemic of diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular health issues.
One program doing this is the brainchild of Australia food hero and cook Stephanie Alexander, who 10 years ago established the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation (SAKGF), working with schools to help change the way children approach and think about food. By getting their hands dirty in the garden at school, children are learning how to grow, harvest, prepare and share fresh, seasonal food.
Ange Barry, CEO of SAKGF, shared some of the success stories from the program with the crowd at the Word of Mouth session at BANK SA Feast for the Senses. From little things big things have grown. Working with eight to 11-year-olds the program runs as part of the school curriculum to instil healthy skills for life. It teaches kids the wonder of growing their own food with the seasons, and harvesting. Moving into the kitchen – for some a scary place full of mystery – they learn about safety, using knives, how to cook, sharing and not wasting food. This cross-cultural learning results in joy, excitement and a love of learning and healthy eating.
She demonstrated the success with the story of Jack, an eight-year-old from rural Horsham, who arrived home after school one day to announce to his family he wanted to start a vegetable garden. His dad, a farmer, gave him a small plot by the back door and a shovel. A few months later the same plot had grown ten times, with the help of his Dad’s tractor, complete with scarecrow and system of tins on strings linked to the kitchen so his mum could keep the crows away while he was at school. Jack now grows vegetables to feed his family.
The enthusiasm, feelgood factor and success of programs such as SAKGF and Junior Masterchef is well documented, although government funding for the SAKGF wrapped up earlier this year.
There has been a groundswell of successful holistic learning in recent years, reflected in the SAKGF program. Participating schools and communities are testament to a growing generation of happy, empowered kids who are learning to grow, care, harvest, prepare, cook and share in the joy of food and eating well around a shared table with friends and family. In doing so, they are unconsciously learning about good eating habits and are happier as a result.
These are not simply skills learnt at school and promptly forgotten. They are unconscious lessons based on simple principles that shape their life and who they are.
Let’s hope Federal and State governments (that have a tendency to make short-sighted, three-year cyclical funding decisions to win votes), along with the corporate big boys, sit up and listen to more successful stories, such as Jack from Horsham. They need to take heed by investing in our children and communities’ future, to dedicate funding to make it happen in perpetuity.
Chefs: The New Rockstars, by Nikkita Wood
“Who needs One Direction when you’ve got Nick and Rocco (from My Kitchen Rules)!” Margie is talking about the girls jumping with excitement at the mention of this afternoon’s Kids in the Kitchen session. Margie Borge, mother of 12-year-old Georgia (who is here with best friend, Lilli, also 12), has noticed her daughter’s increased enthusiasm with cooking after watching numerous episodes of My Kitchen Rules and Masterchef.
“The girls have been introduced to new ingredients and food from different cultures,” says Margie. The girls have also increased their vegie intake because “if they cook it, they eat it!” While the girls don’t have aspirations to become chefs, they love attending different cooking classes and helping out at home.
Organisers have doubled the amount of places available compared to 2010’s event and all reservations were filled weeks before the event started. With a minimum of 26 kids per session and eight sessions over Saturday and Sunday, the turnout to this Tasting Australia event has blown them away. The kids get to spend an hour with some of their favourite cooking celebrities, initially at the stoves and then sitting down to enjoy their creations together.
Someone else who’s seen the impact of more kids getting involved with cooking is Poh Ling Yeow of Masterchef 09. She believes the recent surge of cooking shows has had a “massive impact” and “the kids are getting so much more involved”. With the positive impact on nutrition and “growing their own fruit and vegies due to Stephanie Alexanders Kitchen Garden”, Poh says kids are becoming more aware.
Not all of these kids will be the next Peter Gilmore, Maggie Beer or Justin North, but by having the exposure to talented chefs on TV and mentors at events such as this, it is creating a positive change for the future.
Word of Mouth: Overview, by Lizzie Moult
It started with a bang. Pride was battled passionately between the European nations, at the first Word of Mouth session at Tasting Australia. Joanna Savill quickly stepped into calm down chefs Guy Grossi, Miguel Maestre and Jean-Louis Gaillard. “What is so great about French food?” she asked.
“Butter, butter, butter,” bursts out Miguel, before Jean-Louis could even get to the microphone. The crowd laughs, and brace themselves for the next 45 minutes, listening on the edge of their seats. Jean-Louis speaks first about how “French food is about the commitment of the whole experience,” like an art form. Guy reveals that “Italian food is happy food”, celebrating diversity of the regions. “Spanish food is for sharing,” rebuts Miguel, winning the crowd over with seduction. “With love everything tastes better.”
Rivalry was strong between the nations, with a few passionate disagreements. But on one thing they all agreed. Guy’s statement that they all came from strong cooking countries – “which have a great ancestry of peasantry” – united all three.
From the kitchen to the television screen, these four well-known faces opened up about their unique beginnings, which brought them to our living rooms. Who would have thought that Paul Mercurio was a head chef of a Red Rooster Restaurant? For him “story telling through food” is a way of communicating with friends and family. Simon Bryant was a motor mechanic by trade and studied economics before falling into cooking at the Hilton. Lyndey Milan studied fine art before starting a catering business, then appearing on daytime television. Maeve O’Meara, who has a journalistic background, credits “a bit of luck, passion and hard work”. “I talk about it because I love it,” she says
These were just the first two sessions in a series of talks, with a full house on Saturday. Sunday brings talks about myths, food safety and food waste, featuring Stephanie Alexander, Maggie Beer and UK chef Matthew Kemp.
Adelaide Botanic Garden: The Tomato Challenge Winners, by Melissa Barnett
Five eager faces stand in the crowd waiting for the deliberation of judges at the inaugural Tomato Sauce Challenge. Simon from Congo, Yusuf from Sierra Leone, Bukuru from Tanzania and teachers Paul and Craig from Adelaide Secondary School of English (a school for newly arrived refugee children) have waited weeks for this moment. Their gorgeous orangey-bright bottle of tomato sauce with the “secret spice” sits proudly alongside the other bottles.
Judging was pared from 113 entries to the final 70 bottles of sauce that fell into two categories; open individual and schools. The rules were simple – the sauce must be home-made with all ingredients listed, tomatoes could be home-grown or bought, and the sauce must be in glass bottles with screw-top lid. Other than the core ingredient, everything else in the sauce was left to the ingenuity, craftiness and deft touch of the sauce maker.
According to the challenge judge Walter Duncan, a Royal Adelaide Show judge and doyen of tomato sauce making, the best tomato sauces are those that are kept simple. “Stick to what you know works,” he recommends.
The judges, explains Duncan, look for colour (“a vibrant red”), consistency (thick but pourable) and, most importantly, taste (which should be “tomatoey with zip”).
The aim of the Adelaide Botanic Garden in staging this free event is to foster community involvement in growing food and encourage growers and cooks from all walks of life to gather, create and present simple and familiar foods from everyday produce.
The challenge judges all agreed on first, second and third places in both categories. Simon, Yusuf and Bukuru didn’t win first place; that went to Wirrabara primary school, with its student population of 24. But the ASSE team did achieve a challenge merit award and a place in a truly unique Australian community – its tomato sauce-makers.
The Hills Cider Company, by Victoria Miranda
Overflowing rubbish bins at public events seems to be the one thing that organisers overlook – but not at Tasting Australia’s Feast of the Senses, held in Elder Park on a beautifully sunny autumn Saturday. Many coloured bins strategically placed around the site are just one of many indications that the key word this year is sustainability.
Red, normally the colour reserved for STOP, is signed as landfill on some bins, so anybody gravitating towards this bin throws their rubbish away with a guilty face.
One vendor at Taste of the Senses has even branded his product with sustainability. The Hills Cider Company's concept, Drink Local Support Local, is the driving force behind its fresh apple and pear ciders. Steve Dorman and Tobias Kline support local industry and farmers by sourcing fruit from local Adelaide Hills orchards. They consciously choose to buy fruit that is not always deemed first grade. First grade fruit, normally reserved for large supermarkets, fits the idea of perfection. If the fruit has the smallest blemish or is misshapen it is often rejected and while we may be conditioned to reject fruit and vegetables with imperfections, having the right shape has no impact on their quality and taste.
Discussing sustainability at a Selector Word of Mouth session, chef George Colombaris from The Press Club restaurant in Melbourne, commented that his restaurant kitchen has only one garbage bin and they will inspect its contents daily to see how they can improve.
However, there is no problem with waste at The Hills Cider Company, where the pulp which is left after juicing is converted into fertiliser and used on the orchard or turned into stock feed.
Limited waste and making the most of what we have is all part of a sustainable future, and Tasting Australia is clearly promoting this message.
Bank SA Feast for the Senses: A Review, by Martha French
My lips are burning as I consume the last delectable bite of my soft taco stuffed with slightly seared prawns, pickled coleslaw, and fresh green cilantro and jalapeno dressing. I look around at the remaining 100 stalls at the Bank SA Feast for the Senses to plan my next assault, which is no easy task considering the incredible array of food and wine possibilities.
As a part of Tasting Australia, Banks SA’s Feast for the Senses is a food and wine festival offering something for everyone. I sit down at the Miele Chefs’ Showcase just in time to see a cheeky Guy Grossi wiggling his bottom and tossing his apron into the crowd in his best stripper’s imitation.
Throughout the day, the Miele Showcase features celebrity chefs cooking simple dishes in a venue that allows people to come and go as they please. I listen to the casual banter between Maeve O’Meara and Guy Grossi as they prepare a bread salad together. At one point, Maeve stops to take a picture of the crowd for her children; suddenly, we are the celebrities.
The lure of the food stalls is too much, and I wander on. I resist the Clare Valley wines for now but the odd combination of a rosella flower and raspberry gelato draws me to Andrew Fielke’s Tuckeroo, a company that produces a range of food products using native bush ingredients. Enthusiastic staff tell me about the products they are offering and I leave with a container of mixed olives with orange and anise myrtle dressing, and a sweet caramelised bush tomato balsamic dressing.
Next, I look longingly at a dish of loukamades dripping in sweet honey and consider my good fortune at being able to spend a day in the sun, rubbing shoulders with celebrity chefs, sampling remarkable South Australian wines and following my stomach wherever it leads me.
I can’t think of a better way to spend a beautiful autumn day. Fortunately for those who missed Saturday’s festivities, Sunday promises more of the same.
Food for thought, by John Tomich
You are seated in a restaurant with friends, having just completed your food order, and the wine waiter thrusts a menu in front of you and requests your drink order. How and where do you start: white wine with white meat? Red wine with red meat? And then there’s dessert.
At Tasting Australia’s Feast of the Senses at Elder Park, Wine Selectors presented a sit-down Food and Wine in Harmony session, led by wine educator Michael Quirk, who showcased the concepts of a food and wine matching. In the limited time available, he provided some great examples.
Regal Wood roasted hot salmon was matched harmoniously with Brand’s Laira Chardonnay 2009. The chunky salmon was a perfect partner with the medium-bodied Burgundian-style of restrained French oak-influenced chardonnay. Another winner was matching Lindt Excellence 70 per cent cocoa boysenberry chocolate with Leconsfield Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 from Coonawarra. When consumed together, the sweet cassis fruit of the cabernet came to the fore. It was a marriage made in heaven.
So, are there any guidelines? To enhance the total experience, where food is enhanced and made more pleasurable by wine, it is worth considering some simple principles. The weight of food and wine on the palate should match the intensity of flavor; a good example being fresh oysters served with an aperitif-style sparkling wine. Each matches the other in both these aspects. On the other hand a medium-rare fillet of beef matches a full-bodied red, such as a Barossa shiraz or Coonawarra Cabernet Sauvignon.
You also need to consider individual flavours that include acidity, sweetness, saltiness and bitterness. As a general rule, the acidity of a wine needs to be higher than the food, especially when matching salad dressings. Similarly, the perceived sweetness of a dessert wine should surpass the dessert, or else the wine will taste bland.
At your next dinner party, try some of these suggestions. There is no perfect match, but do try to bridge the gap between food and wine. Your efforts will be rewarded.
