Australian Food

May 20, 2013 | Post by: Phil Lees No Comments

Your funds buy my food security.

The Jonas family grows pork that makes most other pork taste like that foamy pizza topping ham-substitute. If you’ve ever planned to cut down on how much meat you eat and then reward yourself with the best, this is it. You’ll remember where you were the first time that you

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Apr 24, 2013 | Post by: Phil Lees 2 Comments

A trending history of Australian home-baked goods

The relative Google search volumes for various popular Australian cake recipes.

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Mar 04, 2013 | Post by: Phil Lees No Comments

Ambient intimacy

While I’m working for Tourism Victoria, I’m not writing Victorian restaurant reviews or about Victorian product more generally on this blog. This is very much self-imposed. There is too much scope for conflicts of interest. I can hardly accuse a TV show’s kitchen of sucking while having to front up

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Nov 08, 2012 | Post by: Phil Lees 3 Comments

Deactivating almonds: foodie backlash and the commitment to food

Overcommitted. If you’ve been on Twitter over the past week in Australia, the slightly bewildering hashtag #activatedalmonds has been in ascendency. Pete Evans, chef, reality television judge and corporate spokesperson for Weight Watchers and Sumo Salad was eviscerated 140 characters at a time over a weekend newspaper fluff piece that

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Jun 30, 2012 | Post by: Phil Lees 11 Comments

The end of food reviewing

I’ve just read all 94 reviews of Melbourne restaurant Chin Chin on Urbanspoon. Few are longer than a hundred words and a handful of photos, so you don’t come away feeling any great sense of achievement. If I was to then describe Australian restaurant review bloggers in a single word,

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Jun 28, 2012 | Post by: Phil Lees No Comments

Warning to Coles shoppers: ROBOTS TOUCH YOUR FOOD.

You know what the average shopper at Coles Supermarket fears? Robots. Giant robots who touch their food. This secret informs their latest sleight of hand that boasts that their home delivered food is “Hand picked, hand packed and hand delivered”. Screenshot from http://www.coles.com.au/Shop-Online.aspx/ (full page, 28 June 2012) This was

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Jan 11, 2012 | Post by: Phil Lees No Comments

Police on an Olympic Doughnut break, Footscray

Sampling Victoria’s finest jam doughnuts in downtown Footscray

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Sep 13, 2011 | Post by: Phil Lees 4 Comments

Sausage sizzle or popup charcuterie?

Photo Credit: Wooster Collective I worked in a food truck for a few months in 1996. The truck parked at automotive parts swap meets and out the front of the cow pavilion at the Royal Easter Show. I cooked hundreds of frozen hamburgers, industrial soy-beef patties defrosting on the grill

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