20 SEPTEMBER 2019 / TRAVELANDLEISUREASIA.COM
REASONS TO TRAVEL NOW
no. (^2)
The Australian
school that helps
indigenous chefs
blossom.
COURTESY OF ROCKPOOL BAR AND GRILL
The Australian government has
announced it will hold a
referendum on whether to formally
recognize its Indigenous
population in the constitution, but
for a few years already a group of
the country’s most influential
gourmands has been helping to
spotlight their talents and fare in
the kitchen. The National
Indigenous Culinary Institute
(nici.org.au) is a training school
dedicated to placing apprentices
and qualified chefs in some of the
country’s best kitchens—and this
month four of them are traveling to
Ireland to showcase Australian
wild ingredients at the Taste of
West Cook Food Festival and at
their embassy in Dublin, for the
first time. It’s apiece with the
growing interest in Indigenous
cultural tourism across Australia.
NICI students and graduates
are currently working at various
restaurants in Sydney and
Melbourne on a regular rotation.
Visit the Rockpool Bar and Grill
(rockpoolbarandgrill.com.au) in
Sydney to catch NICI grad Jayde
Duncan behind the pass.
“Australian cuisine is a blend of
many different cuisines,” says the
23-year-old from Bobbabilla and
Toomelah in the far north of New
South Wales, who followed her
chef brother into the profession.
“With the rise of native ingredients,
I believe this will assist Australian
cuisine to have its own identity
without leaning on dishes derived
from other countries.” If you could
visit her at home, she’d have her
mum make sausage curry—“it’s
comforting and warming,” she
says—but for seasonal at Rockpool
now, your best bet is the new
strawberry salad with feta, snow-
peas and pistachios. –J.L.S.J.
Jayde Harris
at Sydney’s
Rockpool.