the chickens through and then bringing the sheep in after, and the
pigs after that – they all do something for the land.”
Matt doesn’t make it to the markets as often as he’d like these days,
as “a quick stop for tomatoes and mushrooms becomes a four-hour
trip” after he’s stopped to chat at every stall, but he’s a passionate
advocate for food grown in the Noosa and Queensland region, and
believes in the importance of creating a connection with local farm-
ers and producers through markets. “It’s a great way to get to know
people and talk to them,” he says. “A 10-minute conversation with
Dean and you know exactly what you’re getting. If you really want
to, you can go and visit the farm and see what they do. When you’ve
seen that, you’ve just got a totally different respect for when you
receive the actual product. The more I learn about the things they
do, the better the chef I become.”
Eating locally and sustainably is important not only to Matt, but
for travellers to the area and locals alike. Noosa is internationally
renowned for its sand, sun and sea, and now foodies are flocking here
too for the top-quality produce created in the sunshine region. The
Noosa Shire is a biosphere reserve, and so producers are encouraged
to adopt best-management practices to protect biodiversity and
catchment values. Many chefs are moving in this direction, accord-
ing to Matt, because “they all want to know the producers and they
all want the best possible ingredients. Nothing in the food world is so
much about making foams and soils or making stuff explode at the
table anymore,” he laughs. “They just want really good quality, they
want to know where their food comes from, they want a story.”
His genuine passion for the local region’s food growers makes him a
natural fit for his current role as the Gympie Region Food and Culi-
nary Tourism Ambassador, and he’s also brought his down-to-earth
outlook and sustainable sourcing ethos to his current position as
executive chef of the Peppers Resort restaurant, now named View by
Matt Golinski. “Since I started there, we’ve gone from having about
eight suppliers to having about 80,” he says of the changes he’s
made to the menu. “Noosa Reds will bring the tomatoes, we have
strawberries from Cooloola Berries, milk from Dagun, eggs from For-
age Farms, pork from this person, chickens from that person – it’s
awesome. Most major resorts have four suppliers and want you to
buy everything from them. It’s a nice example for Peppers to go, ‘OK
maybe this can work.’”
Peppers Resort has enthusiastically embraced these changes – sur-
prisingly so, as it would be easy for a major hotel to make green-
washing claims that exaggerate its efforts. However, the long list
of initiatives offered from Sustainability Manager Adam McKenzie
shows the resort really means business when it comes to minimis-
ing its environmental footprint. “Our most popular initiative is our
composting machine, which all of our food waste goes into. It turns
into a fertiliser that goes out to Sunshine Butterflies, which is a dis-
ability support service in the Noosaville area. They have a program
for individuals and families living with a disability there – we provide
all the compost and they use it to grow herbs, which then come back
to the restaurant,” Adam explains.
Converting the restaurant and main reception building to a solar sys-
tem is Adam’s current mission, with the other apartment blocks in
the resort (all owned by individual body corporates) next in his sights.
Becoming plastic free in the restaurant and rooms is also something
Adam is passionate about implementing, with plastic straws and
single-use bottles being banished. “Staff can’t have a coffee on-site
unless they have their own reusable cup or use a mug,” he says.
The hotel has registered with the Tap app (findtap.com) to allow
travellers in the Noosa region to come and fill their water bottles
for free when in the area, and leftover soaps are collected from the
rooms and donated to Soap Aid, a non-profit that sends soaps to
developing communities needing hygiene assistance. Amenities are
next on the list, with Adam aiming to completely eliminate single-use
shampoo and conditioner bottles. “The top 300 hotel groups in the
world alone dispose of an estimated 5.5 billion amenity bottles and
caps every year,” he says, horrified. “We want to lead the way and
change that.”
Helping to lead the plastic-free revolution is Chad Buxton, the pro-
gram coordinator for Plastic Free Noosa, which is part of the Plastic
Free Places program run by the Boomerang Alliance. “Noosa was
chosen as one of our pilot communities due to its strong commit-
ment to the environment, and we felt there would be strong engage-
ment by both the business and public,” Chad explains of the reason-
ing to trial the government-funded initiative in the region. “We were
right. The program continues to be strengthened and developed
while we spread it nationally.” The free program enables businesses
and cafes to work with on-the-ground coordinators to systematically
identify key waste items, provide alternative options and find solu-
tions, with progress tracked. “Single-use plastic is a topic many peo-
ple talk about every week, popping up frequently among friends and
colleagues,” says Chad. “It’s been great to see businesses responding
to these concerns voluntarily and making significant impacts.”
Is sustainability a top priority for locals? “Absolutely,” says Chad. “We
chose the community of Noosa for this reason, but we don’t think
they’re unique in this regard. In fact, you only need to look at the
proliferation of community-led plastic-free initiatives over the last
year, which indicates the raising level of awareness. It’s sometimes
believed that only those places proximal to our beaches, such as
Hastings Street, are the ones that care, but we’ve simply found this
not to be true. Concern about single-use plastics and sustainability is
just as strong in our country areas like Cooroy and Cooran.”
Wholefoods cafe VanillaFood – where the super-cute, flower-adorned
smoothies are served with reusable metal straws and the healthy
takeaway meals are accompanied by wooden BioPak cutlery – is one
of the many eateries that have worked closely with Chad and the Plas-
tic Free Noosa team. “Working with the owner Pernilla and her crew,
we identified a few single-use items that could be switched and gave
them information on suitable alternatives,” Chad explains. “Vanilla-
Food made those changes easily and quickly, and it’s been great to
see them implement those learnings in their new store! Not only is
all their packaging plastic free, they do so many other initiatives to“
”
The more I learn
about the things
they do, the better
the chef I become