Australian Gourmet Traveller - (11)November 2020 (1)

SOMEKIND PRESS COOKBOOKS

Somekind rapidly launched ProjectTakeAway,a

crowdfunded cookbook series, whichraisedmorethan

$200,000 for local restaurants andbusinesses.Some

of the recipes immortalised in the seriescamefrom

Australia’s best restaurants, includingLeeHoFook,

Pipit, Lankan Filling Station, Ester andmore.

MELBOURNE FOOD AND WINE FESTIVAL

One of the first major events to be putonhold,the

Melbourne Food and Wine Festivalmaintained

a positive presence via online cookingdemonstrations.

It also celebrated culinary icons throughitslegends

series and hosted an epic celebritysandwichbattle.

DEEP IN THE WEEDS PODCAST

Food writer Anthony Huckstep playedtheroleofhost

and counsellor in this prolific series,whichshared

stories from throughout the industryin realtime.From

initial dismay and despair, to surprisesuccesses,these

deep-dive interviews became essentiallistening.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

Outside of restaurants andbars,we

saw friends of the industryrallyto

offer all manner of support.

This yearhasshownhow

adversity candriveinnovation,

so it’s littlesurprisethatthe

states and citiesmostseverely

affected byCovid-19and

subsequentrestrictionssaw

businessespivotthehardest.

States suchasTasmania,WA

and Qld haveenjoyedgreater

freedom thanothers,andthus,

are not equallyrepresentedin

this list. We acknowledgeevery

hospitalitybusinessacross

Australia hasdoneit toughthis

year and wesalutethemall.

HUMMUS LE BEIRUT
Melbourne’s Bar Saracen raised
more than $20,000 for Red Cross
Lebanon, following the devastating
Beirut explosion. Head chef Tom
Sarafian made and sold more than
300kg of hummus. Sarafian said:
“Beirut is an incredibly special city.
It taught me to make the best
hummus... I owe a great deal of
my career to Beirut’s hospitality
and generosity.” The Hummus Le
Beirut project went down in the
middle of Melbourne’s lockdown,
but it turned the humble dip into
a symbol of hope and connection.

Covid wasn’t the only cause to mobilise the industry

in 2020 to come together for a greater good.

COOK FOR THE BUSH FUNDRAISER

As bushfires ravaged the country at the start of 2020,

Nomad executive chef Jacqui Challinor rallied

together some of Sydney’s best chefs and restaurants

to raise funds for the Red Cross with an epic Sunday

brunch and bake sale. Peter Gilmore, Lennox Hastie

and Palisa Anderson were just some of the good sorts

who donated their time and baked goods, raising

more than $140,000 in the process.

BRUNCH FOR BEIRUT

Kepos & Co’s Michael Rantissi called upon hospitality

friends to host a special brunch series in August,

raising $15,000. Pepe Saya’s Pierre Issa and Almond

Bar’s Carol and Sharon Salloum joined the cause,

while sharing stories of their time spent in Beirut.

H

OS

PITALIT

Y

H

ON

OUR

S

GOURMET TRAVELLER 61