When you skip by seaweed on the beach or crunch into nori wrapped sushi rolls, you're interacting with something that also exists as billion-year-old fossils. In Australia, palawa people have crafted bull kelp water carriers for millennia, and from Ireland to Japan, seaweed’s been a culinary ingredient, a cough remedy and a way to pay taxes. Nowadays, this versatile alga gets shaped into sushi rolls, musical instruments, plastic alternatives, and could be a powerful tool in combating climate change.

This episode features co-founder of South Coast Seaweed, Sarah Thomas; food writer, photographer and award-winning author, Emiko Davies; composer, instrumentalist and composer, Yyan Ng; performer and marine scientist, Emily Sheppard; and marine ecologist and founder of Venus Shell Systems and PhycoHealth, Dr Pia Winberg. A special thanks to 100 Climate Conversations; the National Film and Sound Archive; the Tasmanian Archives; and Uluu. Listen to Dr Pia Winberg on 100 Climate Conversations here.  

This episode was inspired by items from the Powerhouse Collection, such as a 19th century tin of Irish moss and 1879 bottled nori from Japan. 

Culinary Archive Podcast is a Powerhouse series hosted by Lee Tran Lam. Listen to season 1 on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube.

Image: Alana Dimou

Australians have been raising our glasses for a long time. Our vintages have been winning international prizes since 1822 and there's currently a $2 billion worldwide thirst for our wine. Australian innovations like the goon bag and screw-cap wines have made drinking more user friendly, though, and wine has since become a creative showcase for art and culture.

This episode features co-founder of Unico Zelo, Brendan Carter; co-founder of Mt Yengo Wines, Gary Green (Gamilaraay Githabul); director, co-founder and co-owner of Munda Wines, Pauly Vandenbergh (Wirangu Kokatha); and sommelier, writer and host of Over a Glass, Shanteh Wale. A special thanks to the National Film and Sound Archive; the Tasmanian Archives; and Treasury Wine Estates.  

This episode was inspired by items from the Powerhouse Collection, such as Angove boxed wine, a champagne-toasting hat, and a Chinese bronze wine vessel.

Culinary Archive Podcast is a Powerhouse series hosted by Lee Tran Lam. Listen to season 1 on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube.

Image: Alana Dimou

Onion stalk, parasol, bleeding fairy helmet, lawyer's wig, chicken of the woods, native bread and velvet shank are some of the mushrooms you'll find in Australia. Some taste a lot better than others and have been championed as a sustainable alternative to meat. Across the world, growing mushrooms has helped disenfranchised people gain economic independence.

This episode features food, travel and cheese judge, Mike Butler; co-founder and chief science officer of Fable, Jim Fuller; and farmer, educator and founder of The Future of Hope Foundation, Chido Govera. A special thanks to the Australian Mushroom Growers Association; the National Film and Sound Archive; and the Tasmanian Archives.  

This episode was inspired by items from the Powerhouse Collection, including a glass plate negative of the Hawkesbury bridge; a model of  stink horn fungus; and a mushroom shaped decanter topper. 

Culinary Archive Podcast is a Powerhouse series hosted by Lee Tran Lam. Listen to season 1 on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube.

Image: Alana Dimou

Australia is home to one of the world’s oldest honey cultures. For thousands of years, Indigenous people have harvested honey from sugarbag bees and honey ants which inspired kids TV and Japanese comic books. Australia’s native sweeteners probably predate the honey found in Egyptian tombs, which still proved edible 3000 years after it was buried. Contemporary Australians have found multiple uses for honey, whether in our food, on our skin or in our hair.

This episode features food, travel and cheese judge, Mike Butler; beekeeper and founder of Honey Fingers, Nic Dowse; and co-founder of Walaja Broome Bush Honey, Dianne Appleby (Yawuru). A special thanks to Barnes Naturals; Imparja Television; the National Film and Sound Archive; and the Tasmanian Archives.  

This episode was inspired by items from the Powerhouse Collection, such as a 1931 beehive, Martin Boyd Pottery honey jar and handwritten ‘Lemon Honey’ recipe.  

Culinary Archive Podcast is a Powerhouse series hosted by Lee Tran Lam. Listen to season 1 on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube.

Image: Alana Dimou

There's an eel known as a living fossil because it resembles its dinosaur-era ancestors. And the Budj Bim eel traps, at least 6600 years old, confirmed that First Nations people have been catching eels for millennia. In medieval England, these fish were used to pay the rent and today, Australians have even turned them into musical instruments and glass art.

This episode features historian and curator, Dr Jacqui Newling; chef and co-owner of Porcine Bistro and founder of Smoketrap Eels, Nik Hill; food writer, photographer and award-winning author, Emiko Davies; composer, performer and marine scientist, Emily Sheppard; and glass artist, Jennifer Kemarre Martiniello OAM (Arrernte). A special thanks to the National Film and Sound Archive; the Tasmanian Archives; and the University of Melbourne. 

This episode was inspired by items from the Powerhouse Collection, such as Jennifer's glass eel traps, Japanese fabric featuring eels and a 19th century image of fishermen showing off their eel catch.  

Culinary Archive Podcast is a Powerhouse series hosted by Lee Tran Lam. Listen to season 1 on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube.

Image: Alana Dimou

Australia's dairy industry began with a few cows brought in on the First Fleet in 1788, which escaped for a while and were later depicted in Dharawal cave drawings. Today, increased awareness of the environmental impact of cattle methane emissions is driving a shift toward more sustainable dietary choices, while Australia’s multicultural diet has led to the emergence of coconut lychee gelato, vegan cheese and ghee with native ingredients.

This episode features certified food judge and travel writer, Mike Butler; head chef Ahana Dutt; and head chef/owner of Gelato Messina, Donato Toce. A special thanks to Dairy Australia; the National Film and Sound Archive; Nestlé; Peters Ice Cream; and the Tasmanian Archives.

This episode was inspired by items from the Powerhouse Collection including a horse-drawn Dairy Farmers cart; photos of Peters Ice Cream vans; and wallpaper fragments removed from Parramatta Park Dairy. 

Culinary Archive Podcast is a Powerhouse series hosted by Lee Tran Lam. Listen to season 1 on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube.

Image: Alana Dimou

Join food journalist Lee Tran Lam to explore Australia’s foodways. Leading Australian food producers, creatives and innovators reveal the complex stories behind ingredients found in contemporary kitchens across Australia – Milk, Eel, Honey, Mushrooms, Wine and Seaweed.

New episodes released weekly.

Listen to season 1 on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Soundcloud or YouTube.

Image: Alana Dimou

 

Contributing editor Lee Tran Lam is a freelance journalist who has worked with The Sydney Morning Herald, Gourmet Traveller, The Guardian, SBS Food, FBi Radio, Eater and Turkish Vogue. In 2012, she started The Unbearable Lightness of Being Hungry podcast, which has been recommended by Bon Appétit, Broadsheet and Concrete Playground; her recent Should You Really Eat That? podcast for SBS also received positive media coverage. As co-founder of Diversity In Food Media Australia, she edited the New Voices On Food books, which showcased under-represented communities and their food stories.  She was named a Future Shaper by Time Out Sydney. 

In 1770, naturalists Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander reportedly saw wild soybeans in Botany Bay. The following century, the Japanese government sent soybeans to Australia as a gift. Thanks to Chinese miners in the 1800s, tofu was most probably part of gold rush diets, but it wasn’t until just a few decades ago – with the growing vegetarian movement, waves of migration and people asking for soy in their coffee – that the soybean became part of everyday lives. Cult tofu shops, local brewers making soy sauce, artisan tempeh makers and the blockbuster growth of meat substitutes reflect the changing fortunes of the soybean; a versatile ingredient that has also been used in plastics and cars. 

This episode features Darwin Su, chef and founder of Ferments Lab; Shannon Martinez, chef and owner of Smith & Daughters and Smith & Deli; Sava Goto, chef and owner of Tofu Shoten; and Topher Boehm, brewer and co-founder at Wildflower Beer. 

Image: Alana Dimou.

The tomato was dismissed as poison for 200 years in Italy, though it’s now celebrated as a staple of its cuisine. Italian migration to Australia helped make the tomato a mainstream ingredient here. Learn about the people who grow it, preserve it or cook it — whether it’s Italian Australians bottling passata in their ‘second kitchen’ (garage) in Sydney, the Cambodian refugee family growing heirloom tomatoes on a former zoo, or the Indigenous café owner serving bush tomatoes on her menu.

This episode features Sharon Winsor, Ngemba Weilwan woman and founder of Indigiearth and Warakirri Dining; Dr Cecilia Leong-Salobir, food historian and author; Joseph Vargetto, chef and owner of Mister Bianco; and Leakkhena Ma, farmer at Goldenfield. The Looking for Alibrandi footage was generously provided by Robyn Kershaw Productions.

Image: Alana Dimou.

Australia is famous for its coffee culture, but it didn’t begin with Italian post-war migration. There was the rise of coffee palaces during the 19th century temperance movement and the influential Depression-era coffee shops run by Russian migrant Ivan Repin (who offered fresh-roasted beans when stale, day-old coffee was standard). The impact of Italian-Australian migration on our espresso obsession can’t be denied though: it's paved the way for an inclusive coffee culture that includes Ethiopian coffee ceremonies and Indigenous business owners presenting native ingredients and reconciliation in a cup. 

This episode features Paul van Reyk, author of True to the Land: A History of Food in Australia; Tinsae Elsdon, owner of Djebena Coffees; Nick Repin, grandson of Ivan Repin; Peter Patisteas and Shawn Andrews, co-owners of DHUWA Coffee; Sharon Winsor, Ngemba Weilwan woman and founder of Indigiearth and Warakirri Dining; and Leonard Janiszewski, co-author of In Their Own Image: Greek Australians.  

Image: Alana Dimou.