Eat It

Our extended chat with chef Peter Gunn, part of which aired on Sunday February 21 2016.

Happy St Valentine's Day everyone! We started today's show chatting with coffee guru Justin Metcalf about what is happening globally in the coffee biz. We spoke about climate change, Melbourne being at the forefront of the coffee industry, and whether or not the famous "third wave" of coffee is over. And despite all of our espresso wankery, did you know that 66% of all coffee sold is still instant?

Next we had another chat to John at the market.

Lastly, given it's St Valentine's Day, we thought we talk about food and SEX with Madame Brussel's amazing Miss Pearls. We discussed what to eat on a romantic night, the nightmare that is restaurants on Feb 14, and the film Tampopo. Also Madame Brussel's tenth anniversary is coming up, look out for the celebration events!

Lordy gee we are back talking food for 2016 and we started with Melbourne's ongoing Ramen Renaissance and where's good (or not) to get it. We also listed a whole pile of cool events that are either on now or coming up, including the 17th annual Sustainable Living Festival this coming weekend.

After checking in with John at the Queen Vic Market, we were joined by Melbourne culinary icon Guy Grossi. After sharing some excitement about his new kitchen oven, we spoke about the Melbourne dining scene in general as well as the upcoming Melbourne Tomato Festival.

We also spoke to winemaker Duncan Buchanan to see how the grapes are travelling right before this year's vintage.

Today's show was brought to you by the letter "P" - Peru, Pisco, and uhhhhh People making beer.We started by leaving a voicemail for Two Birds Brewing's Jayne Lewis about their recent award for best beer at the Wetherspoons Real Ale Festival.Peru's Astrid y Gastn restaurant currently sits at #14 on San Pellegrino's Top 50 list, so it was an absolute pleasure to welcome chef Diego Muoz to Melbourne and Triple R. We spoke about the various influences that multiculturalism has had on Peruvian cuisine, his time cooking at different restaurants around the world, and even his genuine love for Vegemite.Continuing with the Peruvian theme, The Pisco People's Josie Healy popped in to explain a little about Peru's native spirit, the various grape varieties that are used, and how to drink it if you find yourself with a bottle.

Today we chatted with Tammy Jonas from Daylesford's Jonai Farms & Meatsmiths about their move to the country to breed pigs and the various smallgoods they now produce. We also spoke at length about the challenges they face as a small micro-producer in a world that's geared to large corporations. We think Victoria should be proud of its increasing number of independant boutique producers, however many are finding it very hard - or even just giving it up - due to some onerous legal requirements.

Are you weirded out by the prospect of eating bugs, worms, and insects as part of a normal meal? Perhaps we shouldn't be, as LadyBoy Dining's Fran Leaper would attest. Many South East Asian countries have been chowing down on bugs for decades, and they are a really nutritional and environmentally friendly way to form a meal. LadyBoy are a part of this year's Night Noodle Market starting later this month, and will be offering an optional topping of mealworm on your Thai dish. We urge you to try it... it's bloody delicious!

Finally on today's show Melbourne dessert guru Pierre Roelofs joined us in studio to talk about his ongoing series of dessert evenings, currently running at Adriano Zumbo's Fancy Nance. We spoke about how he got into dessert-making, how each separate course is named, and what his top-tip is for creating a kick arse dessert at home: crumbles.

We started today's show with a chat to Linda Catalano about last week's rather successful Melbourne Salami Festa... there was a controversial result, as the overall winner was only one point ahead of its rivals and contained - gasp! - DUCK in addition to pork.

Next up Jennifer Boggiss and Pope Joan's Matt Wilkinson popped in to talk about Heilala vanilla from Tonga. We chatted about growing and harvesting vanilla, how to assess its quality, and of course what to cook with it.

It's around this time of year that our thoughts turn to sparkling wine, and specifically wines from Champagne. Rita Erlich knows a thing or two about that particular drink, and walked us through the history of the big Champagne houses and differences in styles. She also brought us some actual real-life Champagne to drink, so what's not to like?

On today's show we spoke to Jess Ho about her time at Melbourne's Chin Chin, as well as her excellent new wine bar Smalls. We had an extended market report with John at the Vic Market. We finished the show with a chat to winemaker Duncan Buchanan about this year's crop of grapes, and sampled the most recent release of his Fallen Giants Riesling.

On today's show we spoke to the wonderful Linda Catalano, one of the organisers of the upcoming Melbourne Salami Festa. We went to the market and had a chat to guest market reporter Damien Pike, at the Prahran Market for a change. We finished the show with The Age Good Food Guide editor Roslyn Grundy, and talked about the new 2016 edition as well as the last 12 months of restaurant dining in Melbourne and Victoria.

On today's show we caught up with Cobram Estate CEO Rob McGavin to talk about his award winning Hojiblanca Reserve olive oil. We then had a chat to chef Nick Stanton about all things spring, and finished off the show with Vanessa and Mat from Melbourne City Rooftop Honey.

It's freezing in Melbourne so we thought it would be an opportune time to check in with Nick Holloway, chef at Palm Cove's NuNu restaurant. As well as reminding us what warm weather feels like, we spoke about the different seasonal ingredients in that part of the world (winter tomatoes!), his discoveries during eleven years as a northerner, and the upcoming Taste Port Douglas festival.

We caught up with John at the Queen Victoria Market.

We finished the show chatting to Daniel Wilson from both Huxtable restaurant and the slowly growing Huxtaburger stores. He's just authored a new book about making the perfect burger, and we chatted in depth about how to turn your burgers from OK to awesome.