February 6th, 2010 nola
Sixteen chefs from some of the top restaurants of Port Douglas, Palm Cove and Cairns took part in a Tour of the southern coastal region of Tropical North Queensland.
The chefs were from Sheraton Mirage and Sea Temple at Port Douglas, NuNu’s, Sebel Reef House, Angsana and Sea Temple at Palm Cove, and from Cairns were Hanuman’s, Olivers Fine Food, Salthouse, Mercure Harbourside, Rydges Esplanade, Tha Fish and Wink Restaurants.
Theyvisited Belly Basic biodynamic poultry farm at Gordonvale, Bartle Frere Exotic Fruit Farm at Bartle Frere, Broken Nose Vanilla Plantation at Mirriwini, Nucifora Tea Plantation at Palmeston East, Northern Smallgoods Butchery and Tin Fork at South Johnstone where they had lunch at Off the Rails Cafe, before contining on to Campagnola Pepper & Tumeric Farm, Murdering Point Winery in Silkwood, Mary’s Pasta Product at Moresby and Pacific Eco Banana’s at Mouriyan.
Posted in Chefs Tour of the Cassowary Coast | Comments Off
February 6th, 2010 nola
DATE: Friday 19 March 2010
TIME: 8:30am – 5:00pm
VENUE: Shangri La Hotel, Pierpoint Road, Cairns QLD
The Ideas2Market Masterclass workshop is designed for existing businesses that are looking to grow, improve and foster sustainability Topics include: preparing strategies for growth, building your brand,cost effective marketing, business model innovation, new product development, strategic management of intellectual property assets,funding for growth and more.
An initiative of the Queensland Government’s Department of Employment,Economic Development and Innovation, the Ideas2Market small business workshops are delivered around Queensland by the AIC’s experienced facilitators and include a range of guest speakers including patent attorneys and real-life business
case studies.
For more information:-
i2m_masterclass_program_-_cairns
i2m_masterclass_workshop_flyer
i2m_registration_form_-_cairns_master
Posted in Courses,Training & Events | Comments Off
February 6th, 2010 nola
New Cookbook
Radish Ravioli is one of the recipes in the Big Fat Duck Cookbook by Heston Blumenthal of the famous Fat Duck restaurant in Bray, UK. The images are as spectacular as Heston’s culinary imagination and were created by Dominique Davies
Check out the series from the Big Fat Duck Cookbook at http://www.dominicdavies.com/fat_duck_cookbook.htm
http://www.fatduck.co.uk/
Posted in Chef's Corner | Comments Off
February 6th, 2010 nola
A national food security policy is needed to help feed the greatly increased population predicted for Australia, says Growcom.
The horticultural body’s call follows release of the 2010 Intergenerational Report, which predicts an increase in Australia’s population by 2050 to more than 36 million, of which 22 per cent will be over 65 years old.
Growcom CEO Alex Livingstone said that the Federal Government’s response to problems outlined in the report had ignored a key requirement - that a larger population will need to be fed.
“There is no national plan in place to guarantee that arable land with suitable water and climatic requirements and adequate infrastructure will be available in the future to guarantee our food supply,” he added.
Livingstone said that the government’s determination to put in place measures to lift productivity in order to grow the economy was admirable but ignored a key consideration of investing in infrastructure that would ensure the population had access to economical, fresh and healthy food supplies.
“It is ironic that the report mentions the government’s commitment to investing in an improved hospital and health system while ignoring investment in the cheapest form of improving overall health of the population – access to a healthy diet,” he said.
“The report refers to the need for investment in key infrastructure. The government’s commitment of $3.4 billion to the road network including the major freight route between Melbourne and Cairns is clearly admirable in securing the economic delivery of fresh food to high density population centres. However, the need for all weather roads throughout regional centres engaged in food production is also vital in delivering fresh food to markets,” he said.
“Moreover, the report outlines the federal government’s commitment to increased investment in education and skills and in boosting labour force participation through programs to retrain and re-skill mature age participants. Horticulture’s need for a secure and reliable labour supply in the years ahead must not be overlooked in this agenda.”
Livingstone urged the government to refrain from increasing the tax burden on productive sectors such as horticulture which was an important source of employment and flow-on economic benefits in regional Australia.
Source: Growcom
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February 6th, 2010 nola
Eco Bananas forces Fyffes to withdraw from Innovation Award
Trademark action by Australian Eco Bananas has forced a large European company to withdraw its nomination for a major international innovation award.
Fyffes of Germany was one of 10 companies who nominated for the Fruit Logistica Innovation Award (FLIA) 2010 in recognition of outstanding innovation in products and services.
The competition is open to all companies exhibiting at Fruit Logistica and Freshconex 2010, which have commercially introduced an exceptional innovation to the market in the period from 1 November 2008 till 31 October 2009.
Fyffes, which is one of the largest tropical produce importers and distributors in Europe, based their nomination for innovation on waxing the tip of their bananas to identify their organic status. They claimed ‘The green wax tip of Fyffes Organic Bananas is an innovative, unmistakable and at the same time attractive indication of the organic, environmentally friendly origin of this product’.
But Pacific Coast Eco Bananas, an Australian company based in North Queensland, created and developed the innovation of the wax tip banana to identity their eco-banana product more than 10 years ago. A spokesperson for the company, Dianne Sciacca, said: “We immediately sought legal counsel”.
After receiving evidence of Australian and Overseas trademarks and supporting information Fyffe has now withdrawn their entry from the awards. “Their withdrawal from the award is a satisfactory outcome for our company and eco products, and confirms the value of international trademarks system,” said Sciacca.
Freshlogic director Martin Kneebone said that the wax tip is a highly effective way of conveying eco, organic and environmentally friendly benefits to consumers and that is why Pacific Coast Eco field ongoing commercial enquiries to use this innovation with other fruits and foods. However, they also recognise its long term viability is linked to the adoption of robust production systems that ensure the claimed benefits are delivered.
Source: foodweek
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February 6th, 2010 nola
16 chefs from some of the best restaurants in Tropical North Queensland ventured out in search of local food products when they join the Chef’s Tour of the Cassowary Coast this week.
The chef’s tour was organised by Australian Tropical Foods and is part of a project initiated by Advance Cairns, and funded by the Queensland Government Department of Education Economic Development & Innovation, to raise awareness of the diversity of the TNQ region’s food in an effort to get more local produce onto the menus in restaurants in Cairns, Palm Cove and Port Douglas.
During the full-day tour of the Cassowary Coast, the group travelled from Cairns to Silkwood visiting an organic vanilla plantation, bio-dynamic poultry farm, exotic fruit orchard, tea plantation, pepper and tumeric farm, eco banana plantation, winery and various other properties.
Tour guide and Advance Cairns Food Project Officer Nola Craig, said the tour was the second of its kind, with a Chefs Tour of the Tablelands last December proving highly successful. “The response from both the chefs and the producers were very positive, with the first tour being the catalyst for two additional tours,” Ms Craig said.
For more photographs of the tour go to Chefs Tour of the Cassowary Coast
If you are interested in participating in the next Chef’s Tour as a producer or a chef, contact Nola Craig
Posted in ATF HOT NEWS, Chef's Corner | Comments Off