Mark McNamara, Barossa Valley, Australia
The idea of chefs sourcing ingredients directly from producers and highlighting the resources of their regions is relatively new in Australia, but the rise of regionalism in the last ten years or so has seen significant changes in this regard as chefs and restaurateurs exploit the gastronomic potential of their local regions. Mark McNamara, one of the 1,000 cooks that will be participating in Terra Madre 2006, has been among the pioneers.
Mark McNamara started the Pear Tree Cottage Restaurant in Greenock, in the Barossa Valley of South Australia, in 1992 and continued as chef/restaurateur until 1999. He was a founding member of Food Barossa, a group established to market high quality and accredited produce from the region. After a stint teaching in the region and in Adelaide, he returned to the kitchen in 2005 at Peppers The Louise, Seppeltsfield, in the heart of the Barossa – though not after extensive travels in North America and Europe, part of his prize as a member of the Barossa team which won the Regional Culinary competition at Tasting Australia in Adelaide in 2003.
For more information, write to Elena Aniere, e DOT aniere AT slowfood DOT com.
Read on for Australian Ark Commission Chair Barbara Santich’s interview of McNamara.
Terra Madre coordinator, 09:41:AM | Cook, Interview, Australia | Comment (3)
