How Melbourne chefs have represented the city on their plates over the past 20 years.

The 1990s was the decade of regionalism, according to Barbara Santich (Santich, B, Looking For Flavour, 1996). This essay, accompanying the website <www.melbournefoodovertime.weebly.com>, explores the regionalism of Melbourne and how this has been reflected in its restaurants over the past 20 years. A regional cuisine is usually epitomised by a collection of recognised dishes that depend on certain locally available ingredients and illustrate certain flavour combinations and cooking and preparation methods characteristic of, if not particular to, the region If the cuisine is truly to represent the region it has to last longer than fashion. (Santich, 1996) So what dishes and ingredients represent Melbourne over the past 20 years? The restaurant scene has been constantly evolving in this time impacted by chefs backgrounds, the opening of Melbourne Casino, the MasterChef effect, changing tastes of diners, economic pressures and more recently the social conscious of the diner. Terry Durack in Anything you can do, we can do better (Epicure, 08/08/1998) succinctly catalogues some of the major differences between Melbourne and Sydney, highlighting Melbournes individual characteristics in doing so. He lists some of Melbournes most popular foodie highlights as the Queen Victoria Markets, great Italian restaurants, French fine diners, great Chinese restaurants, a real bar scene and open fires. Melbourne chefs know how to cook potatoes and game, while Sydney chefs know how to grill a fish. Sydney food is lighter and healthier, Melbourne food is richer and heavier. Melbourne menus are more influenced by French and Italian cuisines. Sydney menus are Mediterranean and Asian. Melbourne dining is measured, taking the entire evening. Sydney dining is something you do before or after going to the opera. Melbourne scatters everything with finely snipped chives. Sydney chefs choose baby rocket. In Melbourne, dining is a civilised act in which conversation, wine and food play equal parts. In Sydney, its kinetic, with a palpable buzz that feeds the adrenal glands. (Durack, 1998) Durack writes that Melbourne was the undisputed dining capital of Australia from the 1950s until the mid-1980s when Sydney began to shine and Melbourne was hit by recession, and built-in resistance to change. It was the arrival of the Brit-pack that again bolstered Melbournes food culture. One of the most obvious features of the changed Melbourne scene is the proliferation of top-flight, classically trained British chefs, wrote Durack. Its a phenomenon he thanks Aussie girls for in attracting the likes of est est ests

Donovan Cooke and Circas Michael Lambie to our shores as they followed their Aussie girlfriends to their homeland. In the 1998 book Australia, New Food From The New World, G Smith spruiks the Melbourne markets and its foodie tours and Footscray for its Italian, Greek, Turkish and Vietnamese delicacies. In the tome food writer Jill Dupleix is quoted by Smith as further explaining Melbournes affinity with the kitchen in comparison to Sydney siders preference to eat out: If I do a fig cake, Melbournians will know how it should take because theyll have cooked it five times already; Sydney siders will know how it should taste because theyll have had Lou Kathreptis. Smith also writes that Cath Claringbold noted the changing food culture in 1998 Melbourne was enhanced by the opening of the Casino in 1994. We went into a slump there for a while, it became too much of a caf scene, and fine dining wasnt appreciated as much as it could be. Now theres more confidence to move back in, according to Claringbold, as told by Smith. For the past 20 years, Melbourne has produced an interesting array of cookbooks and food writing by chefs, cooks and other food professionals reflecting the changing food trends. From Stephanie Alexanders writings, which begin in the mid-1980s - but took off during the 1990s - and are still going strong today. Her tome The Cooks Companion (1996), was surprisingly popular, to the point that subsequent print runs were sold out quickly. The book itself was updated in 2004, and in 2013 been released as an app. The move to use an app, also reflects a changing society and the way it interacts with food. Also interesting is that the from paddock to plate attitude, as well as the focus on produce from farming/harvesting/consumption, is something that has continued through other chefs, such as Matt Wilkinson and Ben Shewry with his penchant for foraging for produce, from the laneways of Ripponlea, to near his house on the coast. The publications have showcased many flavour profiles, and maps of trends. Melbourne has done regional eateries very well, from The Latin of Bill Marchetti, Flower Drum of Gilbert Lau, and Mo Vida of Frank Camorra, Melbourne foodies are willing to pay top dollar to enjoy homemade pasta, fried rice or anchovies on toast. What is evident is that all these chefs, and their writings have allowed Melbourne to become food literate. Almost as a precursor to what MasterChef has done, these publications helped show us what was what, where to buy it, and the food language of various cultures. Look at Greg Malouf and his Middle Eastern flavours, and the Asian flavours of Teague Ezard and his street food of South East Asia.

Melbourne has been influenced heavily by its multi-cultural identity, and sometimes cookbooks produced in the very multi-cultural city become a melting pot themselves, including everything from five to six different cuisines and cultures. It has almost become a norm, or at least an understood language, as the home foodie has become well versed in so many cooking styles and cooking principles. Cookbooks in 2013 aren't as popular from the point of view of learning, but there is still a voracious appetite for them in Melbourne. Nowadays you also gleam information from television shows, and internet sites, both of which weren't as prevalent or accessible 20 years ago as they are today. Looking at the style of food served and the environment it was served in over the past 20 years in Melbourne, gone are the establishments like Miettas, Stephanies, or Le Restaurant, the five-star dining experience, the crisp linen, the silverware, professional service, and almost reverential attitudes to the night. Though looking at the past cookbooks, the most representational of Melbourne food from the past is still probably Blakes , with its shared plates, fresh food, variety of cuisines, and unpretentiousness, which is still in keeping with traditional techniques and styles. In todays dining culture in Melbourne, place like Albert Street Food and Wine Store, Cutler & Co., Cumulus Inc., and Golden Fields, all are similar in this approach - a mixture of tapas style food, and shared plates, all from varied cultures, and aimed at an understanding crowd. There may not be silverware on the table, but the bespoke designed cutlery flatware possibly costs more than it ever did, and the funky, sometimes aloof service, is almost a wanted feature at some establishments. Chefs themselves aren't bound to one venue or establishment, but if they have the right PR team then they can be a part of many establishments and many events, televised, viral, or live. Others tend to align themselves to a particular philosophy, such as Ben Shewry and his associations with the MAD conference, flying to staged food events for a select cognoscenti or writing for specialised food magazines. Over the past 20 years the restaurant industry has been through ups and downs, including times of economic downturn, such as the global economic crisis. It is also constantly exposed to changing palates of diners, lifestyle changes within the city and the cultures which make Melbourne a melting pot of cuisines. Popular culture, particularly the Masterchef effect has changed and shaped diners expectations in Melbourne since the show began in 2009. In reference to how important the television program has been to shaping food culture, a press release dated 20/08/2012 from then Victorian Premier Ted Baillieu and Minister for Tourism and Major Events Louise Asher welcomed the decision to move the filming of MasterChef Australia from Sydney to Melbourne.

"Melbourne and Victoria is the food and wine capital of Australia and we believe MasterChef will only add to this reputation, as well as make a significant economic impact to the state through increased visitor numbers. Chefs George Calombaris, Gary Mehigan and former creative director of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival Matt Preston have been iconic figures in establishing Melbourne as Australia's premier food and wine destination and we are pleased to be able to facilitate them 'coming home' and helping to showcase Melbourne and its regions to the world. The exposure that Melbourne will gain from hosting MasterChef will be invaluable to our tourism industry. People will not only come to the city, but the flow-on effects through to the regions will create a boost to rural and regional food and wine tourism." (Asher, 2012). The show has been credited with lifting the expectations of Australian diners and increasing their knowledge in all things food. However, the show has also led to a renewed interest in home cooking, which has also impacted the restaurant scene negatively. In an The Age article by Cameron Houston and Chris Vedelago Restaurant empires in crisis, dated 04/08/2013, it is concluded that about 1500 Victorian restaurants had closed in the prior 12 months. Almost 1500 Victorian restaurants have closed their doors over the past 12 months, which has been blamed on soaring labour costs, corporate belttightening and the Masterchef effect that has inspired a generation of home cooks. (Houston, Vedelago, 2013) Over the past 20 years there has also been what could be described as fads that have stuck around and become part of the culture of Melbourne. An example of this is the rise in popularity and proliferation of food trucks since the introduction of Melbournes first mobile food truck Beatbox Kitchen in 2009. Food trucks featured in the November, 2013, Night Noodle Markets, a first for Melbourne, showing they are now deeply entrenched in the citys food scene. A new generation of diners, with larger disposable incomes and a taste for relaxed but trendy dining have also changed the Melbourne food scene considerably. Ordered menus of three courses have been replaced with dining experiences as fluid as a diner wants them to be. With food to share, at the bar, or outdoors from a van all accepted ways to consume good food by those who consider themselves foodies. Its a concept explored by Larissa Dubecki in Gen Y turns tables on traditional dining. Now, it is all about night-clubbish eateries with tightly packed diners picking at food on plastic trays. They have embraced the restaurant as the new social hub, in the process turning the industry's dial to informal. Any time you are seated on a bar stool instead of a comfortable chair, strain to hear your

companions talk and are confronted with a placemat menu of sliders, tacos and tricked-up street food, you have Gen Y to thank. (Dubecki, 2013) In Flavours of Melbourne, A Culinary Biography, C. OBrien also writes about a move away from traditional European dining. In particular about the rise in popularity of pizzas in about the early 2000s. OBrien explored the move away from the thick, heavy base and loaded with every topping hat could be piled upon it pizzas of old. The situation changed with the turn of the twenty-first century when some of Melbournes brightest young chefs started opening pizza restaurants. Their light, thin-based pizzas dressed with temperate toppings of gourmet produce brought rapturous accolades from pizza aficionados; but when one of these new pizza places, Ladro, was named Melbournes restaurant of the year in 2003 there was some controversy. The food media turned to speculating as to why skilled young chefs had turned to producing the humble pizza. (OBrien, 2008) OBrien elucidates that it was a reflection on the economics of running a restaurant, perhaps proof fine dining was dead, or even that Melbourne had developed a taste for real pizza. Whatever the reason, the phenomenon changed and defined the Melbourne food scene of the time. OBrien said the hamburger enjoyed a similar resurgence in 2005 but not to the extent of the pizza. It was not just the content of the meals that Melbournians were eating that had changed considerably by the early twenty-first century; the way they were eating was also changing. The traditional style of a meal comprised of an entre, main course and dessert, particularly when eating out, was increasingly replaced by meals of a series of shared small dishes enjoyed in whatever order people preferred. The concept of tapas small dishes traditionally eaten with drinks in Spain has become increasingly popular, as have degustation style menus. Two of Melbournes most exclusive restaurants, Vue de Monde and Jacques Reymond, only offer degustation menus in the evening. (OBrien, 2008) As for what is next for Melbourne diners, in 2008 when the book was published OBrien predicted that the consumers conscious would play a part in defining the next generation of dining experiences. There has been a steady move towards using organic and seasonal foods, and escalating community concern about environment issues should see increasing numbers of restaurateurs develop menus featuring more seasonal and local produce. Concern about the ethics and sustainability of our food supply particularly in regard to the amount of water and feed it takes to produce meat for human consumption could also see the opening of more restaurants specialising in vegetarian and vegan cuisine. (OBrien, 2008)

Times have certainly changed for the Melbourne restaurant scene over the past 20 years. In that time a move away from formal dining has given birth to an endless assortment of casual dining experiences. Reflective of changing economic circumstances and social expectations the dishes served up to diners continue to constantly change. Over that time chefs have in many cases moved away from the realms of tradespeople and to reach the top of their game many are relying on the cult of celebrity, which has also changed what ends up on diners plates. What has remained over the past two decades is an eagerness on the part of Melbourne diners and restaurateurs to engage with new flavours, new experiences and embrace the joy that food brings to their lives. The Melbourne food scene will continue to evolve, because the city thrives on new tastes.