Discovering a Taste for Australia’s Diverse Regional Cuisine
with TV Host and Adventure Foodie, Hayden Quinn
Hayden Quinn is a surfer, lifeguard, marine biologist, and Australia’s favourite foodie. He is best known for appearing on Series 3 of MasterChef Australia and as a judge on Nine Network cooking program, Family Food Fight. Quinn has also authored two cookbooks, Dish it Up and Surfing the Menu.
Hayden is currently shining on Australian screens in Taste of Australia with Hayden Quinn. In this series, Quinn travels the country, from Darwin to Hobart, Sydney to Albany, the Red Centre to Tropical North Queensland, and even to the Northern Beaches. During his journeys, Hayden meets a diverse range of people and uses his warmth and connection to share their stories.He’s also not shy to jump into some amazing food adventures along the way, rounding up sheep, catching crayfish, diving for abalone, baking bread, and pulling up marron pots.. And, discovering recipes crafted from local produce means thatQuinn has no shortage of amazing food to share!
Outside of his foodie adventures, Hayden is also co-owner of The Cube Gym and Studio Maybe; host of South African television program Hayden Quinn South Africa; a partner in Kooks Wines; a regular contributor to Delicious magazine; and an ambassador for Starlight Foundation, Qantas, Jeep, Uncle Tobys, and Australia.
Face the Current caught up with Quinn to talk about all things Australian cuisine, including experiences with producer-to-table sourcing, the continental variety he’s discovered through his travels, top recommendations for Australian dining, and even his favourite post-surfing meal.
The beautiful thing about Australia is that we have such a diverse landscape with a host of growing seasons across the year, many of which overlap and allow us to be growing incredible produce across the whole year—and with these locations come amazing destinations. Taste of Australia is about food, but it is also about the regional destinations that support these growing areas and the fun things you can do in the regions. The “taste” part of the show title was always there to give the show more legs than just food—it was about getting a taste for what a region or area has to offer.
You created the show Taste of Australia! What motivated its creation, and what is it about Australian cuisine and destinations that inspired you to create it?
Taste of Australia was always about creating conversations around food and where our food comes from as Australians, and importantly, the interesting characters and stories that get our food from the grower to the kitchen table. I have always been fortunate to have had a connection to where our food comes from, but many people don't have that chance to get out on farms, on the water, or in the field, and I wanted to be able to be that conduit between the farmer/producer/fisherman/artisan and the everyday person at home enjoying the show.
What have you learned from producing and starring in multiple seasons of Taste Of Australia?
Ninety percent of the work is in the planning, prep, and funding; ten percent is the shooting, on-the-road side of TV (basically all the fun stuff!). It’s a bit like science: a tiny portion of it is out in the field doing the good stuff and the majority is made up of time behind the computer!
How does your environmental background in marine biology interplay with your role on Taste of Australia?
It’s funny, I finished my degree so long ago now (graduated in 2008), but the main reason I wanted to study a bachelor of science was because of an innate curiosity that I have for the world. I wanted to learn more about the ocean—a place I love so much and spend so much time in and around. This same curiosity flows into what we do with TAHQ (Taste of Australia Headquarters)- you have to be curious about the world, you have to be invested in the story, in the person, and in the produce, and if you are not, then it just isn't genuine and it will never come across to the viewer at home. You want to be the eyes, the ears, the nose, and the emotions of the people at home who are trying to live that experience with you through the TV.
What motivated you to open The Cube Gym, and what has your experience been like stepping in this direction from your involvement with food to fitness?
The Cube Gym came about very organically (well, organically with a lot of hard work thrown in! haha). We started the “gym” in a backyard in Collaroy, just a bunch of guys and girls training hard on makeshift equipment, outside in the elements, keeping fit and healthy, and being overseen by Lewis McLean (my business partner and managing director of the business). We did this for three years or so outside and each winter it would start getting quite cold and wet and dark, so one year we decided that we needed to find a more permanent space for our crew to come together. Lewis, am and I all chipped in to find a warehouse in Brookvale. That was back in 2014, and now nearly ten years later we have had two moves, three locations, and an amazing 1,300 sq meters of functional training space, allied health services, pilates, recovery, ice baths, sauna etc. We have nearly four hundred members, and it has been amazing to see the community and the gym grow over the years. Many lives have been changed; many goals set and achieved. There have been marriages and babies, and all while providing people with evidence-based training that is based in functional movements (movements you would naturally do every day) in a group-based setting. For me, the gym has always been somewhere I go to relax, connect, push myself and create balance in what can be a busy life (and so I can keep eating all that delicious food I love)!
Your TV work has taken you to all corners of Australia. Can you share some examples of unique cultural or culinary practices that you discovered, and how they may have inspired your own work?
One of my favourite experiences was up in the Northern Territory just outside of Darwin where we caught and cooked a saltwater barramundi and I met with some local Indigenous apprentice chefs. They took me through a traditional way of cooking the barra wrapped in paperbark and cooked in the ground covered with coals. It was delicious and such a fun way to cook and connect with the food that you are cooking (plus it was a classic bloody hot day in the NT and we were all sweating over the fire, laughing and having a great time!) To then finally be able to eat this amazing fish we had just caught was pretty special.
Can you share your most unique travel experience in Australia? How did that impact you?
The list is long, but one of my favourite travel experiences was when we drove from Sydney to Uluru in the Northern Territory via Brisbane and then back down through South Australia to Sydney. It was a mammoth mission as we were shooting in some pretty remote locations for Taste of Australia but it was amazing. We drove the Plenty Highway into Uluru and for those that know it, that highway isn't for the faint of heart (haha)! Luckily we only got one flat tire, but along the way we met some incredible people, stayed in some interesting lodgings and got to experience parts of Australia that most people never would.
What does it mean to you to be a “foodie”?
Someone that loves and respects their food and understands that food isn't just something that hits the table at a restaurant—there are more steps to a meal before it gets there.
We read that you live by the motto, “live life, eat well, travel far”. What advice would you give to someone who wants to live that lifestyle? What about someone who wants to do it consciously/sustainably?
I would say don’t let anything hold you back. If you have a dream then live it, work hard to achieve it, visualise it, surround yourself with people who will make it happen and put yourself out there in the world. Do whatever you can to live life, eat well, and travel far!
Taste of Australia showcases some beautiful on-farm and farm-to-table types of experiences. What does “farm-to-table” mean to you?
Farm-to-table can have many different levels. There is the ultimate, where everything you are eating is grown on the property, and then you have places that will only take food from a certain distance away from the farm. You can push it right back to someone at home that will happily buy from the local market, source their meats from a butcher that can give them the full run of where the beef, lamb, or pork has come from, and I think they all play a part and are all important (and each gets easier to achieve for a normal person).
One of my favourite things about Australia is that we are an incredibly multicultural society with people, cultures, and cuisines from all over the world. And, couple that with having some of the best produce in the world, it really isn't hard to get inspired or excited about trying new things.
A favourite experience of mine with farm-to-table was actually over in the U.S. at Blue Hill at Stone Barns in New York state. It’s such an amazing and highly acclaimed restaurant (where a friend of mine, Kylie Miller, is one of the boss chefs!) and as part of your meal, you do a farm tour. He guide shows you all the different produce and animals before you sit down to enjoy the meal from the farm. It was an incredible and very, very special experience!
Do you incorporate any meditation/mindfulness, and/or spiritual practice into your daily life?
Not actively, but I find that my meditation comes in the form of exercise. Being out on a run, being in the ocean, focusing totally on a big gym session—that is my form of meditation. I do a nightly journal where I write down my thoughts after the day to track my sleep, alcohol, exercise, and sugar. Haha it seems weird, but it’s good to keep on top of it, and I love looking back on my old journals—I’ve been keeping them since about 2004 and they are like little time capsules.
As an avid surfer, can you share your favorite post-surf meal (or go-to food grabs)?
Haha this is a bit of a classic, but I love a roast chicken roll with tomato and pasta salad. It may sound a bit weird, but I promise it is a cracker and definitely a summer favourite of mine after a surf!
Being immersed in the ocean world as a marine biologist and surfer, what can you tell us about best practices for responsibly sourcing seafood—often choppy waters to navigate for most consumers!
Yes, it is always a bit tricky, but I think the most important thing is to buy local. In Australia, look for the signs/tags at the fishmonger that will clearly have “Australian Product” or “Australian Caught”.
What is your all-time favorite Aussie meal that you learned to cook from Mum?
She is going to die if she reads this (and she is definitely going too!), but it’s a bit of a classic and really simple fare: curried kidneys. Nothing flashy there, and it’s certainly throwing together simple and sometimes under-utilized ingredients in offal (lambs kidneys are amazing). It’s spiced out with some classic Keens curry powder and served on toast for a filling breakfast. It may seem wild, but I bloody love it. It reminds me of home and simple food, and it has that nostalgia that I think we all sometimes crave. The best meals aren't always the most expensive or the fanciest, but they’re the ones shared with the best people in familiar settings—we tend to love those the most.
What would you recommend as “must visit” culinary spots in Australia?
Now this is a very hard question! We are a very lucky country when it comes to food, but topline I will give it a crack!
Restaurant: Bennelong is inside the Sydney Opera House. It’s fancier fare and amazing food—try the yabbie pikelets!
Farm-to-Table: I always love Three Blue Ducks at The Farm Byron Bay—it’s a classic must-visit when in the Northern Rivers. Dazza and the team make amazing food utilising local, regional ingredients and “the Farm” experience is great for kids and adults alike.
Vineyards: My two favourites, and maybe it is because they are both good friends and amazing wine makers, but I would say Usher Tinkler (Hunter Valley, NSW) and Bub and Pooley/Pooley Wines (Coal River Valley, TAS)—oth have amazing cellar door experiences. Usher Tinkler is set inside an old church and does the most amazing wine and salami tasting, and Pooley cellar door has an incredibly European feel to it with amazing pizzas out of the woodfired oven.
Farms: One of my best-ever farm stays was at Waterloo Station. They have a variety of accommodation types for differing group sizes, and the property is amazing! There are lots of fun things to do on the property and around the area. In fact, when I was there, we went sapphiring and I found some sapphires in the local creek!
I have a heap of other travel inspiration and restaurant suggestions over on my website!
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