Beef and native food is not a pairing that immediately springs to mind when deciding what to cook, but Bundjalung Man and celebrity chef Mark Olive aka 'The Black Olive' is aiming to change that.
He joins the celebrity chef program at Beef2024 in Rockhampton, Queensland, where guests will be treated to a three-course beef meal interwoven with native Australian flavours.
Held on May 10, the sold-out lunch menu will reflect the chef's rustic style with dishes including beef skewers with bush tomato relish, outback beef salad and rib roast with pepperberry.
"The bush tomato, also known by its indigenous name 'akudjura', has a beautiful smoky flavour which is very different to the kind of tomato-based sauces most people are used to," Mr Olive said.
"That will be followed by my outback beef salad. It's a simple salad but the hero is the wattleseed lemon aspen and honey vinaigrette, and it will be seasoned with things like saltbush, pepperleaf and green wattleseed – which has somewhat of a satay-like flavour."
The final course will include pepperberry sauce made from mountain pepper that originates in Tasmania but now grows across Australia, served with warrigal greens and roasted sweet potatoes.
Mr Olive said he hopes diners leave his lunch with a sense of pride in the unique flavours from our own backyard.
"From a culinary perspective, we've embraced every other country's culture except our own," he said.
"We have native ingredients in this country which should be the backbone of our national cuisine. Things like lemon myrtle and wattleseed have been out there for decades, but we need to really embrace them and learn how to use them properly.
"It's a bit like painting where you mix and match different colours to achieve a certain feel. Once you're comfortable combining flavours together it opens up a whole new world for your palate.
"I truly believe we should all have these native ingredients in our cupboards alongside Vegemite."
Mr Olive is one of a slew of iconic culinary maestros taking centre stage at the Beef2024 Celebrity Chef Restaurant throughout the week, including John Torode MBE, Matt Golinski, and Beef2018 crowd favourite, Iron Chef Sakai.
"It's my first time at Beef, and I'm super excited to be involved in such an iconic event and catch up with some of the other amazing chefs," he said.
Mr Olive's demonstration is presented by the Cooperative Research Centre for Developing Northern Australia (CRCNA), which, through its 'Activating Indigenous Estate' program, ensures First Nations people design and benefit from research into production markets on their lands.
Beef2024 will be held from 5 May 2024 for a week-long exhibition and celebration of all facets of the beef industry, including producers, scientists, chefs, students and exhibitors, amongst others.