About Italian Food Safari

Source: SBS Food

Food Safari returns

Italian Food Safari is the much-awaited next feast in the beautiful Food Safari series… a celebration of the incredible breadth and hard work of the Italians who came and settled in Australia over a generation ago and have kept their food traditions intact. Mercifully, they’ve shared their food and culture with the rest of us – and we’ve been delighted to embrace everything from classic dishes to the most rustic home-style food.

Presented by food explorer Maeve O’Meara and legendary Melbourne chef Guy Grossi (Grossi Florentino, Mirka at Tolarno) Italian Food Safari spends time with Australia’s top Italian chefs and producers…. in fact the whole 13-part series is a culinary Who’s Who of Italian Australia.

Shot across Australia and covering the four seasons, Italian Food Safari introduces you to the concrete backyards full of abundant tomato and basil plants, the cosy home kitchens where masterpieces are whipped up, the elegant restaurants filled with delicious cooking aromas, the specialist providores and extensive delis, bakeries, cheese-makers and pasticcerias. 

The series celebrates traditions handed down through the centuries, some of which are practised more fervently in Australia than back home in Italy where tomato sauces, sausage making, olive curing, cheese-making and other time-honoured recipes can still vary from region to region, even village to village.  Some of the world’s most celebrated Italian culinary masterpieces feature alongside beautiful rustic family favourites.  

Chefs and restaurateurs who share their wisdom and recipes include Armando Percuocco (Buon Riccordo), Lucio Galletto (Lucio’s), Stefano Manfredi (Bells at Killcare), Robert Castellani (Donovans), Stefano Di Pieri (Stefanos, Mildura) Maurizio Esposito (Esposito at Toofey’s); rising stars Nino Zoccali (Pendolino) and Eugenio Maiale (A Tavola), Giovanni Pilu (Pilu) Pietro Porcu (Da Noi), Vanessa Martin (Il Piave), Alessandro Pavoni (Ormeggio), Patrizia Simone (Simone’s Restaurant, Bright), Rosa Matto (Rosa Matto’s Cooking School), Adelaide, Rosa Mitchell (Journal Canteen). In addition, Guy Grossi shares some of his family’s most revered recipes for traditional favourites from the North to the South of Italy. 

Producers including Perth’s larger than life butcher Vince Garreffa, winemaker and olive oil blender Joe Grilli, legendary Melbourne baker Daniel Chirico, fishermen from much of the Australian coastline – from the crayfishermen on the Abrolhos Islands off the far Western Australian coast to rock fisherman off Sydney, vongole fishermen in South Australia to the last sardine fisherman off Fremantle. 

Along the way, Italian Food Safari celebrates all the extraordinary wealth of Italian culture – the pioneering families building their wood-fired ovens, growing much of their produce in the early days and keeping food at the centre of family life, a tradition we all treasure.

Presenters

Maeve O'Meara

Maeve O'Meara is living her dream – a life punctuated with fabulous food and many friends to share it with, much of it in exotic locations and cosy home kitchens. Maeve is an award-winning food and cooking author, journalist, broadcaster, television producer and presenter who has spent many years travelling the world discovering food. Italian Food Safari continues the dream – after living in an Italian area of Sydney for some years and spending time in Italy, she reveled in the chance to feature friends of many years and to celebrate one of the world's great cuisines.

Maeve is presenter of the acclaimed series Food Safari and a recently released book of recipes from the series Food Safari – Glorious Adventures Across a World of Cuisines has been a bestseller. Maeve has worked with Toufic Charabati through their company Kismet Productions for many years to produce Food Safari and Italian Food Safari, is their third collaboration. Maeve has won awards for her work in print, radio and television, notably for The Food Lover's Guide To Australia and for her work as Food Presenter on Channel Seven's Better Homes and Gardens. As well as the Food Safari recipe book, Maeve has co-authored 11 books, including the cookbook "Lamingtons and Lemongrass" and the best-selling "SBS Eating Guides To Sydney".

Maeve is a former Food Editor of Family Circle and New Woman magazines and has spent more than 10 years on ABC radio discussing food including many years on the "Relish" program. She also spent many years writing for the Sydney Morning Herald's Good Living section and other food publications. An extension of her passion for food across many cuisines has been her highly successful food tourism business, Gourmet Safaris which has been running for 12 years and in 2007 was voted was voted "Best Tour Operator" in The Australian newspaper's prestigious Tourism and Travel Awards.

Maeve is also an ambassador for the Sydney charity OzHarvest which collects unused food from restaurants, cafes and caterers and distributes it free of charge to organizations that feed needy men, women and children. Maeve comes from a close-knit family who all live within a stone's throw of each other. Her three children all love their mother's cooking and very occasionally cook themselves.

 

Guy Grossi

Guy Grossi is an acclaimed Melbourne chef, restaurateur and food personality who revels in his Italian heritage and its many glorious culinary delights. Owner and Chef of Grossi Florentino and Mirka at Tolarno Hotel in Melbourne and Grossi Trattoria Bangkok, Guy has been working in the kitchen all his life, joining his father Pietro in the family restaurant and now working alongside his sister Elizabeth, wife Melissa, son Carlo and daughter Loredana. 

He is the author of two beautiful cookbooks - My Italian Heart and Grossi Florentino - Secrets & Recipes, which won the Australian Food Media Book of the Year Award in 2004. He appears regularly on television but is excited to finally have his own show. Guy has a great respect for the planet and its people.  Watching his father pluck fresh produce from the garden, drove home the significance of bringing only lovingly sourced and nurtured produce to the table. Sustainable practices and the integrity of all raw products is about appreciation and respect; it lies at the foundation of what Italian food is about, and it ensures the longevity of our future. 

In the midst of work and family life, Guy is a socially conscious entrepreneur who takes immense enjoyment in his philanthropic work with numerous charities and environmental partners. Over an extended period of time, he has donated a great amount to support charitable causes and environmental societies. Just to name a few... Food for Trees, Australian Marine Conservation Society, Camp Quality, Hanover, Open Family Australia, Starlight Children's Foundation and Ovarian Cancer.