Lucky dip (part 1) - the demise of Feast magazine & Maeve O'Meara

Although I am actually planning some more interesting meals than usual in the next couple of days, and even though my husband is trying to find prebiotic powder (don't ask) I was actually feeling pretty uninspired when I sat down to do my blog today. So I thought to do a lucky dip.

And this is what came up - one of those little free booklets you get with newspapers and magazines from time to time. This one - The Food Safari Cookbook - is very slim and came with a Feast Magazine, which I used to buy regularly, but which, alas is no more. It died back in 2015 basically because it wasn't selling enough copies.

It's a great pity because it was a slightly different kind of food magazine in that it concentrated, like the Food Safari programmes on the food of the various immigrant populations of Australia. But I guess the magazine industry generally is encountering tough times - although I'm vaguely aware of a big market in very individual personalised kind of magazines with short runs. And there's always the gossip magazines.

But back to Feast - a typical edition of which is shown here. I guess that some of the recipes were a little bit specialised and needed you to hunt down exotic ingredients, but the articles were interesting and so was the food. So it was a great pity that it disappeared. I guess it was outdone by delicious, Donna Hay and Taste, not to mention Coles and Woolworth's free magazines. At its demise back in 2015 the then Head of Distribution, Leon Coningham said:

"we remain committed to producing even more diverse and engaging food content for our audiences to enjoy”.

And boy, have they done that, for SBS now has a whole TV channel dedicated to food - not that I get to watch any of it. They also have the more current and high profile food shows on, I think, Thursday nights, so yes, they are entirely committed to food - and multicultural food at that. For isn't it true, that in lots of ways, the way that immigrant communities often wriggle their way into our hearts is through their food. Like their food - like the people who produce it. There's almost an implied feeling that if somebody produces good food then they have got to be a good person. Well most likely they are. And Maeve O'Meara is one of the people who has been at the forefront of that emphasis. Food Safari and its predecessor The Food Lover's Guide have concentrated exclusively on multicultural food. I have not seen them all, so I can't say for certain, but I'm guessing that the British didn't really get a look in even though they are immigrants too! People may mock Maeve O'Meara herself for her enthusiasm and tendency to say 'wow' a lot - but how hard must it be to say something new about what you are tasting. And she is enthusiastic, and interested and conveys that enthusiasm and interest very well. She has tasted a lot of things in her time, but remembers only one bad experience - some barbecued cow's stomach in Argentina, of which she said:

"It was like woah, not everything is meant to be eaten. [But] you’ve got to try everything.”

I wonder what she said on the actual program. But trying everything is definitely one of her mantras and I do honestly think that she and the other 'ethnic' presenters on SBS - Luke Nguyen, Adam Liew, Shane Delia et al - have been at least partly responsible for the explosion of interest in other cuisines.

“I think that is actually what makes Australia great. We are the great undiscovered secret in the world with our mix of cuisines and our embracing of them. We have great food here, we have great chefs working in Australia and everybody that comes from somewhere else, just goes, ‘Wow, we never knew.’ I think we are a great surprise in the food sphere, there is so much to find … We are a great food country.” Maeve O'Meara

And SBS itself has generated a lot of book sales from the various food programs like Food Safari that they have produced on their channel.

Maeve O'Meara herself has used her TV experience and profile to create her own successful food touring company - Gourmet Safaris. It's actually an example of one of those packages for the rich that I was talking about the other day. For $160.00 you can do a morning tour of Melbourne that includes starting at Grossi Florentino Grill. Expensive, but probably a worthwhile experience if you are into ethnic food, its history and how it is made - complete with demonstrations, tastings and lunch. Probably good value if you have the spare cash. And as for the international tours - currently Turkey, the Greek Islands, Vietnam and Sardinia and Corsica - well you need quite a few thousand dollars for those. I checked out the Sardinia and Corsica one which looked really lovely but would set you back $8,500 per person plus your air fare for 12 days. I think she hosts some of these tours herself but not all.

So there you have it - my lucky dip for the day. Part one that is. Part two is the page I chose - Tarte Tatin. I'm sure there's lots to learn about that. Coming soon.