The Cook and the Chef

All the Tea and China (4x5)

Ημερομηνία προβολής: Μαρ 11, 2009

Don’t be late for a very important date this week: Simon and Maggie are holding a tea party to celebrate the days when afternoon teas (complete with cakes and cucumber sandwiches of course!) were quite the done thing. In Victorian-era Australia our eating and drinking habits were still shaped by our ties to Britain, and what could be more British than afternoon tea? Tea was relative affordable in Australia compared to 'the old country', and we consumed gallons of the stuff. In fact, Australians in the late 19th century took up the craze for afternoon tea with such a passion that we soon became the world’s largest consumers of tea per capita. The pioneering Australian gastronome Philip Muskett was even worried about our "excessive consumption' and wrote that "the gentler sex are greatly given to extravagant tea-drinking, exceeding all bounds of moderation. What wonder, then, that they grow pale and bloodless; that their muscles turn soft and flabby; that their nervous system becomes shattered; and that they suffer the agonies of indigestion?" To celebrate this British tradition the cook and the chef both bake cakes named after British towns: Maggie whips up a delicious Bakewell Tart, while Simon makes the "fly pies" he remembers from his schooldays, more commonly known as Eccles! While people in the cities were having afternoon tea, a completely different influence was arriving out in the goldfields as Chinese immigrants brought with them their rich history of food. No-one is more familiar with this history than Melbourne's famous cook and food teacher Elizabeth Chong. Elizabeth's grandfather arrived in Australia in 1854, passing through the emerging Chinatown in the heart of Melbourne. Elizabeth’s father had a huge impact on Chinese food in Australia: he opened one of the first restaurants to present true Chinese cuisine here, and he even invented that Aussie classic, the Dim Sim! Elizabeth is still carrying on this proud food tradition, continuing to te