When did you realise food was going to be your life’s work? In my late teens. I had already been to Europe for my first ‘OE’ and while in London, I heard about Le Cordon Bleu school and I thought ‘imagine going there!’ Once I came back home, I applied to attend…which I did at 22. Then I moved to Genoa in Italy and worked as a personal chef for the British Consul, and opportunities unfolded from there, including becoming a Le Cordon Bleu teacher at the London school (I am now an ambassador for the New Zealand school). What excites you about Kiwi ingredients? The freshness. The quality. The way we come up with innovative products. I’ve just had someone email to ask if I would like some quail eggs, as they are going to home-farm them here on Waiheke Island where I live. I’m meeting our local honey producers next week to taste a line-up of their products, and I’ve just tried extra virgin olive oil produced by my local bakery Ringawera. There’s always something new happening, and that is exciting. Name one new food (national or international) that’s about to become ‘big’ Kombucha (fermented tea drink). It’s so huge in London and really just starting to make inroads here. I think our native seaweeds will also become more popular. What developments in food do you see on the not-too-distant horizon (new ingredients/ways of cooking/dietary changes etc)? Although I don’t think New Zealand will cease being a meat-producing nation in my lifetime, I think we will see (and it is already happening) a definite turn to more plant-based foods, and to ways of producing food that doesn’t harm our natural resources. If you could, what would you ask New Zealand food technologists to develop for you? Affordable white truffles! 30 MARCH 2017 What/how might we be eating in the year 2117? More of us will be eating healthier, and more of us will be eating unhealthier; the divide will widen. Those at the top of the pecking order will continue to be confused by conflicting safe-eating messages – one day butter is back, the next it is poison – and will continue eating what they like when they like and damn the consequences, and those at the bottom will continue to be preyed upon by huge food-producing conglomerates and be merciless to resist cheap-packaged crap imported from God knows where and will be damned by the consequences. What was the last meal you enjoyed, and why! Last night’s meal…crispy fried bean cakes with a yoghurt chilli/lime/mint sauce, with a superb tomato from my garden drizzled with Ringawera extra virgin olive oil. Light and very tasty, made with homegrown garlic, herbs, red pepper, chillies and tomatoes, and olive oil from up the road. IN THE SPOTLIGHT julie buoso
FT-Mar17-eMag
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