Travel Daily | Dishing Up Australia with Al Brown

In a new prime time television series, Kiwi celebrity chef Al Brown takes New Zealand viewers on a culinary journey around Australia in search of the people, the places and produce which typifies of best of Aussie food.

The 10 part series, ‘Dishing up Australia with Al Brown’, features a diverse range of culinary experiences in stunning settings across the length and breadth of Australia.

Tourism Australia Managing Director Andrew McEvoy said using well known and respected Kiwis to help tell Australia’s stories was a strategy which worked well, encouraging visitors to explore further and stay longer.

“Sharing the flavours of regional Australia through the distinctive style of a well known foodie such as Al Brown will, I’m sure, whet the appetite of Kiwis to explore a little further some of the wonderful Aussie culinary experiences we have to offer.

“Each week Al will travel beyond the traditional gateways and inspire New Zealanders to delve a little deeper into their number one holiday destination – Australia,” he said.

Some of the experiences featured in ‘Dishing up Australia with Al Brown’ include:

• South Australia: searching out Adelaide’s best ‘street food’; a visit to the Barossa to meet Maggie Beer on the farm, and sample her fresh cheese and a “banging Red”; catching and cooking fresh yabby from a muddy river on Kangaroo Island.

• Tasmania: meeting the revered chef and Al’s cooking hero, Tetsuya Wakuda; taking a sea plane flight to nearby Bruny Island to sample smoked wallaby and fish for crays.

• Northern Territory: fishing for Barramundi off the coast of Darwin; cooking a crocodile tail in the heart of the territory with a renowned local indigenous chef.

• Queensland: meeting a musician-turned cheese-maker making haloumi in the basement of his suburban home; a trip to the Rusty markets in Cairns; visiting the oldest coffee plantation in Australia; mixing up a Queensland cocktail and a creamy desert on a houseboat on the Mossman River.

• Victoria: enjoying a tram trip through some of Melbourne’s hottest new food precincts; exploring the rich Italian cooking heritage of Mildura; encountering fig-eating sheep and enjoying dinner at a local goat farm.

• New South Wales: enjoying an on-water ‘master class’ on the south coast with oyster farmer Steve Feletti, diving for Abalone and hooking Australian black fish.

• Western Australia: connecting with Australia’s rich and ancient indigenous culture, including crafting a hunting spear over a bush campfire and getting hands on and dirty on a mud crabbing trip.

‘Dishing Up Australia With Al Brown’ has been produced by leading New Zealand production company, Imagination Television, makers of Masterchef New Zealand and New Zealand’s Got Talent.

The first episode of ‘Dishing up Australia with Al Brown’ air on TVNZ on 8 June.

The series incorporates Tourism Australia’s global brand campaign message, There’s Nothing like Australia, encouraging viewers to visit Australia.com where they will find dedicated content about each region featured, and details of how to make a booking.

The shows will also be promoted using TVNZ’s website and Tourism Australia’s social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

The series received strong support from Destination New South Wales, Tourism & Events Queensland, Tourism Northern Territory, Tourism Western Australia, South Australia Tourism Commission, Tourism Victoria and Tourism Tasmania along with Virgin Australia and Air New Zealand as partner airlines.

New Zealand is Australia’s largest inbound market for visitor arrivals, and continues to grow. 1.2 million Kiwis visited Australia during 2012, spending more than A$2 billion. Tourism Australia believes that the market has the potential to grow to between A$3.4 billion and A$4.2 billion in total expenditure by 2020.