It was May 19th - the big day that I had signed up for was here.. I was holding an event as Ambassador for Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution Day in Sydney. This was where I got the opportunity to have a voice and bring like minded people together to talk about the future of our children and food and more importantly, to enjoy the day!
Right on 10am I arrive at Pino’s Dolce Vita fine foods where I have asked Carla Tomini Forresti to help cook and be my partner for the day. We get cracking on some of our preparations and before long we have our guests arriving for the big event. I am greeting everyone while I toss the mushrooms and peppers for our bruschetta crostini. It did not take long before all the guests were chatting away and getting to know one another while enjoying the crostini.
I asked everyone whether they were here to support this movement and they all said yes of course. We believe it is an important one because we all love Jamie and what he is doing.
I was enjoying the discussions from the start of the morning and after a while I realised that we had done the right thing. It was not long after that and we were cooking and preparing all the foods and still talking and spreading the love. I got involved in Food Revolution Day because I wanted to give back to the community and share my wonderful traditions and culture that have enabled us to live a beautiful life.
So, we get cracking on the salads and they are simple yet most of the people had never tried them before so it made me realise we have plenty to share and we can all learn from one another.
The Zucchinis are thinly sliced by Peter and tossed with fresh mint, lemon and extra virgin olive oil.
The Fennel & Orange salad is then quickly made and both left to macerate. It’s then time for the pasta making demonstration where I made and egg pasta tagliatelli and Carla assisted our guests in rolling out the pasta and hand cutting them.
The sugo had been prepared earlier by Carla and then we cooked the pasta, added the sugo and we sat down to enjoy a meal together with fresh bread and finely cut cheeses, prosciutto, hams and salamis, pickled green tomatoes, and locally made Pepe Saya butter.
I would like to share with you the initiatives and positive outcomes from the day. I have become an ambassador for our local primary school where I am involved with “Week of Tastes” a program designed for year 3 and 4 students. The Week of Tastes is an annual event in August, which is designed to change childrens relationship with food and address eating habits contributing to the obesity epidemic. I am so honoured to be a part of this and really am passionate about inspiring the children through the program.
I would like to thank everyone for coming to the event at Pino’s Dolce Vita and especially Carla and her father Pino Tomini Forresti for sharing his wisdom and fabulous foods with the guests Thank you Michelle Darlington for your contributions and fantastic photos on the day. We look forward to many other events with the friends we have made.
