Speaker 1: Well, good morning, Christy cast. Is On this glorious day,
Speaker 1: I have spun the wheel and landed on foodies, which
Speaker 1: is a real interest area of mine. This foodie is
Speaker 1: a little different, and it's not just his porn stash
Speaker 1: that makes him so. Zach Bird is a butcher, a baker,
Speaker 1: a candlestick maker, a junk food connoisseur, and also just
Speaker 1: happens to make all of it plant based. The guy's
Speaker 1: a genius. I'm talking Chrispy bacon, fried chicken, drumsticks, banashukla canoli,
Speaker 1: oh my god, and all with the goal of perfecting
Speaker 1: every recipe known to mankind. But vegan, he's certainly set
Speaker 1: himself a challenge. Zachary Bird, Welcome to the Christy Cast.
Speaker 2: It's a pleasure to be here. It's a big life mission,
Speaker 2: but someone has to do it.
Speaker 1: You know, when did you come up with this idea?
Speaker 2: Oh about the time I went vegan and no one
Speaker 2: had vegan conolli for me, and I was like, far out,
Speaker 2: I've got a bloody figure out how to do this
Speaker 2: for myself.
Speaker 1: How long have you been a vegan?
Speaker 2: Ten years? Ten years plus, so it's been a long
Speaker 2: time of seeing things. I can't eat and going right. Well,
Speaker 2: that's my mission statement for this month.
Speaker 1: I love this so much. When did you decide what
Speaker 1: was going on in your life that you went, actually,
Speaker 1: I'm not eating meat anymore.
Speaker 2: Look, I went vegetarian as a teenager, I think mainly
Speaker 2: for attention. And then as I became an adult and
Speaker 2: I was like, well, how do I sort of qualify
Speaker 2: this with the rest of my personality? I was like, Oh,
Speaker 2: I really like this community, and I really like this
Speaker 2: way of living.
Speaker 1: And it's kind, isn't it. It feels good?
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I didn't really have a relationship with food,
Speaker 2: so I think I like the challenge of it, Like
Speaker 2: if I can complete this mission or this task that
Speaker 2: I'm rewarded with perhaps the world's vegan tur duccan or
Speaker 2: canola or what, and yeah, like it makes me feel special.
Speaker 1: What is in what is in the canole instead of ricotta?
Speaker 2: Well, see, you can make it. You can make your
Speaker 2: own ricotta. But I feel like you're you're trying too
Speaker 2: hard to make something that's not going to taste like
Speaker 2: a real recorder. So I go the other direction. You know,
Speaker 2: you've got like custed canola, you've got chopped chip canoli.
Speaker 2: You've got caramel, and I'm a very impartial to lemon
Speaker 2: and pistachio, which I would wager it's the best kind
Speaker 2: of canoli.
Speaker 1: You're so clever when you first went vegetarian, So I'm thinking,
Speaker 1: what are you in your late twenties, mid twenties. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we thirties love you for that though see the vegan
Speaker 1: lifestyle God bless Yeah shaves decades off. So you were
Speaker 1: in your early twenties when you went vegetarian or vegetarian.
Speaker 2: When I was like thirteen, I was in high school
Speaker 2: right Protest assignments, where my art assignment was a piece
Speaker 2: of mints on a plate, and I'd go, well, it's
Speaker 2: meant to make you think.
Speaker 1: I love it's like that banana. Recently I sort.
Speaker 2: Of pioneered that I didn't want to take away from
Speaker 2: that artist.
Speaker 1: But get an original idea. Years ago, did you get
Speaker 1: sick of toast? Because I also went vegetarian, probably for
Speaker 1: attention as well, and it was just toast and toast.
Speaker 2: See veggimite on toast is still a treat for me,
Speaker 2: I think because they cooked such complex things all day long,
Speaker 2: like that's actually my.
Speaker 1: Are you allowed to have vegimite. Isn't that a beef
Speaker 1: beef veggiemite?
Speaker 2: And yeah, a yeast extracted.
Speaker 1: Oh it's yeast, not beef.
Speaker 2: Of course, it's actually good. It's good for you. I'm
Speaker 2: trying to work in vegimite everywhere I go.
Speaker 1: How good is Vegemite's anian?
Speaker 2: I can't.
Speaker 1: What's the weirdest thing that you've ever put veggimite in
Speaker 1: and had it work? Well?
Speaker 2: See, this is the thing. Veggimite is one of the
Speaker 2: big secrets for vegan cooking because it's got all that
Speaker 2: umami in savory. Soon, if I'm making like a beef
Speaker 2: style broth, I'm actually putting veggimite in there so venie
Speaker 2: might stay stronger. And all my recipes I just don't
Speaker 2: tell you about it.
Speaker 1: I've got carried away. We haven't spun the wheel again.
Speaker 1: We're going to spin the wheel and see what comes up.
Speaker 1: As what was supposed to be the first question, we
Speaker 1: let it get away from us. Oh, yes, this is
Speaker 1: this is the first time it's spun up on compatibility
Speaker 1: quick fire.
Speaker 2: Hell yeah.
Speaker 1: The first question is about chicken. If you were going
Speaker 1: to eat a chicken, would you go for the leg slash?
Speaker 1: Thigh or would you go for the breast? This will
Speaker 1: say whether or not you and I are compatible.
Speaker 2: Wow, I am making up an answer out at my
Speaker 2: wazoo right now. I would between sorry the breast.
Speaker 1: The drumstick and thigh or the breast.
Speaker 2: I'm a drumstick man. My first file recipe was a
Speaker 2: vegan chicken drumstick with a bone made out of cauliflower
Speaker 2: that I handcrafted like Michelangelo himself. So I'm a drumstick
Speaker 2: man through and through.
Speaker 1: So am I I'm also a drumstick man. But that
Speaker 1: means we're incompatible because imagine one chicken sounds like a
Speaker 1: very sus thing. One chicken and two of us and
Speaker 1: we're both going for the for the legs.
Speaker 2: I've got good news for you, as the vegan butcher.
Speaker 2: I can make us a chicken that's all drumstick. It's
Speaker 2: just sort of maybe like some biblical looking angel of
Speaker 2: just drumsticks all the way around, Like, oh my god.
Speaker 2: That's the wonderful thing about veganism is like you, you know,
Speaker 2: there's lots of assets. But my thing is we're not
Speaker 2: constrained by rules. If I want to make a chicken
Speaker 2: entirely out of a drumsticks, baby, I'll make them on for us.
Speaker 1: I got I can see like the crown I wore
Speaker 1: when I was Queen of Moomba. Maybe that's the next
Speaker 1: step for you. I had the best cashew cheese I've
Speaker 1: ever had in my life when I was in the
Speaker 1: jungle on I'm a celebrity, Get me out of here,
Speaker 1: and that's what you found.
Speaker 2: That's where you found the best.
Speaker 1: That's where I found it, and I'll tell you the
Speaker 1: story behind it. So normal meat eaters, which I am,
Speaker 1: would get a certain menu. But Maureen McCormack, who you
Speaker 1: may or may not know from her role as Marsha
Speaker 1: Brady on The Brady Bush, she's a vegetarian, maybe even
Speaker 1: a vegan. Actually she's a vegan, so she was so
Speaker 1: fancy she got a special little meal. Right. Anyway, meat
Speaker 1: eater's got things like ostrich neck, just fucking disgusting food,
Speaker 1: an ostridge egg that was so big it looked like
Speaker 1: it was full of that like the goo comes out
Speaker 1: of the alien's jaw in alien like.
Speaker 2: It was just disgusting.
Speaker 1: Yes, And then after about two weeks of it, I went,
Speaker 1: fuck it. I'm going to say I'm vegan too, because
Speaker 1: your stuff is delicious. So then I was like, I can't.
Speaker 1: I'm a vegan now and I got this little portion
Speaker 1: of cashew cheese and I've never tried it since or before.
Speaker 1: Where can I get?
Speaker 2: Well, what's the bed? It was pretty crap, crashy cheese.
Speaker 2: But you've just eaten so poorly for so long that
Speaker 2: this was, you know, your drink of water at the oasis? Mate?
Speaker 1: It exactly? Do you make your own?
Speaker 2: Of course? I make money?
Speaker 1: How do I make it?
Speaker 2: You soak those cashus down, you blend them with a
Speaker 2: little secret called nutritional yeast, which you'll find it any
Speaker 2: little oh you can find it calls them what's.
Speaker 1: Your nickname for it, newty.
Speaker 2: Oh when you're on a first name basis with our
Speaker 2: vitamin source. But it tastes like a smoky, cheesy flavor.
Speaker 2: So regardless of whether you're trying to replace cheese for
Speaker 2: something that's super healthy, to taste so delicious. It's a
Speaker 2: great asset. So you soak the cashews, get the nice
Speaker 2: and creamy, and then you blend that with like a
Speaker 2: garlic clove and nutritional yeast, maybe a little cap full
Speaker 2: of minna, and you're done.
Speaker 1: And is it solid like a like a boccan chini or.
Speaker 2: A mound make you like a cream cheese and that's
Speaker 2: when you kind of go through that same cheesemaking process
Speaker 2: of put it in a cheese cloth and let that
Speaker 2: extra liquid drip out, yes, and show your firmness.
Speaker 1: That I make globner that way from Do you think
Speaker 1: that more people would be vegan if they knew what
Speaker 1: you knew?
Speaker 2: Well, I've been pretty loud about it. I think the
Speaker 2: thing that people that I find I get to show
Speaker 2: people is that accessibility of I think everyone knows probably
Speaker 2: why I'm a vegan, and you know, it's not a
Speaker 2: big surprise and you're like, oh my god, well I've
Speaker 2: never heard that. No one's coming from that perspective. They're
Speaker 2: more going I get why. Yeah, it's not very sexy.
Speaker 2: And you know, I'm a junk food connoisseur, as you
Speaker 2: said earlier, and I'm the butcher and the baker. And
Speaker 2: so I think that's why my life mission is being like,
Speaker 2: I shall not come from what is.
Speaker 1: The best vegan junk food copy that you have achieved.
Speaker 1: We'll see, I'll bring you into the forefront of breaking technology. Yes,
Speaker 1: because just last night I finally found Have you had
Speaker 1: a Lion's main mushroom? Yes, they are gorgeous, but they're
Speaker 1: so expensive. They're I was going to say this so expensive.
Speaker 2: I always look for them, and that you can buy
Speaker 2: a little thing of powder for seventy dollars and my
Speaker 2: car's that going to feed six foot dinner? Anyway, I
Speaker 2: finally found them in their dried version, which is very
Speaker 2: hard in in Australia, much cheaper, and I made Indonesian
Speaker 2: crispy chili chicken last night with it, and it was
Speaker 2: a revelation.
Speaker 1: I'm salivating.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, I am goodprec where you make really
Speaker 2: crispy chicken and then you make a fresh sumbult can.
Speaker 1: I say that sounds really delicious? But is there a
Speaker 1: better vegan fast food junk food than the bird's eye
Speaker 1: potato jym straight out of the bag.
Speaker 2: Can humanity achieve more than we already have?
Speaker 1: I don't think so, Zach. They are magic, They are magic.
Speaker 2: I do concur Have you had the I don't know
Speaker 2: if Jura McCain has had like cheesy smiles or yes
Speaker 2: they were accidentally vegan, I don't They didn't. They tried
Speaker 2: not to tell anyone but you know, how could they.
Speaker 1: Be vegan and have cheesy in the title.
Speaker 2: I think that's why they didn't want to tell anyone
Speaker 2: they were vegan, because they were using the word cheesy, but.
Speaker 1: They were cashew cheese. Maybe yeah, they heard the podcast
Speaker 1: How do you have your coffee?
Speaker 2: How do I have my coffee? Black? First thing in
Speaker 2: the morning and in a litter volume. I own an
Speaker 2: iced coffee cafe, so I feel like it's my duty
Speaker 2: to start the day with a litter of colebreut.
Speaker 1: So sorry, she's calling me back. You're right, man, Yes,
Speaker 1: do you know how to ovin? Yes? So you get
Speaker 1: so sorry, Zach I'm at work in my kids as stier.
Speaker 1: I can have the holidays. So you know how. There's
Speaker 1: two knobs on the far right of the oven. Are
Speaker 1: you standing in front of it now?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Okay, turn the left one two to the right and
Speaker 1: it'll be it'll be like a Mercedes symbol almost. Oh,
Speaker 1: we're facetiming. Okay, yes, and you go boom boom, that's it.
Speaker 1: What are you cooking cookies? Oh? Are they vegan? No?
Speaker 2: Hang up? Should they be? Well?
Speaker 1: I am with Zachary Bird, so just say that they
Speaker 1: are okay, all right, you sort of don't forget to
Speaker 1: put the timer on or they'll burn. Let me have
Speaker 1: a close look at that setting for a minute. Not
Speaker 1: that I.
Speaker 2: Haven't I haven't made to preheat it.
Speaker 1: Yep, that's it. That. How do you make one sixty five?
Speaker 1: You see the one sixty and just a bit? No,
Speaker 1: that's good, that's good. Okay, bye, I have a good day,
Speaker 1: Love you bye. How do you make a good vegan
Speaker 1: chop chip cookie?
Speaker 2: You follow my recipe?
Speaker 1: Tell me what's in it?
Speaker 2: The secret?
Speaker 1: It very if your books.
Speaker 2: That's embarrassing.
Speaker 1: It's embarrassing.
Speaker 2: I mean, cookies don't rely too heavily on things like
Speaker 2: eggs or dairy, so it's very one of the simpler
Speaker 2: ones to sort of one for one, you know, like
Speaker 2: sowy milk instead of dairy. I think the secret is
Speaker 2: what I learned at my cookbook shoot, is if you've
Speaker 2: got to shove those choc chips on top, no one
Speaker 2: cares if they're delightfully spread out in the cookie.
Speaker 1: That is so true.
Speaker 2: And you can't see thirty choc chips. You don't want
Speaker 2: a bar of it?
Speaker 1: Do you put a nut in there? I love a
Speaker 1: nut in a cookie.
Speaker 2: Well, here's my thing. I use a tablespoon of almond
Speaker 2: butter in my dough, so it's all spread out and
Speaker 2: it's got that little nutty mess. So I couldn't agree
Speaker 2: with you more.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, I love that.
Speaker 2: Have you ever made lace cookies where you get like
Speaker 2: chopped almond and you put like a golden syrup mixture
Speaker 2: and bake them in the oven so they spread out
Speaker 2: and make lacey nutty cookies?
Speaker 1: And then you know, but that sounds like a fortune cookie?
Speaker 1: Have you ever made fortune cookies?
Speaker 2: We're doing such a cultural exchange right now? What is that?
Speaker 1: I looked up how to make a fortune cookie because
Speaker 1: I had this wild idea that instead of sending an
Speaker 1: invitation to a lunch or a birthday party, I was
Speaker 1: going to make a fortune cookie and put the details inside.
Speaker 2: That is such an iconic idea.
Speaker 1: They I haven't done it, but it looks absolutely doable,
Speaker 1: and it sounds like the lace cookies. Are they quite
Speaker 1: pliable when they come out of this? Oh?
Speaker 2: I see what you're doing.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And what you do is you hang the batter
Speaker 1: while it's still pliable and hot, over a glass.
Speaker 2: So how you get a message in there?
Speaker 1: Then you. There's always a little a little crack in
Speaker 1: the in the curve on the glass, and you slip
Speaker 1: it in and then wait for it to solidify in
Speaker 1: the Yeah, you're going to do that, aren't you?
Speaker 2: Neually going to in all of the fortunes you get
Speaker 2: will be like, go vegan.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's aggressive in there, go vegan. Well I am
Speaker 1: a part time vegan.
Speaker 2: Congratulations, thank you.
Speaker 1: And people are confused by that, and I'm like, what's
Speaker 1: so hard to understand? Because when I'm eating like my
Speaker 1: dull that I make, for example.
Speaker 2: You're dull queen.
Speaker 1: Oh god, I love it so much? Yeah, so much,
Speaker 1: so much coconut cran abscribe.
Speaker 2: To it or you won't have a bar. There's no
Speaker 2: casual dull habit. Everyone I meet is like, it's a
Speaker 2: lifestyle or I've never heard of it.
Speaker 1: I agree, And I'm pulse flexible. I'll put anything in it,
Speaker 1: like that's.
Speaker 2: Going on my dating profile.
Speaker 1: Able, and I'll have chickpeas in there. Sometimes I might
Speaker 1: have black beans, which is really unconventional.
Speaker 2: I would actually say, very controversial, very brave of.
Speaker 1: You, this sort of next Indian. Yeah, yeah, but I
Speaker 1: couldn't imagine delightful a bean's a bean, and so much
Speaker 1: coconut cream and coconut milk.
Speaker 2: Yep, yep, yep.
Speaker 1: God it makes me fart, though, What does that say
Speaker 1: about my constitution?
Speaker 2: I think it's working perfectly. Things are entering one in
Speaker 2: and going out the other. I mean, that's all working
Speaker 2: ass up for the time, and whatever happened in between
Speaker 2: is none of my business.
Speaker 1: Has anything got you beat?
Speaker 2: Oh? Yeah, like I come up against my brick wall.
Speaker 1: All that I will say certainly doesn't sound like it.
Speaker 2: Should I keep it? Yeah? You published the good there's
Speaker 2: no page on the cookbook that says and here's the
Speaker 2: one that didn't work.
Speaker 1: I tried to do a bit back. Yea.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Look, there's two recipes that have beaten me in
Speaker 2: my whole life. One is on the note of cashew cheese.
Speaker 2: There's a very famous book called Making the Vegan Cheese
Speaker 2: Making by Mioko Skinner, who sort of pine me the movement,
Speaker 2: and she uses something called rejuvalac, which is.
Speaker 1: That sounds like something you take for indigestion.
Speaker 2: I think it might be its essentially rotten water. You're
Speaker 2: meant to put your being in and let it sprout,
Speaker 2: or you know, bubble and you change your water over
Speaker 2: a week, and at the end the fermented water you
Speaker 2: use in your cheeses. So it takes you a week
Speaker 2: to make this recipe. And each time you've made a
Speaker 2: cup of rotten water, which is what does it smell
Speaker 2: like rotten water? It smells like septic tank. And you're like,
Speaker 2: I've worked a whole week of my life and that's
Speaker 2: just one ingredient for the next recipe.
Speaker 1: But then you have to eat that. Yeah, does the
Speaker 1: cheese smell like something's been living in a toilet?
Speaker 2: Well, I've had I've had heard. I've never successfully made
Speaker 2: it because each time I get to my cup of
Speaker 2: rotten water and I go, I'm not going to persevere.
Speaker 2: This isn't exciting me.
Speaker 1: Who does?
Speaker 2: That's why I haven't written a book on cheesemaking, and
Speaker 2: I've left it to this Mioka woman.
Speaker 1: All right, So that's got your beat? What else?
Speaker 2: The only recipe I've written where at a bookshoot couldn't
Speaker 2: replicate results was Portuguese custard tart. I swear I could
Speaker 2: make the world's best vegan porcheese custer tart unless there's
Speaker 2: the camera on me in which they make a hot
Speaker 2: ball of custard that somehow has puff pastry throughout it
Speaker 2: and on top of it and below.
Speaker 1: How do you make egg custard?
Speaker 2: Well, like custed discusted, you know, like if you buy
Speaker 2: a custard mix market.
Speaker 1: I just made custard last night. I made a Christmas trifle.
Speaker 2: Oh did you can? I just quickly asked, put your
Speaker 2: favor scheme for this trifle please?
Speaker 1: Well, I'm I'm a traditionalist because it's my grand's recipe
Speaker 1: and she was, you know, the eldest of seven kids.
Speaker 1: Grew up on a cane farm in far North Queensland,
Speaker 1: the middle of nowhere.
Speaker 2: My grandparents are from Kane Farmed and Far North Clean
Speaker 2: whereabouts in Tully. I don't know any cant between Canton Townsville.
Speaker 1: Grand was Mackay and a town called Kaylan.
Speaker 2: Oh I don't know that one named Makay.
Speaker 1: What sounds like something from like the medieval times?
Speaker 2: Don't you think like something in like a young adult novel,
Speaker 2: like the main character came from there?
Speaker 1: Absolutely no, it sounds like a character from Bolden and
Speaker 1: Beautiful kiss Me Calin's.
Speaker 2: Breaking many a heart that gout I know.
Speaker 1: Anyway, Grand's was the mini jam rolettes must have bolstered
Speaker 1: up by madeira cake, because you can't have all jam
Speaker 1: rolettes in the middle where no one can see Madeira cake.
Speaker 1: Then must be canned, peaches.
Speaker 2: Must be or with you so.
Speaker 1: Far custard, but not from a carton.
Speaker 2: Proper must be fresh air. So use eggs to your custard.
Speaker 1: Yes, yes, oh no, no, no packet but it's you know,
Speaker 1: fosters make it. It's in between, you know, the pure
Speaker 1: egg and pour it out of a carton.
Speaker 2: Yeah, just to clean that process for yourself, whether or
Speaker 2: not you really helped.
Speaker 1: Well, you know you're using a whisk Yeah, yeah, I'm
Speaker 1: whipped crane, a losh and then on the top of something, oh,
Speaker 1: the jelly. It's going to prompt I've got three flavors, yes, mango,
Speaker 1: raspberry and port wine.
Speaker 2: Are they used layd or are they?
Speaker 1: You make them separately and then you cube them, and
Speaker 1: then you must it's all about the arranging of it.
Speaker 1: So you must use a glass trifle bowl for starters.
Speaker 2: If I can't see that, there's no evidence anything's happened.
Speaker 1: Correct, Why would you ever make a trifle that you
Speaker 1: can't see.
Speaker 2: Seventeen colors for them to come out as an eat
Speaker 2: and mess absolutely nice.
Speaker 1: Exactly, And you've got to slide the jam rollletts on
Speaker 1: the side so you can see the beauty of the swirl, said,
Speaker 1: and then fill in all the gaps with little jewels
Speaker 1: of jelly, saving your port wine flavor for the top.
Speaker 2: That's good. And I like this kind of fruit salad
Speaker 2: made of jelly. Yes, that's like, I really love that vision.
Speaker 1: A lot of people do. And this was you know,
Speaker 1: it was a big no no for Grant. She would
Speaker 1: never set the fruit in the jelly. Had to be separatesh.
Speaker 2: Okay, I agree with her. This is where the grands
Speaker 2: of the world differentiate, you know. And this is like
Speaker 2: my favorite thing in life is going to like all
Speaker 2: my great aunties and asking them to tell me about
Speaker 2: one recipe and letting them fight and scream at each
Speaker 2: other over what the exact rules are. And I'm like,
Speaker 2: this is what a beautiful culture.
Speaker 1: What is a really famous bird family recipe?
Speaker 2: Bird family recipe is mango chutney. Always family. It tastes
Speaker 2: nothing like another family's mango chut It's eating on Boxing Day.
Speaker 2: They have it with fried eggs and ham that's left over.
Speaker 1: I'm so hungry.
Speaker 2: And we use it like currency. Every time you go somewhere,
Speaker 2: you check your cousin's pantry and you're like, oh, and
Speaker 2: he's given you four mango chutneys. You must be a favorite.
Speaker 2: I love it. I love having And each system makes
Speaker 2: it slightly differently, and we'll go be embarrassing to put
Speaker 2: raisins and I put dates.
Speaker 1: And I didn't know there was Is there a curry
Speaker 1: vibe going on in it? Is there a spice hag?
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's it's very watchful tang, but it's.
Speaker 1: Yeah, right, it's a it's a keen tang.
Speaker 2: Malt vinegar in there, like gorgeous.
Speaker 1: I have been wanting to try recipe. It's like a
Speaker 1: seventies thing.
Speaker 2: I have it here, seventies brunch.
Speaker 1: I know. I'm going to get to that in a second.
Speaker 1: I'm going to give you the recipe because I reckon
Speaker 1: you could recreate it. It's not vegans that has never
Speaker 1: stopped you before.
Speaker 2: It's in fact, it kind.
Speaker 1: Of exactly chicken mango chutney, other bits and bobs, of course,
Speaker 1: but the three heroes, the father, Son and the Holy
Speaker 1: Ghost of the recipe is chicken mango chutney and cream
Speaker 1: and it's baked it's like.
Speaker 2: A coronation chicken sort of like that sort of like
Speaker 2: maybe I'm I'm hearing an apricot chicken, but you've mixed.
Speaker 2: See that's so seventies and Australiana and it makes me
Speaker 2: feel homely and deeply uncomfortable, if there's a word for that.
Speaker 1: You're not old enough to remember the seventies, you weren't
Speaker 1: even born. Going to bring it back, Yeah, I know
Speaker 1: it's a generational trauma and I'm here for it. Plus,
Speaker 1: your mother was probably born in the seventies or something sixties.
Speaker 2: Maybe for you to say that, yeah, we'll say seventy. Ha.
Speaker 1: So what did she cook? What? What was going on
Speaker 1: in your kitchen that made you go, yeah, I'm not
Speaker 1: eating this shit?
Speaker 2: Haha. Oh, I'm sorry, mum. I actually confronted her a
Speaker 2: few months ago where I was like, why why do
Speaker 2: we always have bolonnaise that was so dark and weird?
Speaker 2: And she's like, oh, i'd hide spinach, and I'm like, well,
Speaker 2: you weren't bloody hiding anything worse.
Speaker 1: It's very like forward thinking, is it?
Speaker 2: Because yes, I hate Bolernese. I'm like, oh, I didn't
Speaker 2: know it didn't taste like rotten greenness.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's sometimes I've got kids and you're so desperate
Speaker 1: to get some vegetables into them.
Speaker 2: Oh and I can. I can really appreciate it.
Speaker 1: And there's a fine line. There's a real fine line
Speaker 1: between going, I've just got to get it in. They
Speaker 1: haven't had anything good for a week, and then they
Speaker 1: don't eat anything. There's a you just got to You've
Speaker 1: got to take it easy, just got to put a
Speaker 1: little bit in.
Speaker 2: Before I spent more time with children, I'd used to,
Speaker 2: you know, write recipes and go what is this hidden
Speaker 2: veggies crap? You know, I'm proud. I love eating vegetables.
Speaker 2: And then I met four year olds and I went,
Speaker 2: I swear to God that sauce is not made of
Speaker 2: a blended sweet potato. I swear to God, please eat
Speaker 2: the orange sauce.
Speaker 1: I know it becomes an obsession.
Speaker 2: It's maybe not every meal in the world was designed
Speaker 2: for me specifically, but there's an audience that's all right.
Speaker 1: If you could eat, if you could psychologically, philosophically, ethically
Speaker 1: eat one meat dish, what would have.
Speaker 2: They miss anything other than like, I'm a big barbecue boy.
Speaker 2: I love like you know, if you anyone can walk
Speaker 2: past a barbecue and smell charring of anything and go
Speaker 2: like that is a primal response to be like, I
Speaker 2: must acquire that. So that's I mean, I've me and
Speaker 2: my daddy put a lot of veggies on the barbecue.
Speaker 2: I put my king oyster mushrooms, less so food and
Speaker 2: I'll find access to that. But I reckon, I'm waiting
Speaker 2: for vegan KFC. I know other countries have got it,
Speaker 2: but you know, I made fried chicken for myself last night.
Speaker 2: I think that's the last bastion of things I want
Speaker 2: to access at three am, that when I don't want
Speaker 2: to cook it all for myself. I think that's KFC.
Speaker 1: What would your order be at KFC?
Speaker 2: I think, after all this time, if there was something
Speaker 2: I called al right, it would just be like the
Speaker 2: pure bucket like whatever. Yes, I just do not give
Speaker 2: me a particular.
Speaker 1: The words you're after Zacha original recipe.
Speaker 2: Oh but I think I think I'm a Zinger boy.
Speaker 1: Really sure, I'm a It's not controversial given your age. Yeah,
Speaker 1: because you were you were around when Zinger was zinging,
Speaker 1: and you really.
Speaker 2: Have to give you the shaky stuff for your fries
Speaker 2: as well, Like I see it everywhere.
Speaker 1: I missed that because when KFC came to Australia, Kate
Speaker 1: Kentucky Fried Chicken it was cool. No, no, it wasn't
Speaker 1: It wasn't cool.
Speaker 2: KFC had more time in these days to say, you know,
Speaker 2: full word, that's it.
Speaker 1: There's no drive throughs. You have to go and eat
Speaker 1: in with the colonel. And so I will be forever
Speaker 1: and always original recipe, two drumsticks, one tub of gravy
Speaker 1: because the snug fit in the car. Dipp dip bang.
Speaker 2: Yeah. See. This is one of my favorite things is
Speaker 2: there's so much demonization of junk food and I could
Speaker 2: give less of a crap, Like I love, love some
Speaker 2: junk food. But you see these videos and things where
Speaker 2: they go have you noticed KFC. You know they crumb
Speaker 2: their food seven times and they pressure fry for this
Speaker 2: long and I go wonderful that they're being so specific
Speaker 2: with the note.
Speaker 1: Thank you for that.
Speaker 2: I want to say, there's a viral photo of what
Speaker 2: makes up Natella. You know, how have you seen it?
Speaker 1: Oh?
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, here's how much sugar, here's how much palm oil.
Speaker 2: I went, that's so convenient. I'll write down the ratios
Speaker 2: and I'll just put coconut milk powder and instead. So
Speaker 2: I love those sort of expose a's because they exposed
Speaker 2: the part I'm looking for.
Speaker 1: I've only just discovered coconut milk powder.
Speaker 2: Oh welcome. What are you using it for everything? Especially
Speaker 2: for your doll and whatnot. It's such a lovely way
Speaker 2: to when you want it in super without making it
Speaker 2: more liquid, if so you can actually intensify the flavor. Yes, magic,
Speaker 2: I reckon.
Speaker 1: And also I found it because I love Ballei and
Speaker 1: I'll just just squirrel away there to hide from the
Speaker 1: world for you know, at any opportunity, I will go
Speaker 1: to the airport now if I could, And there's this
Speaker 1: cafe around the corner from where I always stay, and
Speaker 1: they do this cold drip coffee, coconut coffee. It I
Speaker 1: would fly there for that. It comes in a glass.
Speaker 1: The bottom of the glass is a thick disk of ice,
Speaker 1: like the preparation.
Speaker 2: Nowhere does iced coffee. Like the reason I opened an
Speaker 2: iced coffee bar and Brisbane is because I've done all
Speaker 2: of Asia and was just obsessed with the exciting flea
Speaker 2: and just the way they give it to you. And like,
Speaker 2: if I order an iced coffee in Asia, it comes
Speaker 2: with this little skirt that covers the top, so it's livers.
Speaker 2: And I know, Bill, and I'm like the ingenuity of
Speaker 2: that alone and just I know figured it out. And
Speaker 2: the flavors of like Vietnamese iced coffee, Oh God, bitterest,
Speaker 2: richest coffee you can, the sweetest thing you can, and
Speaker 2: you get the richest when you start to day I
Speaker 2: could think of on this planet.
Speaker 1: I introduced my friend Jack to Vietnamese coffee just for
Speaker 1: a little bun made place. And I have not seen
Speaker 1: his hand without a cup of ice and coffee in it.
Speaker 1: What is it? Because also the guy, I've watched the
Speaker 1: guy make it. There's a ceremony involved. It's not just like.
Speaker 2: They use to fiend drip. So it's using the instead
Speaker 2: of Arabica, which is a light being a used robuster,
Speaker 2: just robust and dull ready, and so you just let
Speaker 2: that drip in a traditional fee and drip make really
Speaker 2: brutal black coffee. Like I'm a black coffee drinker. You
Speaker 2: could not drink this bite really, you'd have to water
Speaker 2: it down a little bit. But then condense we.
Speaker 1: Make and we make it like almost a like Turkish
Speaker 1: coffee almost like.
Speaker 2: Yes, thick, precisely level, and then you've just got that
Speaker 2: richness of condensed milk in there that just makes it
Speaker 2: enough to actually feel consumable. And that's perfection. When I
Speaker 2: was in Malaysia, they've got copy O and they do
Speaker 2: a similar sort of process, but they toast the coffee
Speaker 2: beans and sugar and margarine before they brew the coffee,
Speaker 2: like you crafty clever cookies with in.
Speaker 1: Margarine in margarine.
Speaker 2: I love it.
Speaker 1: That sounds like do you remember everyone was into bullet
Speaker 1: bulletproof coffee.
Speaker 2: That's exactly what I thought. I was like, oh my god,
Speaker 2: this is just the plant based version of having a
Speaker 2: cup of butter with a little bit of caffeine in
Speaker 2: net for breakfast.
Speaker 1: The amount of times that I nearly that went through
Speaker 1: me like a train through a tunnel.
Speaker 2: That's all I could imagine. When it was, you know,
Speaker 2: the talk of the town and you're like, what are
Speaker 2: you talking about?
Speaker 1: I would have made the error. I started drinking that
Speaker 1: when I was, you know, still doing breakfast radio. So
Speaker 1: I have the whole thing in the morning. Sometimes halfway through,
Speaker 1: you know, NEO, I'd be like, I've got to I've
Speaker 1: got to go, Like the sweat like it just comes
Speaker 1: out ready or not.
Speaker 2: Real urgent, real urgent.
Speaker 1: I want to talk to you about your ice coffee bar.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, go on, okay, going to talk to you
Speaker 1: about ice coffee, but then we're going to do the
Speaker 1: seventies vegan brunch menu because I'm salivating. Oh yeah, whereabouts
Speaker 1: is your.
Speaker 2: An ice coffee bar in Castle Lane, Brisbane?
Speaker 1: I know Castle Dan?
Speaker 2: That is, you are the first person to have acknowledging
Speaker 2: existence of Castle Iron outside.
Speaker 1: Of really no, my uncle Bob and Ani Carma lived
Speaker 1: in Castle Dann.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, oh so well, in the middle of nowhere.
Speaker 2: But you know, when you come to Melbourne, there's so
Speaker 2: much great vegan stuff if you go to Collingwood or whatever.
Speaker 2: And I think the reason we chose the middle of nowhere.
Speaker 2: You know, it's important to try and diversify and take
Speaker 2: our deliciousness to people who don't have access.
Speaker 1: I agree. Is there a great Chinese restaurant in Castle Lane?
Speaker 2: I've been there, neighbor that would shout stuff. If you
Speaker 2: guys are listening, shout out to Limkey and custom.
Speaker 1: It was so delicious I remember it. So wellet we're
Speaker 1: next door. Now, come on by, How do you order, like,
Speaker 1: what's on the menu.
Speaker 2: Oh, well, so we're doing Oh my god, we're about
Speaker 2: to do a Christmas bagel pop up. So you've got
Speaker 2: honey glazed hand bagel. You've got Camembert truffle and cranberry
Speaker 2: loaded fries, like what all vegans? Yeah, yeah, Christmas flavors.
Speaker 2: But done is just junk food nightmares. You know, we've
Speaker 2: got sticky date look on, you know, Pavlova Loco Martes.
Speaker 1: Are you a bit Greek?
Speaker 2: Yes, very proudly so. I'm like one sixty fourth Greek
Speaker 2: by blood and one hundred percent by heart.
Speaker 1: I could tell by the way you said, Luca Martis.
Speaker 1: And the greatest regret of my life is that I
Speaker 1: wasn't born Greek.
Speaker 2: Oh I would regret that too, if I wasn't able
Speaker 2: to claim my smarm.
Speaker 1: I'm so jealous.
Speaker 2: Oh you'll love. I've just come from Adelaide, from their festival,
Speaker 2: and years ago I went to teach a Greek master
Speaker 2: class and Adelaide, but because I'm like third gen Greek,
Speaker 2: my pronunciation sucks. So I did this master class and
Speaker 2: I was teaching everyone how to make galat.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, I love. We've got a receptionist Vicky
Speaker 1: who makes it.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, we're going to have a debrief after
Speaker 2: give on the road. When I was calling it galactic Barreco,
Speaker 2: like as I'm teaching a master class, I'm like, yes,
Speaker 2: I'm part of Greek. Welcome to my culture, galactic Barreco.
Speaker 1: Were there were their Greek people?
Speaker 2: She came up and told me after this little yea
Speaker 2: was like, delicious, what is this word that you keep
Speaker 2: saying instead of Gallic to borco?
Speaker 1: So where is your where's your Greek?
Speaker 2: My great grandmother came to this country from an island
Speaker 2: called Cafelonia. Isn't that a cheese good? I'd be the
Speaker 2: last person to be up to date on the cheese brands.
Speaker 2: But no, I don't think.
Speaker 1: There's something that there's a similar word that's that's that
Speaker 1: Greek cheese. I can't think I ordered.
Speaker 2: I will believe you. But that's why I love Greek cooking,
Speaker 2: and I think it's other than like Vietnamese in Indonesia.
Speaker 2: I think it's one of the best cuisine.
Speaker 1: Oh is magic. I think it could be my favorite.
Speaker 2: It's just such a delightful way to eat, and I
Speaker 2: love that sort of share plate of you know, you
Speaker 2: never really just have one thing to eat. No, you're
Speaker 2: having a roast tonight and I guess there's some greens.
Speaker 2: You're like, no, no, no, you're having this with the
Speaker 2: smattering of that yes sat next to it.
Speaker 1: That just suits me down to the ground. I've never
Speaker 1: asked to those people that you go out for dinner
Speaker 1: with and they just say, you go to Indian and
Speaker 1: they order the butter chicken and that is their.
Speaker 2: Lost in too early.
Speaker 1: It's like, well, why would you do that when you
Speaker 1: could have seven?
Speaker 2: That's why I was. I was walking around the Cessol
Speaker 2: on the weekend handing out plant based klamari and people going, oh,
Speaker 2: you're going to finish, So I'm like, no, because you're
Speaker 2: going to come back and share whatever the hell you
Speaker 2: get with me in treat for the klamari. So I
Speaker 2: don't just have Kla murray for lunch.
Speaker 1: That's how it works.
Speaker 2: Strategize, babe.
Speaker 1: What about when you're with somebody and you're eating for
Speaker 1: the first or second time, like it's new, not dating
Speaker 1: or anything, just a new person, and the vibe shifts
Speaker 1: if they get a sniff that you're going to say,
Speaker 1: can I try that? If I get an indication that
Speaker 1: that person doesn't want to give me a little bite,
Speaker 1: then they are dead to me. I cannot I can't
Speaker 1: forgive it, and I can't understand it.
Speaker 2: See, I think your problem is you're getting into that
Speaker 2: situation like haha. As a vegan, I've never gone to
Speaker 2: a restaurant without like thoroughly looking at the menu and
Speaker 2: like I'll do the dance for the waiters. But I'm like,
Speaker 2: oh no, three weeks ago, I settled down on the
Speaker 2: shuck shuka like I'd already decided. And so you know,
Speaker 2: strategy means that before they make decisions, you can make
Speaker 2: it for them.
Speaker 1: I couldn't agree more. But that apparently that's very bad
Speaker 1: manners to free load.
Speaker 2: On the menu, Like poor little me, I've got to
Speaker 2: kind of direct this ship. I'm ordering on behalf of
Speaker 2: you because I also want to try the civ luki.
Speaker 1: Well, it just makes sense.
Speaker 2: I don't manipulate trying two.
Speaker 1: Dishes or three dishes instead of one. You don't have
Speaker 1: to come back then, do you know what I mean.
Speaker 2: To come back? That's what whenever I look for good food,
Speaker 2: I'm like, I just want to get it done once,
Speaker 2: never do it again.
Speaker 1: Now let's talk about Zachary Bird's slam and seventies vegan
Speaker 1: brunch menu. Who what the hell is this?
Speaker 2: I'm the boozy brunch king, and we've sort of run
Speaker 2: out of theme. I tears, So we're onto decades. But
Speaker 2: the seventies is such a funny decade to do, like
Speaker 2: a food menu and also like games for like we
Speaker 2: did Price of the Price is Right Inflation edition. I
Speaker 2: guess that it costs nine cents for a leader of
Speaker 2: petrol in nineteen seventy. Yeah, it's the most funny. But
Speaker 2: also like everyone laughed and then they kind of judge
Speaker 2: back to their table and sit there quietly as they
Speaker 2: reflect on it.
Speaker 1: My god, nine nine cents a literer out of these?
Speaker 1: What is your jam? Prawn cocktail? I made a real
Speaker 1: prawn cocktail last Saturday for my girlfriends, and can I
Speaker 1: tell you there is no crowd pleaser quite like it.
Speaker 2: It's sort of it's a rite of passage, whether or
Speaker 2: not you have strong feelings. Either way, you're gonna have
Speaker 2: to eat a prawn cocktail and get into it.
Speaker 1: And it's so easy to make tastier than it used
Speaker 1: to be. Yes, it really is.
Speaker 2: But for me, just like it's Aussie Christmas like that
Speaker 2: sort of like that, I agree, And so much of
Speaker 2: our Christmas is like a bastardization of you know, you've
Speaker 2: got a US style roast with some seafood star. You're like, no,
Speaker 2: let's hold on to the pron cocktail, the PAVs, the
Speaker 2: good ossie, oh god.
Speaker 1: The trifle, if you will. I'm really thrilled to see
Speaker 1: the volvant you had to do it to them. I
Speaker 1: love bolivants.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you just don't see them anywhere these days.
Speaker 1: Do you make the cases or are the cases from
Speaker 1: the supermarket vegan already?
Speaker 2: I haird a little chef to do this. I didn't
Speaker 2: touch those volivants. I couldn't tell you. I think he
Speaker 2: made them.
Speaker 1: But they'd be butter in them, wouldn't they.
Speaker 2: No, I think that's why we make them. But we
Speaker 2: used them fable mushroom, like a smoky mushroom feeling for them,
Speaker 2: and it was like, I love bolts.
Speaker 1: I'm going to make them this weekend. I don't think
Speaker 1: my kids have ever had a volivant.
Speaker 2: I have never met you or them, and I'm going
Speaker 2: to assume they haven't. That's bad parenting, no, But for me,
Speaker 2: the seventies, is things suspended in jello that have no
Speaker 2: place being there. Yeah, I think there was a time
Speaker 2: that it could happen, and it was only in that window,
Speaker 2: And I think, what a delight, Like I love the
Speaker 2: images from that era of just shoving crap into jello
Speaker 2: and from like.
Speaker 1: Olives, like savory things.
Speaker 2: Like it's and it was in pure lime jello that
Speaker 2: tasted exactly like that sweet lime jello.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: One of my favorite I have I collecked old cookbooks
Speaker 2: and two the special and that's one I've got from
Speaker 2: I think it's the early eighties. It's called Gourmet Vegetarian
Speaker 2: Cooking and the front cover is a shit, you're not
Speaker 2: a steamed culiflower. I'll send this photo to you, a
Speaker 2: steam cliflower with just chunky salsas sitting on the top.
Speaker 2: And it's like front cover image, like the only image
Speaker 2: the hero dish, the only dish photographed in the book.
Speaker 2: And they were like, that's gourmet cooking. I'm like, what
Speaker 2: a beautiful era where that was gourmet cooking.
Speaker 1: Well, we've come full circle. We started talking about fruit
Speaker 1: suspended in jelly, and my grand's rules answered it, and
Speaker 1: then we ended with the savory version. I know that
Speaker 1: we started with the compatibility test, but I think it's
Speaker 1: very clear you and I would get along very very well.
Speaker 1: Zachary Bird, I think I win. Thank you so much
Speaker 1: for coming on the Christy Cast. You're a legend.
Speaker 2: It's been a pleasure being here. And may all of
Speaker 2: your fruit be suspended and Jello do.
Speaker 1: Not forget to send me the photo of that hideous qualifier.
Speaker 2: Be punishing you with it any moment now. Thanks for
Speaker 2: having me