Stepping into my own personal nirvana, I could still hardly believe my luck that Trespass Ed Lin had asked me if I fancied covering Gusto 2010 food and drink festival.
You know that fat kid in the sweetshop? That was me, right there.
The concept behind Gusto (now in its 5th year) is a simple yet marvellous one. It’s not only a celebration of Italian food; it is a celebration of regional Italian food, an idea (to Italians) which is a complete no-brainer. Each region in Italy boast dishes as diverse and as rich as its dialect, and local wines produced are designed to compliment traditional dishes.
I’ve always felt it a great shame that Italian food outside of Italy has been generalised, and in a great number of cases, restaurants have catered to the customers’ expectations, rather than challenging them. It can, however, be said that a new breed of Italian eateries is rising in Sydney. Restaurants owned by real Italians, proud of their heritage and keen to bring delicious examples of classic regional dishes to the consumer, whilst also experimenting with combining traditional and not so traditional ingredients to inject a fun and modern feel to their cooking.
The backbone of Italian food tends to be the rustic ‘peasant’ food: bread, pasta, olive oil, polenta, hard cheeses and ripe vegetables. The offerings at Gusto were faithful to this theme, with each restaurant providing a hearty sample of their popular fare in exchange for two tasting vouchers – from mussels in chilli tomato sauce (Stella Blue) to an array of wonderfully smelly cheeses (Blackwater Deli) and dolci (Manly Pavillion).
The hardest part was deciding what to ‘spend’ my tasting vouchers on. My husband and I had ten between us, and he generously allowed me the lion’s share. I sampled pasta fresca with a bolognese sauce from Pilu at Freshwater, pizza prosciutto cotto e funghi from Cavallino and salumi (cold cuts) from Victor Churchill and Carne. The antipasti from Buon Ricordo in Paddington looked to die for and, truth be told, I could have spent all day grazing in there, but the wine tasting session was calling and I felt it was my duty to attend. My husband has also started to shoot me ‘How can ANYBODY eat that much?’ looks, and so I was forced to preserve the flimsy illusion of self-control.
The wine tasting session, focussed on the wines of Sardinia, took place in another gorgeous room and was hosted by Luke Collard, manager of two hat restaurant ‘Pilu at Freshwater’. I’ve spent a good deal of time in Italy, but never ventured to the island of Sardinia, and so to learn about the history and produce that it has to offer was fantastic. It has a range of grape varieties all of its own, many of Spanish origin (the island was occupied by the Spanish for four centuries).
We were talked through the twelve wines on offer by Luke and three other presenters who were wine importers and vineyard owners. The class was attended by some very serious wine drinkers, and most of the participants seemed to know far more about wine than I did. This didn’t stop me from participating fully (by this I mean the spittoon on our table remained untouched) and I even made the odd note in the comprehensive information booklet provided.
The festival was a great afternoon out and heaven for fans of Italian cuisine. It attracted quite a sizable yet niche crowd, and it would be nice to see it a bit more accessible to the general public. A book of ten tasting tickets costs $30 and the wine master classes $55. The event also featured a range of kids’ cooking classes and adult regional cooking master classes, which seemed to be cooking demonstrations and not as hands on as the wine class.
Gusto is the brainchild of a group of twelve local Sydney Italian restaurateurs who formed the not-for-profit group, The Council of Italian Restaurants in Australia (CIRA). CIRA also offers cooking classes which are open to the general public. If you would like to take part, become a member of the organisation or find out more, their website is well worth a visit.
