WEBVTT

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I remember seeing my father

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take a rifle and put it to

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the head of an animal

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to kill it, for our dinner.

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It's kinda terrifying, as a kid,

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but you're never in any doubt

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where food comes from

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and the connection of it.

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Part of wanting to

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run a restaurant like Attica

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is wanting to reconnect people

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with it as well

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People might not think that

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cooks matter in the greater

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scheme of things.

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But, in my experience,

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a lot of stuff filters down

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from the top.

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It's probably over 200,000 downloads

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of the menu on our website

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And there's nowhere near that

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amount of people coming in.

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And so, that tells me

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that people are not just looking

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at our menu because they're

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thinking about planning a dinner here

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They're looking at our menu for inspiration

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whether that be in their resturant

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or be at home.

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This small piece of literature with

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these eight courses on it

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has massive influence on people.

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Therefore if I had ingredients

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which were unsustainabile,

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which were of negative impact

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to the environment,

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then I'm...I'm contributing to that damage.

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And I don't want that on

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my conscience.

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In the 11 or 12 years that

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I've been cooking in Australia,

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the species of fish that were

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available to us very readily

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and very easily...

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they're not as easy to get anymore.

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Bass grouper fish that I love to cook

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their reproductive cycle doesn't begin

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until later into their life,

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but most of the fish being taken

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are juvenile, because the juveniles are

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closer to the surface and easier to catch.

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There have been fish close

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to the point of commerical extinction.

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That led me to, you know,

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I guess a moment of reflection

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probably five years ago.

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Instead of continuing to serve the fish

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that I've always served

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I decided to take them all

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off the menu.

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I always look for suppliers

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who have a similar passion to me

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and a dedication and ethics.

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And so when I met Lance Wiffen

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I sensed some of myself in him.

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He believes that it's never

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good enough.

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He thinks that it can

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get better and it can get better.

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And of course I feel that same way

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about my own work.

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I thought I knew all

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about mussels.

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And I didn't really know that there was like

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going to be a whole 'nother level of mussel.

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The blue mussels that are grown

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in Port Philip Bay where Lance farms...

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they were...like nothing I

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had ever eaten before.

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It was like the essence

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of the sea, captured in

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one tiny morsel.

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Mussels we can grow in

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a very sustainable manner,

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they have almost nil negative impact

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to the environment.

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It's half the price of chicken,

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and infinitely better for you,

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and infinitely more sustainable.

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It's really great to be

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able to promote an ethical,

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sustainable ingredient and tell people

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that this is something that

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you should consider eating.

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I'd been thinking for...

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a couple of weeks about the

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difference between a fish

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that's a better choice, and a fish

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that is a bad choice.

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The King George Whiting from

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Corner Inlet is a small,

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fast-growing fish.

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You're far better off to eat

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a fish which reproduces very

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early in its life,

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and is a short-lifed fish anyway.

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It was the first fish dish that I did

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after having fin fish off the menu

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completely for two years.

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The responsibility of a cook

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is to set a really good example

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that food is not an infinite resource.

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If you're cooking well,

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you'll always take into account nature.

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So, in some ways, through cooking

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I've found my ideal connection

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to nature.

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