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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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