MORE South Australian-grown produce could soon be on the menu at some of the nation's fine dining restaurants.
Seven chefs, seven waiters and four restaurateurs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and South Australia participated in a tour last week to meet the producers behind some of the State's top brands.
The 17 finalists in the Electrolux Appetite for Excellence program visited cheesemakers, olive oil growers and processors, a winery and a horticulture property.
The program included a farm tour of the Gunner family's beef and lamb Wanderibby property at Meningie - home of Coorong Angus Beef, Pure Suffolk Lamb and Hay Valley Lamb.
A lunch of less well-known cuts hanger and flat iron steak was prepared and served by Richard Gunner and Jock Zonfrillo, one of the State's executive chefs.
Mr Gunner, who hosted the group both at the farm and his wholesale butcher shop at Mount Barker, described restaurants as the 'fashion designers' of food.
He said they had set trends that years later would filter through to butcher shops. It was important to show the next generation of industry leaders how the meat they used was produced and drive demand for it.
"Lamb shanks were dog food once until they were served in restaurants," Mr Gunner said.
"Farmers now get a huge benefit that lamb shanks are worth more in a retail shop than they used to be."
He said much of the knowledge that farmers took for granted was fascinating to those in the hospitality industry, including the lengths producers would go to in bull selection.
"A lot of them don't get to see where the food they use is grown and steps farmers take to produce that food," Mr Gunner said.
He was adamant that knowledge sharing was a two-way experience and that producers could learn a lot from being consumer-driven and interacting with chefs and restaurateurs.
"It is not all about how many kilograms you can grow, but about how something eats - or the shape," Mr Gunner said.
The tour was supported by industry organisations, such as Fisheries Research & Development Corporation, Meat & Livestock Australia, Dairy Australia and Horticulture Australia Limited with representatives explaining to the group the research which goes into maintaining quality in these industries and future research.
*Full report in Stock Journal, July 18 issue, 2013.
