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Sydney Morning Herald
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
My suburb is the beating cauliflower heart of Melbourne's gluten-free belt
Our south-and western border is the Merri Creek, and although Clifton Hill and Fitzroy North can claim to have prettier aspects, we get to enjoy it amidst the roar of trucks on Heidelberg Road. If the creek ever floods, it's the hardy folk of Westgarth who live on the flood plain. Is Westgarth part of Northcote? In the old Melway, Westgarth looked to be its own suburb. But over at Australia Post, they won't give Westgarth a postcode, smudging it into 3070. So as much as some renegade Westgarthians might want to secede, hogging the Bill Lawry Oval and the Merri footbridge for themselves, we keep Westgarth in the fold. Like Australia needs Western Australia for its iron ore, we need Westgarth for its cinema, which is a grand, art nouveau beauty at the base of Ruckers Hill. We also need it for its famous wholefoods store, Terra Madre, which is where I go to shop if I want to feel like a marble being tilted around a maze where the walls are made entirely of red lentils. There is a way out, I promise, and you can reward yourself at checkout with an impulse buy of Northcote's finest carob. We are famous for our cafe culture, think Vienna around the turn of the century, or Paris during the Enlightenment, except the talk around here is all about the design of the next tattoo sleeve, or Pokey Le Farge's tour dates. Pokey is a randomly selected, excellent but little-known touring artist who blew my mind with a show at the Northcote Social Club six years ago. That sort of thing happens in the live music hub that is 3070. It's even better now that the Northcote Theatre has been renovated. Every weekend, a queue snakes around the corner into Bastings Street, the ages and dress of the gig goers varying with the shades and genres of who's playing. For some decades, Northcote was thought of as a hotbed of creativity, a place for artists, musicians and writers. I do love that our local primary school, Westgarth Primary, has an 'Idol night' that is a no-kids-allowed karaoke fundraiser extravaganza at which parents sing along with a 10-piece band. In the first years I was involved, Ben Ely from Regurgitator was on bass. I dressed up as Piggy Pop (fat Iggy Pop) with drawn-on abs and sang Lust for Life. It was ridiculous, Ben and I collaborating on a musical performance. I wondered if it would happen in other suburbs of Melbourne. It felt very Northcote. Loading Is Northcote still a place for artists? Rising property prices have changed things considerably, although I'm pleased to report that I'm writing this article on an Olivetti typewriter at a High Street whiskey bar that also stocks the complete works of James Joyce. The clack of the keys is putting everybody off their $22 a pop whiskey mules. But there is still a community feel to the suburb, a sense that we can all come together in the car park of the new aquatic centre and circle unsuccessfully for a park together. Our street has a WhatsApp group, where we find out who has an overabundance of quinces or which neighbour had what car stolen overnight. We even have an Oxford Street Tree Art exhibition, organised by Matt at number 19, who gets us all to dress up our street trees. My best effort was to put a shopping trolley around a trunk, so it looked like the tree was growing through the middle of it. Thank you Martin, at number six, for your angle grinder. My favourite community activity is visiting Dog Park, which I can't talk too much about because our dog park is not actually a dog park, and I don't want to alert the rangers. We also have a dog called Ranger at Dog Park, so if a ranger actually comes, and someone yells 'Ranger!' — look it's all going to be very confusing. What we need at this point is some giant wooden dog, preferably with eyes that flash red when someone is coming.
The Age
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Age
My suburb is the beating cauliflower heart of Melbourne's gluten-free belt
Our south-and western border is the Merri Creek, and although Clifton Hill and Fitzroy North can claim to have prettier aspects, we get to enjoy it amidst the roar of trucks on Heidelberg Road. If the creek ever floods, it's the hardy folk of Westgarth who live on the flood plain. Is Westgarth part of Northcote? In the old Melway, Westgarth looked to be its own suburb. But over at Australia Post, they won't give Westgarth a postcode, smudging it into 3070. So as much as some renegade Westgarthians might want to secede, hogging the Bill Lawry Oval and the Merri footbridge for themselves, we keep Westgarth in the fold. Like Australia needs Western Australia for its iron ore, we need Westgarth for its cinema, which is a grand, art nouveau beauty at the base of Ruckers Hill. We also need it for its famous wholefoods store, Terra Madre, which is where I go to shop if I want to feel like a marble being tilted around a maze where the walls are made entirely of red lentils. There is a way out, I promise, and you can reward yourself at checkout with an impulse buy of Northcote's finest carob. We are famous for our cafe culture, think Vienna around the turn of the century, or Paris during the Enlightenment, except the talk around here is all about the design of the next tattoo sleeve, or Pokey Le Farge's tour dates. Pokey is a randomly selected, excellent but little-known touring artist who blew my mind with a show at the Northcote Social Club six years ago. That sort of thing happens in the live music hub that is 3070. It's even better now that the Northcote Theatre has been renovated. Every weekend, a queue snakes around the corner into Bastings Street, the ages and dress of the gig goers varying with the shades and genres of who's playing. For some decades, Northcote was thought of as a hotbed of creativity, a place for artists, musicians and writers. I do love that our local primary school, Westgarth Primary, has an 'Idol night' that is a no-kids-allowed karaoke fundraiser extravaganza at which parents sing along with a 10-piece band. In the first years I was involved, Ben Ely from Regurgitator was on bass. I dressed up as Piggy Pop (fat Iggy Pop) with drawn-on abs and sang Lust for Life. It was ridiculous, Ben and I collaborating on a musical performance. I wondered if it would happen in other suburbs of Melbourne. It felt very Northcote. Loading Is Northcote still a place for artists? Rising property prices have changed things considerably, although I'm pleased to report that I'm writing this article on an Olivetti typewriter at a High Street whiskey bar that also stocks the complete works of James Joyce. The clack of the keys is putting everybody off their $22 a pop whiskey mules. But there is still a community feel to the suburb, a sense that we can all come together in the car park of the new aquatic centre and circle unsuccessfully for a park together. Our street has a WhatsApp group, where we find out who has an overabundance of quinces or which neighbour had what car stolen overnight. We even have an Oxford Street Tree Art exhibition, organised by Matt at number 19, who gets us all to dress up our street trees. My best effort was to put a shopping trolley around a trunk, so it looked like the tree was growing through the middle of it. Thank you Martin, at number six, for your angle grinder. My favourite community activity is visiting Dog Park, which I can't talk too much about because our dog park is not actually a dog park, and I don't want to alert the rangers. We also have a dog called Ranger at Dog Park, so if a ranger actually comes, and someone yells 'Ranger!' — look it's all going to be very confusing. What we need at this point is some giant wooden dog, preferably with eyes that flash red when someone is coming.
Yahoo
07-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
King says slow food and Italy ‘dear to my heart' at celebrity-packed dinner
The King has given a speech at a celebrity-filled black tie dinner at Highgrove and said slow food and Italy are 'dear to my heart'. Charles and Camilla were joined by guests including Victoria and David Beckham, fashion designer Donatella Versace, actress Dame Helen Mirren, actor and foodie Stanley Tucci and Tucci's wife Felicity Blunt – sister of actress Emily Blunt, and former British Vogue editor-in-chief Edward Enninful at the dinner to celebrate Italian cuisine on Friday evening. The Italian ambassador to the UK, Inigo Lambertini, was also invited to the Gloucestershire estate to enjoy a feast of sustainable 'slow food'. The slow food initiative was launched in 1986 in the small Italian town of Bra when food writer Carlo Petrini took exception to the opening of a McDonald's in Rome's Piazza di Spagna, leading to widespread national protests. It promotes the right to good, clean and fair food for all, and strives to preserve traditional and regional cuisine. Charles has long been a champion of the philosophy. The event also promoted 'slow fashion', with the King and Queen meeting King's Foundation's students and being shown garments demonstrating their sustainable fashion and heritage skills. The King started and ended his speech speaking Italian, to which the room cheered and clapped. He said: 'Buonasera e un caloroso benvenuto a Highgrove. 'Eccellenze, signore e signori, it is a great joy for my wife and I to welcome you all to Highgrove and, above all, to be able to offer our warmest gratitude to Ambassador Lambertini, to Stanley Tucci, and to chef Francesco Mazzei for their combined efforts to arrange such a special Italian occasion – I can only hope they are still talking to each other at the end of it all! 'Together they conceived and delivered this most splendid evening which brings together two things very dear to my heart – slow food and Italy. 'Our two nations share so many ties – between our peoples; between our cultures; a deep friendship rooted in shared values, mutual affection and mutual respect. A nation's food culture is a priceless social and environmental asset, intimately bound up with its sense of identity and place. 'Good food brings people together and what we choose to eat helps to define us – as families, communities and nations. It brings us sustenance, but also comfort. It binds generations, as recipes are passed down from one to another. It is a thing of beauty – 'edible art', as you have put it, Stanley! And I know that it provides – as it doubtless will this evening – a topic of endless fascination and discussion around every Italian family dinner table. 'But it is about more than that: how we produce our food, and indeed our fashion, and how we source it is intimately entwined with the very future of our planet, and our ability to continue living on it sustainably.' Charles added he could 'scarcely believe' it was over 21 years since he spoke at Carlo Petrini's Terra Madre conference in Turin – dedicated to the cause of slow food, and added he was 'delighted' the topic was now 'at the heart of discussions about a sustainable future for our planet'. He said he was 'especially pleased' the dinner comes just a few weeks before the state visit to Italy, adding: 'To say that we are looking forward to it would be to engage in a little British understatement…' The King added: 'Allora, grazie di cuore. 'Let me propose a toast: to Italy's timeless food culture, so loved here in the United Kingdom and across the world [Voglio proporre un brindisi: alla eterna cultura italiana del buon cibo, cosi amata nel Regno Unito e ovunque nel mondo].' Mr Lambertini also gave a speech, as did Tucci who began by joking 'this is just the first of 15 pages'. He told those gathered how he had embarked on creating the event over lunch with Mr Lambertini. Tucci paid tribute to the King's Foundation, which he said promotes the King's vision of 'living in harmony with nature'. He described how students excelled in slow fashion and slow food, which he described as 'two of my obsessions'. Tucci, describing how the evening was designed, said: 'We talked about how to put together this evening. 'We thought that the best idea was to take British produce which a lot of the world doesn't quite understand is brilliant and put it together with Italian recipes.' Tucci continued: 'We wanted to present it to a group of people that would represent that combination.' Tucci told those gathered of the importance of sharing food, which he described as a 'restorative, connective act'.
