Celebrating culinary careers

World-renowned chef Glenn Austin is just one of the notable names who will be in attendance.

He has been involved with the organisation of the event.

“Well, the initiator of the program is the CEO of Kagome Jason Fritsch and I know Jason very well,” Mr Austin said.

“Jason is an outstanding citizen who is very passionate about the region.

“He reached out to see if I could help him and I said that I would 100 per cent be there for him.

“Jason and I, we had a number of discussions. Jason, and I basically put the concept of the fundraiser together, but he has championed it all the way through.”

Mr Austin has rustled up his famous mates, George Colombaris, Adriano Zumbo and Luke Croston, who will also be present at the event.

“They were all ready, willing and able,” Mr Austin said.

“If you were a great footballer and you wanted a couple of your friends to come and help you with the football clinic in the bush, your friends would say yes and it’s no different in this situation.

“I have a good standing in the industry, and I asked my friends to help out. They were all ready, willing and able and they didn’t need to be convinced.

“We’re there to support Jason and the cause. Our role at the event is the major part, we’re going to make sure everyone has something to eat.”

Mr Austin said all the chefs were participating out of the goodness of their heart.

“They're all doing it free of charge,” he said.

Mr Austin has his own personal ties to the Echuca-Moama region — he grew up in Echuca.

“I spent my last years of schooling there,” he said.

“I went to St Mary’s and then Echuca High School.

“I left school at 15 and then moved away from Echuca at 16-years-old.”

Mr Austin’s sons also went to school at Echuca High School and one works for Kagome.

He has been a chef for close to 40 years.

“I've always had a constant love of food,” he said.

“I'd like to have a really romantic story about it but in all honesty, I sort of fell into it by default, did very well at it and stuck with it.”

Mr Austin is a leader in the culinary world.

He is the first Australian to sit on the World Board of Chefs and is the honorary life president of the Australian Culinary Federation.

“I was nominated for the World Board of Chefs, then you lobby and then it went to a world vote in Dublin, and I was fortunate enough to win and then that journey took off from there,” he said.

“The world association has something like I think, just over 20 billion members and it’s a very influential association.

“I use my role on the world board to promote Australian products and Australian platforms.”

Mr Austin has dedicated a remarkable amount of time to helping regional communities and food producers.

“I've always wanted to help regional communities,” he said.

“I spend as much time as I can, trying to help regional areas.

“Cities get everything a lot easier but to get a crew together to come up into a regional area is a lot harder, but it's a lot more worthwhile.

“The farming community, I’ve always been close to farmers and so helping food producers has always been a motivation for me.”

Mr Austin said his position on the World Board of Chefs had helped him to spread the word about the Australian food industry.

“Getting a position internationally has helped me achieve that because you can promote regionalism a lot more if you’re already on an international stage,” he said.

“You can be as passionate as you like locally, but if you don't have that platform or that stage to speak about what matters to you, then you just don’t get anywhere.”

There have been numerous highlights for Mr Austin in his career, such as training and managing three culinary Olympic teams and cooking at the Beijing Olympics.

“My career has been quite fortunate,” he said.

“There's been a lot of highlights for me, and those highlights have enabled me to promote our farmers a lot more and that’s what’s important.”

As for the cancer and wellness centre culinary fundraising night, Mr Austin said the menu was a work in progress and although they had put together a plan for the cocktail party, things could still change.

All the food at the cocktail party will be prepared by the chefs involved and a support team.

“We will use as much local produce as we possibly can,” Mr Austin said.

“We've got good names and chefs, so as an example, it would be awkward and difficult to find a local oyster, but one of the chefs may very well want to do an oyster dish.

“You're in a regional area where red protein is readily available, but you can't fill the whole menu out of red protein, so there will be other things brought. Where possible, we will be supporting local producers.”

He said there would also be a bar that would offer wines from the region to each of the guests.

All the chefs involved will also be conducting speeches at the event.

“Every chef will be there to acknowledge the guests, to speak about what they’re doing, their philosophies on food and on life and do what they can to support the cancer centre,” Mr Austin said.

He said one of the motives for him getting involved in the event was because everybody knew of somebody who had been touched by cancer.

“Why should everyone from Echuca have to travel to Melbourne? Everything doesn't need to be Melbourne centric,” he said.

“Echuca’s getting bigger. People that are suffering want to be close to their family and close to their friends.

“We hope to play a part in helping people from the Echuca region to be closer to their family and friends when they need it the most.”

Mr Austin feels frustrated when money does not go towards our scientific and medical community.

“It actually annoys me that Australia will throw so much money towards sporting heroes, and our scientists and doctors who do incredible work have to struggle to get funding. I don't think it's equal,” he said.

“I think it’s wrong and rather than complain about it, I’ll do what I can to try and level the playing field.

“Supporting our scientists, the medical community in the fight against cancer is critical. It’s not really an option.”

Mr Austin encourages everyone from the community to come down in support of the cancer centre.

“Open up your pockets, get there, have a great meal, have a belly full of grog, a good laugh and say g’day to some famous chefs.”