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Home ยป Artisans and producers ยป Meet Adelaide’s Salvatore Pepe – a regional food champion

Meet Adelaide’s Salvatore Pepe – a regional food champion

02/01/2012 by Amanda

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To be perfectly honest, I felt a little uncomfortable.  I was sitting with Salvatore Pepe, one of the founders of and the chef behind Adelaide’s hugely successful chain of coffee shops, Cibo Espresso, and had just been offered a coffee.  I knew this moment was coming and would be unavoidable but that fore-knowledge did very little to mitigate my awkwardness as I sheepishly admitted that I don’t actually drink coffee.  At all.  With only the very slightest of eyebrow-raising Salvatore graciously provided me with a glass of cold water and, putting the delicate moment behind us, we settled in to talk about a subject that we both wholeheartedly agreed upon – food.

Australia has a massive coffee and cafรฉ culture due, in no small part, to our history of European immigration but the success of Adelaide’s Cibo franchise chain owes almost as much to their reputation for top quality, fresh, seasonal food as it does to their reputation for excellent coffee, and chef Salvatore is the man behind that food.  Calabrian born and Tuscany trained, Salvatore came to Australia at 26 years of age but maintains close ties with his Italian heritage and returns annually.

Growing up in Calabria, Salvatore was exposed to the remarkable diversity of fresh produce enjoyed there.  The local and regional markets boasted an enormous variety of vegetables and it was not uncommon to see up to 30 varieties of zucchini, 12 different strains of eggplant and up to 200 variations on capsicum available at different times during the growing seasons.  Given the richness of his previous fresh food experiences, the paucity  of  fresh food variety available in Australian shops and supermarkets came as a colossal shock to Salvatore. As a result, he has become an impassioned champion of the movement to diversify our fresh produce supply and ensure future food security.  He spoke recently with another local regional food legend, Zannie Flanagan, at the Adelaide Festival of Ideas and he was glad to elaborate on some of the opinions he expressed at that discussion in an effort to spread his message.

Salvatore believes that fresh produce supplies in Australia are largely controlled by the buyers and would like to see that changed.  He is gravely concerned about our reliance here in Australia on big business to produce our food, without a solid and supportive undergrowth of small producers and artisans to fall back on.   He sees the future of food as farmers markets and artisan producers where the middle man is cut out of the equation and the prices charged are more realistically reflective of the cost of production.  Such is his concern about food prices that he feels they should be investigated.   He asserts that much of our fresh produce is vastly over-priced with the producers paid nothing even remotely close to the asking price at points of sale like major stores and supermarkets.

 

Cibo fresh-baked bread

Consumers, too, need to take more responsibility for their buying habits.  Embracing the regionality and seasonality of fresh food creates a demand for the same, thus not only helping the producers, but helping to grow local economies.  Salvatore believes we should tolerate more inconsistency in our fresh produce, rather than expect each individual piece of fruit or vegetable to be picture perfect.  We all need to encourage diversity in our food crops and take the chance to try something a little different if presented with the opportunity.  Farmers and growers will not be interested in growing unfamiliar varieties if there is no market for them.

Another problem which Salvatore sees confronting fresh food producers is the public passion for food celebrities.  He feels that the flood of glossy celebrity cookbooks and television shows which focus on food are creating unrealistic demands upon food producers and encouraging home cooks to approach culinary goals in an up-side-down fashion.  His best advice to the home cook is to shop first and then check out the cooking shows and glossy cookbooks once they are home with their shopping.  It is preferable and far more sustainable to purchase the best of the local, seasonally fresh produce and then find a recipe to show it off, rather than tackling the urge to create the other way around.

Cibo’s Eggplant Parmigiana in the making

Salvatore doesn’t just talk the talk, he walks it too and all of the food that he produces for the Cibo cafรฉs is an expression of this.  Changing his menu twice a year (which realistically reflects Australian growing conditions), only a very few of his special ingredients are imported from Italy, with the vast majority of fresh products sourced very locally.  He uses locally grown  fruit and vegetables in his traditional recipes, sees no reason in the world to import Italian olive oil when we have our own fantastic product right here on our doorstep and uses local flours from Laucke Flour Mills and cheeses from La Casa del Formaggio.  I was pleased to note that this philosophy also extends to his line of ready made meals for, while I am lazy, I still like to know exactly where my food has come from.  I will feel not one jot of guilt as I occasionally zap one of these to feed the troops when I just can’t be bothered to put the effort in myself. (Oh, did I say that out loud?!)

 

 

 

 

 

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Lizzy (Good Things)

    January 02, 2012 at 4:00 pm

    Great story Amanda! Love Salvatore’s philosophy. His food looks delicious too. I really like his thinking on ‘… we should tolerate more inconsistency in our fresh produce, rather than expect each individual piece of fruit or vegetable to be picture perfect.’ Which is why I don’t photoshop any of the produce I (attempt to) photograph for my blog.

  2. Cakelaw

    January 02, 2012 at 8:37 pm

    LOL – I am glad that Salvatore was understanding. I like his philosophy – a good one for all of us.

  3. Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella

    January 02, 2012 at 9:01 pm

    I really agree with him on so many points here. Although like you I don’t drink much coffee (but I eat it in lots of desserts!). He might have raised an eyebrow at that.

  4. Miss Kimbers @ Fruit Salad and Mixed Veg

    January 03, 2012 at 6:19 am

    Correct – the consumer controls everything. But sadly a lot of people complain about food prices, but they would be too lazy to go to the market and support the little guy. Then they complain that tomatoes in Winter do not taste as good as they do in Summer…you do not eat tomatoes in Winter! He is exactly right about tolerating some bruises and scratches on fruit. When I see a pretty display of fruit/veg in a supermarket all I can think about is how much was thrown out and was not good enough for the supermarket. I hope most of it goes to fruit production or some other use.

  5. barbara

    January 03, 2012 at 8:44 am

    Great post Amanda. I agree with him on all. I shop at my local fruit/vege shop who are next door to Coles. I can tell Coles deliberately undercut them on certain things, like blueberries. Especially when they place them right in your face as you walk in.

  6. InTolerant Chef

    January 03, 2012 at 11:36 am

    I think he’s hit the nail on the head in so many areas here! I especially like his idea of shop first,cook later. That way you get to really see what produce is at its peak- and on special!- and be more in touch with the seasons.
    I don’t drink much coffee either, my half strength lactose free decaf coffee is known as a Crapachino by the baristas at work ๐Ÿ™‚

  7. cityhippyfarmgirl

    January 03, 2012 at 12:57 pm

    oh a big amen! Tell Salavatore he can come and eat at my table any day.
    If only more people were exposed to this way of thinking about food. I feel like printing your post out and handing out to everyone walking into coles and woolies.
    … and no coffee? Oh sheesh, a delicate moment indeed Amanda ๐Ÿ™‚

  8. Ann

    January 03, 2012 at 2:04 pm

    Don’t feel too bad about not drinking Cibo coffee (or any other), I can assure you, that I make up for that!
    Cibo coffee is equal to the best in Adelaide, it certainly leaves some of the other franchise coffees for DEAD.
    I also love the toasted tuna wraps and sfogliatelles and to learn that he sources local ingredients where at all possible is music to my ears. I hate that the farmers only receive a very small margin from the retailers.

  9. Kath

    January 03, 2012 at 2:17 pm

    Nice to see yet another Italian- Australian chef and business person on board with a sustainable food philosophy. So much a part of Italy’s “food image” since Slow Food reached our shores. While SF has had its ups & downs in Australia (as you know well, Amanda!) it is still continuing here in Adelaide as just one of many places where people can meet up and share their enthusiasm for real food & preserving its origins. Happy New Year to all!

  10. celia

    January 04, 2012 at 4:17 pm

    What a treat to have him in SA! Impressive looking food there, Amanda! Sadly, I don’t drink coffee either…

  11. Hotly Spiced

    January 05, 2012 at 6:54 am

    I don’t drink coffee either! But I don’t mind coffee cake and coffee in other sweet things. I agree with so much of what you have said. We do pay far too much for fresh produce and the prices are controlled by the ‘Big Two’ who give the producers a very bad deal. I love farmers’ markets!

  12. Alyse

    January 05, 2012 at 6:06 pm

    I would have happily had that coffee in your place ๐Ÿ˜‰ Love his philosophy on food and sourcing itโ€“it’s so neat to hear of an Italian chef who doesn’t import all of his essentials, but finds delicious local options instead. Thanks for sharing your conversation with this inspiring man!

Trackbacks

  1. Day 326. Physics with Salvatore Pepe | Science for Life. 365 says:
    04/07/2013 at 5:41 pm

    […] of today I’ve been reliving my wonderful experience of a Salvatore Pepe cooking […]

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