348. Jo Barrett: “Sustain”, An Exploration Of Sustenance For Ourselves & The Planet

What truly sustains us when it comes to food?

Taking into account bioindividuality, health, age, sex, geographical location, climate, regeneration and taste preferences, it’s not a black-and-white conversation at all, much as many try to make it and in this conversation, we explore it. We talk:

• What drives an everyday desire to cook well
• How even the best chefs get frustrated with the constraints of sustainability/limited resources (phew!)
• How not to be overwhelmed by new skill building in the kitchen
• How to find what inspires you
• How to make peace with the “grey area” and not always being able to make the best choices for the planet/you

One of Australia’s most inventive chefs, Jo Barrett, joins me to unpack her journey as a person and chef into connecting on a deeper level with food and our food system, cooking from “place”, from emotions and connection, as well as working to pioneer what’s possible with curiosity and creativity. Jo made her name at the acclaimed Oakridge Winery in the Yarra Valley, before joining the groundbreaking eco-living experiment Future Food System in 2021, which involved a year of living and working with fellow chef Matt Stone, in a tiny urban, zero-waste farm situated on the banks of the Yarra River in Melbourne's Federation Square, a project that famed regenerative superhero, Joost Baker, spearheaded as the ultimate anti-dote example to the destructive modern food system. It was a no-waste house complete with aquaponics, solar power, micro-farms, a charcoal tank and a rooftop garden, home to Matt and Jo, who spent their days harvesting, cooking and eating the food this 100% sustainable modern urban farm produces – while all waste produced by the house was fed back into the house’s systems: a closed-loop.

Jo recently opened the restaurant Little Picket in the seaside town of Lorne. Fearless and visionary, there is no one better placed to write the ultimate guide to cooking deliciously and consciously and her book Sustain, inspires and delights as it teaches us to get curious and learn new skills to sustain ourselves - and our planet - better each day in our daily lives at the kitchen table.

Follow @jobarrett on Instagram and check out her new book Sustain, out now.

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