News bites: big food, big wins & big deals

Would you eat an edible water bottle? Because apparently they’re a thing. Or at least they will be. This week we bring you some insight into how Australians really feel about futuristic food offerings, along with the cheering news that the US seems to finally have cottoned on to how good Aussie wine can be. We think that calls for a celebratory glass of chardonnay.

One of the reasons why Australian produce is so darn ace is that we Aussies never do things by halves – we roll our sleeves up and dig right in to get the job done right. And when it comes to the mammoth pub meal we’ve shared with you below, that’s a very big job indeed.

Hungry? You’ll need to be

Holy moley, that’s a big burger. You’re looking at the Road Train Burger from Nindigully Pub in western Queensland. This gargantuan burger – which contains a 1.2kg meat patty, a whole head of lettuce and vegetables in a 1kg bun – also comes with French fries, onion rings and a selection of sauces, and will set you back $80.

The tiny township of Nindigully is located on the edge of the Queensland outback, about 530km west of Brisbane. The pub is possibly Queensland’s oldest hotel; the licence was issued in 1864 and the site was once used as a Cobb & Co changing station. Today, the town has a population of only nine people, but nearby locals, tourists and truckies are always dropping by for a refreshing beer and a chance to tackle the whopper burger, which certainly puts a Hungry Jack’s offering to shame.

Big business joins the plant party

With meat alternatives now decidedly mainstream, mega-big business is looking to get a piece of the plant-based pie. Case in point: Beyond Meat and PepsiCo have teamed up to create a range of snacks and drinks. Details are yet to be released about what these products will be, but the operations will be managed under newly created entity The PLANeT Partnership, and the products will be made with plant-based ingredients with no GMOs or bioengineered ingredients. Whatever the products may be, it’s certainly good news for Beyond Meat, whose share price surged following the announcement.

Dinner served in a petri dish? 

A recent YouGov survey in collaboration with magazine app Readly has delivered some insight into how adventurous Australians are when it comes to new food innovations. Clearly the growing awareness of climate change and sustainability is impacting our food choices, with 85 percent of those surveyed saying they were open to new food experiences, including futuristic or alternate food options. Some survey findings:

• 1 in 4 Aussies are willing to try lab-grown meat and fish, with this figure being 1 in 3 for those aged under 30.

• Just over 1 in 5 of us would have a go at eating an edible water bottle if it was offered. This was the food item that most people under 40 would be willing to try, but one that over 60s would steer away from the most.

• 1 in 5 would be willing to try DNA-based foods or algae if it was on the menu.

• 3D-printed food also garnered the interest of 16 percent of Aussies, but older Australians are sceptical, with only 5% recording a willingness compared to 1 in 3 of those under 29.

Top list of what we are willing to eat

1. Lab-created meat and fish (25%)
2. Edible water bottles (23%)
3. DNA-based diet (20 %)
4. Algae (19 %)
5. 3D-printed food (16 %)
6. Insects (16 %)

Aussie wine shoots into the Top 100 “world’s best”

Fowles Wine, a boutique winery in the Strathbogie Ranges, is putting Victoria’s wines on the world stage being named in influential Wine Spectator magazine’s Top 100 list for 2020.

Its Ladies who Shoot their Lunch Wild Ferment (2018 vintage) was the only Victorian vineyard to get a guernsey on the US mag’s annual list of “wines that generate excitement and wineries to watch in the future”, and one of only three Aussie wines to make the grade.

Fowles Wine is located in the foothills of the Strathbogie Ranges, an area blessed with the perfect combination of granitic soil and a cool climate – the ideal conditions for producing wine with character and elegance. Fowles Wine CEO Matt Fowles says the Ladies who Shoot their Lunch Wild Ferment is a nod to his passion for sustainable hunting and gathering, with the wines crafted to complement the textures and flavours of wild food.