The Australian Bite

Marysville lunch a step on the road to recovery

26 March 2010

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 This week the Australian Bite travels to Marysville, a Victorian town virtually razed to the ground in last year’s bushfires.  A year on, the mood is positive as the locals and visitors get together to celebrate an outdoor lunch as part of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival.  We also hear about the new “Asia Literacy Ambassadors” program that’s just been launched in secondary schools, and go asparagus picking in the wee small hours of the morning.

A long lunch in Marysville

The Victorian town of Marysville is proudly declaring that it’s back in business after the devastating fires of February 2009. Last weekend it hosted one of 24 regional long lunches as part of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival. The yearly event is aimed at showcasing the local produce of the region; and with the former venue destroyed, this year’s lunch was held outdoors on the river flats of the Steavensons River, and billed as a celebratory recovery. Reporter Margot Foster was there.

You can watch a video of celebrity chef Jamie Oliver  the Marysville World’s Longest Lunch here

It’s over for this year, but you can check out the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival website here

Asia Literacy Ambassadors to inspire Australian students

A new government-sponsored scheme is being launched in Australian schools. It’s called The Asia Literacy Ambassadors – Partnering Businesses & Schools project, and under this scheme, Asia-savvy business professionals are being matched to secondary schools across Australia. The idea is that by sharing their stories and experiences, these so-called Asia Literacy Ambassadors will encourage students to appreciate the wide range of career and life opportunities that are open to young people who have an understanding of Asian cultures and languages. Andrew FitzSimons, the principal of Dapto High School near Woolongong in New South Wales is excited by the scheme, and he explains why to Heather Jarvis.

More information at the Asia Literacy Ambassadors website.

Harvest in the dark

Most of us are still sound asleep at 4.30 in the morning. But not so a team of workers in Merbein, in the north-west of Victoria. It’s asparagus season, and they were out in the paddock, harvesting the delicious green vegetable under cover of darkness. Reporter Nikolai Beilharz dragged himself out of bed a little earlier than normal to find out why asparagus is harvested at night.

You can see pictures of the harvest on the ABC Rural website

Music (not in podast)

She burst on to the music scene in 2008 with her huge hit Sweet About me. Here’s Gabriella Cilmi with her latest single, On a Mission from her new album Ten

 

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