23 November 2010

GREEN FOOD generation: Book Launch, Art Gallery of NSW (23 Nov 2010)



You are what you eat

Author Hayden Wood is an award winning, globetrotting bartender. While his legendary love of all things liquid will never lose its lustre, his travels have led to the discovery of a passion for good food: Sustainable, free-range, organic, biodynamic, local, ethical – and delicious!

Thanks to Melissa from fooderati for inviting me along to this book launch held in the Members Lounge of the Art Gallery of NSW. Before the launch guests were treated to a private tour of the latest exhibition 'David to Cézanne' which had some remarkable illustrations being displayed from the privately owned collection of Louis-Antoine Prat. Wines were sponsored by the family owned Taylors and they promoted their Eighty Acres range of wines to be 100% Carbon Neutral which also use a new LEAN+GREEN Light Weight Glass for the bottles. Plenty of canapes were served and my favourites were the nicely presented Smoked salmon with orange canape and the simple yet tasty toothpick canape of Olive, basil, bocconcini and sun dried tomato.

Hayden Wood aka Woody is certainly a passionate foodie and speaker and his love for the greater community shines through when he introduced Ronni Kahn from OzHarvest and explained how 10% of the sale of every book (RRP $39.95 AUD) will be contributed to OzHarvest and their expanding food rescue program across Australia — a very honorable thing to do indeed. It was heartwarming to find out that OzHarvest provides food to over 200 charities who provide support to many individuals in need. As Not Quite Nigella found out it's around 5000 meals a day with a single meal costing less than $1. I look forward to reading through the recipes and culinary adventures of the book which is full of yummy food photos and there's some lovely illustrations by Esmeralda Wood as well. Personally I hate wasting food and I'm slowly learning more about the better choices we have as consumers about where and who we can buy our food from so I think this book will be an inspirational read at the very least.

Hayden Wood aka Woody talking about his new book

Ronni Kahn from OzHarvest being introduced by Hayden Wood

Hayden Wood book spread

Ronni Kahn book spread

Curtis Stone foreword. Being the Coles ambassador I'm thinking this might not be the best choice because I'm not too sure how local and ethical Coles actually is and on any given day I much prefer the quality of produce I find at my local fruit and vegetable shop.

Book production credits. I know it's pretty cheap to print books in China but I hope the carbon points weren't too high.

Other books by Hayden Wood

Taylors Eighty Acres Clare Valley Chardonnay 2009

Taylors Promised Land Cabernet Sauvignon SA 2009

Taylors Eighty Acres Clare Valley Shiraz Viognier 2008

Taylors Promised Land Pinot Grigio SA 2010

Smoked salmon with orange canape

Olive, basil, bocconcini, sun dried tomato canape

Smoked salmon and brioche roll

Prawn and seafood extender sandwich

Vietnamese fresh roll


Pumpkin mini quiche



Private tour of David to Cézanne


Goodie Bag including a copy of the GREEN FOOD generation, a Victors Food oven mat, a nectarine and mini pecan pie tart from Wanaka Orchard & Oakdale Nuttery, a small slice of Margan Tripple [Triple] Choc Brownie, and a banana which I'm assuming is from Organic Food.


An important message about the nectarine in the goodie bag


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6 comments:

Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella said...

Nice writeup Simon! I think OzHarvest do a great job so it's fantastic to see so much of the book sales going to them

Unknown said...

Great report Simon! Yes Woody's done a blinder with this one. Full marks to Taylors wines for supplying us with their lovely carbon-neutral wines to go witht he great nibbles. I enjoyed the night so much I was one of the last to leave and just missed out on a goody bag...D'oh (that'll teach me)

Myriam @ Detours said...

Great post, Simon! This definitely sounds like my type of books, so it's going strrrraight onto my Amazon wishlist for Xmas. Very generous donation to OzHarvest too...

Tina@foodboozeshoes said...

"Seafood extender sandwich"...? :P

Rebecca @InsideCuisine.com said...

I can see my curly red hair in one of those photos! good to see you - thanks for sharing your night Simon here and there and also for how generous you are with leaving comments on my site *smiles* @frombecca

Simon Leong said...

hi lorraine, thanks. i think it's a great cause and there should be less waste and more sharing of food these days.

hi nicolesenior, that's a shame you missed out on the goodie bag. good to hear you had a great night though. perhaps Woody can sort you out

hi myriam, hope you enjoy the book. i think it'll be a great read.

hi tina, i think so. there was definitely prawn pieces but also that seafood sticks chopped up which i call seafood extender.

hi rebecca, was great meeting up and hopefully will see you around the foodie traps again :-)

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