Taste Of Home

Native plants are about history, culture and responsibility as much as flavour, writes PAULETTE WHITNEY.

- Paulette Whitney

This will be the hardest thing I’ve written so far. Because I know I’ll get it wrong, but to not try is perhaps worse, so open your mind, please forgive my missteps, and join this conversation.

I began my career growing Tasmania’s wild plants, and, having a penchant for novel ingredients, I was fascinated by them. Later I worked with chefs whose search for new flavours created demand for my knowledge, and I was off – finding wild plants for dinners on remote islands, working on a documentary about foraging chefs, and selling Tasmanian edible plants at my market stall.