why essential?

People are always asking, “Why does that taste so good, how did you cook it?”

Well, that’s a no brainer - I cook OK, but, and this is a big BUT (in big shouty letters) the secret is…always just source good ingredients and then cook with a bit of care.

For my menus, I get around a fair bit to source what I reckon is a balance between the best tasting, nutritionally sound, and lowest footprint foods I can find.

Good chefs can access ingredients that home cooks can't always lay their hands on. I wouldn't exactly say it's a black market, but there is a fair bit of wheeling and dealing, secret handshakes and that sort of stuff.

There's really only one way to find the right stuff…get your boots on, talk to the growers, find the good soil, hit the paddocks and get essential!

The essential range is just that, some of the best product I've come across in my travels whether it’s single origin kabuli chickpeas or baby red lentils from Yorke Peninsula grown by our own Mark Schilling; Tasmanian hand harvested wakame; or our newly released products - raw pressed red skin peanut oil from Queensland; or royal baby blue lentils from Rupanyup in Victoria.

It’s the stuff that I use, believe in and most importantly, that I know who grew it; how they grew it; and that the backstory to our food is sound, sustainable and fair.

So to answer that ubiquitous question, put simply good cooking starts with exceptional produce.

Now, start cooking!

Simon (Cooker & Dirt(y) Founder)