Food Safari 2 with Maeve O'Meara
Madman, (E)
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By Sarah Norris
The Food Safari concept is so simple, it’s genius. Take a culture and community that has made Sydney its home and explore the amazing flavours and mouth-water foods and cuisines that make it unique – and at the same time give the viewers a practical guide and reference point to what makes these countries tick.
Run on SBS, this is the second series led by the easy to watch and uniquely dressed Maeve O’Meara, who competently continues her fascinating globetrot across Australia. Covering the food of Japan, France, Indonesia, Malta, Singapore and Mauritius, among others, she takes us behind the scenes and into the kitchens, and home kitchens, of some of Sydney’s best chefs, including Tetsuya Wakadu, Guillaume Brahimi and the queen of Asian cooking in Australia, Charmaine Solomon.
Under the guise of ‘making the exotic familiar’, each episode takes you on a detailed journey, giving you a rundown of the essential ingredients of each cuisine as well as all the important recipes – everything from hawker foods to a la carte.
Although primarily a series for food lovers, Maeve O’Meara’s Food Safari offers much more (MM’s manifold riffs on ‘Yum!’ for starters). Not only does it give you a warm fuzzy feeling when you realise that yes, Sydney is a rich tapestry of beautiful cultures; but it also makes a world of amazing flavours and aromas available to you in your own city. Don’t watch it on an empty stomach.