Fact: food journalist Lee Tran Lam is fascinated by Aussie food stories. Our history is chockers with tales of streets paved with oyster shells, “the world’s first bakers”, the beer-to-Vegemite pipeline and more. But that’s all been covered in season one of the Culinary Archive Podcast, a food-fuelled six-part deep dive into our country’s history that Lam created with the Powerhouse. Season two launches this week, and it’s set to be just as interesting (and tasty).
“I love how the Australian appetite reveals so much about our culture,” Lam tells Broadsheet. “In the first season, I searched ‘tofu’ in the Powerhouse’s online collection and it revealed a stone quern owned by Phyllis Wang. She lived in China and in 1937, she dragged this granite mill all the way to Sydney because her husband had gotten a diplomatic posting – because how else would she get tofu here?
“There are just so many fascinating ways to talk about how Australians eat and drink.”
The next six-episode collection – with a starry bunch of guests – involves truffle-hunting with drug-sniffer dogs, connecting to Country via the world of bees, paying your taxes with seaweed and the origin story of the goon bag.
Here, Lam chats to Broadsheet about the magic of the series – and what keeps her working in food media.
Was teaming up for another season of the Culinary Archive Podcast a no-brainer?
I loved collaborating with the Powerhouse on season one – we launched in 2022, with an episode that told Australia’s history through oysters. Although they’re seen as a luxury today, oysters used to be so plentiful that our roads were literally paved with them. The city was literally built of oyster shells.
Thousands of years before settlement, you’d find middens across Australia – they’re amazing millennia-old examples of sustainability, shaped by Indigenous communities from leftover shells and other foods. They could track what they’d eaten by looking at the middens, so they wouldn’t overfish any particular species.
Oyster saloons run by Greek migrants (the predecessors to our Greek milk bars) were an important part of Australia’s food history, too. And today, leftover oyster shells collected from restaurants are being used to rehabilitate reefs and ocean habitats.
You can see how just one ingredient can tell such diverse stories about Indigenous innovation, migrant footways, eco design and so much more.
What is it that fascinates you about Aussie food stories?
[The fact that they can give a] wider snapshot of how much Australian food culture has changed. Not that long ago, you had to drag stone tools halfway around the world to make tofu yourself if you wanted to eat it! Today, you could head to your local supermarket, put your arm in the fridge and you’d probably be within reaching distance of three kinds of tofu.
Is there an episode in season two that stands out for you?
The seaweed episode was especially fascinating. People tend to associate seaweed with Japan, because of the nori that envelopes sushi or the fact that seaweeds are often described by their Japanese names – think kombu, wakame and hijiki. But seaweed use has existed in Australia for many millennia.
Indigenous water carriers – shaped from bull kelp by the Palawa people of Tasmania – are an incredible example of First Nations craft and innovation. The seaweed vessels are a sturdy and resourceful way to transport water, but the water itself also ends up fortified with iodine.
There’s also hope that seaweed could be a viable plastic alternative. Did you know there’s a seaweed start-up in Perth, called Uluu, which has backing from Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker?
Was there anything you were surprised to learn this season?
Isn’t it fascinating that you could pay your taxes with seaweed in Japan? I think we’d all scurry to the beach in Australia if that was the case today.
How did you choose who to invite in?
For the mushrooms episode, I knew we had to contact Chido Govera. I remembered her inspiring talk at the Sydney Opera House in 2016: she was expected to get married at age 10, to a man three times her age, in Zimbabwe. Growing mushrooms offered her economic independence, food security and a sustainable livelihood – and through her foundation The Future of Hope, she teaches disenfranchised people around the world how to grow mushrooms from coffee grounds or other waste.
For the seaweed episode, I knew we [needed] Emiko Davies – she writes so beautifully about the many ways it is used in Japanese cuisine in her wonderful Gohan cookbook.
And as soon as the Powerhouse brought up an episode on milk, one of my first thoughts was, “We need to chat with the team at Gelato Messina!”. Every one of their scoops is churned from milk produced by their herd of cows in Victoria. It was great to interview Donato Toce, who jokingly calls himself the “head cow milker and sugar hauler”.
What keeps you in food media?
Even though it can be challenging being a freelance journalist, the upsides power you through. It’s also a massive thrill to work with a vital institution like the Powerhouse on a podcast like this. I collaborated with a great team and we got to tell such a diverse range of stories.
You can tell so many stories through just six ingredients! I hope this inspires people to listen and connect with how food is so much more than what we put on our plate.
The Powerhouse is giving away 500 scoops of Powerhouse Milk, the ice-cream collab it created with Messina, at its Sunset Variations event on Friday January 31. Dairy-free options will be available.
The interview with Lee Tran Lam has been edited for length and clarity.