BEST NEW TALENT Ali Currey-Voumard The Agrarian Kitchen Eatery, New Norfolk

Ali Currey-Voumard started cooking as a teenager, first in her native Tasmania and then in Melbourne where she worked in the Andrew McConnell stable of restaurants, including a stint front of house at Fitzroy wine bar Marion. She returned to Tasmania to take the lead at her first kitchen at the age of 25 and has shown impressive maturity and nerve in the face of an avalanche of accolades and attention that the New Norfolk diner has received since it opened last year. She’s also proven to be a clever and dexterous chef, able to thrive within the challenges of a strict philosophy of using only sustainable, seasonal, locally and ethically produced ingredients. As a diner you don’t notice the effort; Currey-Voumard’s food is bracingly tasty, often playful, always comforting. Currey-Voumard says that running a kitchen has changed her priorities a little. “Initially it was all about the food and respect for the ingredient,” she says. “Now I realise that you have to have respect for your staff and how they’re feeling, too. It used to be that fun was a dirty word in many kitchens but I’ve come to realise that if you and your staff are having fun then that is absolutely going to be reflected in the food you’re cooking.” Her object now is to make sustainable staff as big a priority as sustainable ingredients. It’s an attitude that bodes well for Tasmania’s culinary future.

The Agrarian Kitchen Eatery, 11a The Avenue, New Norfolk, Tas, (03) 6262 0011