COLIN WOOD
CHEESEMAKER AND CHEF AT POLY, SYDNEY
His cheese has become one of the most coveted snacks of 2021. But its inception was part of a bigger journey, as the chef sought a more balanced and fulfilling lifestyle.
At the start of the year, my wife and I were in Perth and had big plans for a country lifestyle. We were going to live in a rural town in Western Australia with a fantastic opportunity, having arrived back from New York last year. I was lucky enough to get a position at a restaurant in Margaret River and we were really excited about that – we thought 2021 was going to be amazing.
We moved down there, and within three to four weeks of taking the position, I realised the culture of the workplace was not for me. It was a really difficult time for me and my partner and we decided to leave. It was the first time I had the opportunity to stand up for all the things I’d been talking about around mental health. We had no idea what we were going to do next.
My wife’s family lived in Sydney and we just felt that Western Australia wasn’t the place for us, so we decided to move to Sydney. I was very fortunate that a friend of mine – who was good friends with [chef-owner of Poly] Mat Lindsay – got in touch with him and told him what had happened. He welcomed me and my wife with open arms.
I think mental health stems from a good working environment and culture – I’ve talked a fair bit on social media about how work environments really foster the culture of how people interact and mental health. I see a lot of initiatives starting but this doesn’t talk about toxic work environments and the bullying that actually fuels poor mental health. I was able to walk away from a kitchen that was abusive and talk about it with others to say, “We don’t have to accept this anymore.” For 20 years that was how it was: you worked in a kitchen and put your head down. This is the first time in my career I’ve stood up and said, “This is not okay.” It shattered me at first, but reflecting on it over this year it’s empowered me to step up and talk to younger kids about these things and also have people speak to me about it.
When I got to Sydney, there were no plans to make cheese – then I made the Jersey cheese, and cooked it at Poly over the beautiful open fire, and the way that it came out was just amazing. We put it on the menu and it started to get some traction and people were excited by it. It just lifted my spirits – to have people tell me it was delicious and see the reaction on people’s faces, and see them order another piece, it revived a lot of passion.
When lockdown happened I talked to Mat and asked if it was a good idea to make it [to sell direct to the public]. When I launched it, it went crazy and sold out in 10 minutes. The first two weeks were some of the best weeks of my life. It was such a wonderful experience to meet all these people and set me up to meet a lot of the regulars that dine at Poly and Ester. It just kept growing exponentially.
I’m very grateful I did what I did – but it was getting tiring to do it all. At the end I was like, “I never want to see a piece of cheese again.” But wrapping it up I’ve been able to reflect on the experience.
I’d never envisioned myself moving to Sydney – I lived in Melbourne for 10 years before New York, and we never really had Sydney on the radar but since we’ve been here it’s been such an amazing experience, even through all the hardship, things going wrong and all that’s happened. I think what happened to us at the start of the year was one of the lowest points we’ve ever had, but since then it’s been such a welcoming, positive and exciting experience. We’ve had amazing people around us. With the cheesemaking, the support I got was incredible and it lifted me from such a dark place to such a massive high.