The right mix
Combining her two passions has led Dani Valent on an endless food adventure, writes
FROM being offered a sandwich by the volatile (in)famous chef Marco Pierre White, to being taught how to create the perfect toasted cheese sandwich using a sponge (yes, you read correctly!) by molecular-gastronomy champion and chef Hester Blumenthal, and to learning about how celebrity judge George Calombaris is planning for world domination, food journalist Dani Valent has certainly rubbed shoulders with the who’s who of the culinary world.
Boasting of a job that most people can only dream of — “I know! It’s been really amazing!” she exclaims unabashedly — Valent’s resume of travel writer, food reviewer, champion of juggernaut machine, the Thermomix, and author of Thermomix cookbooks is certainly impressive. And she isn’t slowing down anytime soon.
Her third cookbook has just come out and she’ll be launching her new website, www.danivalent.com soon.
Playing host at the recent Victoria Food and Beverage Trade Week in Melbourne, it isn’t hard to see her passion for food, particularly that of the Australian cafe culture and cuisine. There’s also something different, finer, and more philosophical to what she does. There’s so much more to food than just a meal, she said in her introduction at the opening of the Trade Week. “The Australian cafe culture is more about how people see themselves. It’s all about seeing life unfolding in our cafes and restaurants.”
The mother of three is more than thrilled to be a part of the food movement that’s taking Australia by storm. Her eyes light up as she talks about food and why it’s at the heart of every culture in the world. “It’s such a great way to connect people and their culture. It boils down to recognising that our attitude toward food from different cultures can feed into our attitudes about said cultures. Food is a sensory experience that can bring joy; it’s the feeling of warmth and care that come rushing back when eating a bowl of chicken soup similar to the recipe your grandmother prepared.”
Pausing, she adds: “The heart of Australia’s food culture is about connecting people back to the fresh seasonal flavours of home. and about attaching memories and stories to the food experience.”
BACK TO BASICS
Her memories of her own experience with food go back all the way to her roots. “I grew up in a family of very good cooks hailing from different cultures, and in an atmosphere where food played an integral role. My Jewish-Hungarian paternal grandmother was always cooking, while my Anglo-Saxon mum was a great cook herself,” she recalls.
Continuing, she shares that her sister turned vegetarian when she was just 10, and that choice had a lot to do with Valent’s current love of food. “My mother had to be creative in her cooking to feed a young vegetarian, and we all benefited from her attempts to expand her horizons as a cook!”
Chuckling, she adds that one of her daughters has followed suit, and so going vegetarian is something that’s often practiced in her own household to this day. “It’s a lot more sustainable and kinder to the environment.”
A travel writer attached to the largest travel guide book publisher in the world, Lonely Planet, Valent’s other love was writing. “It’s been a thread that’s run through my whole career. Writing is an amazing vocation. I had the opportunity to go around the world doing travel guides!” she says, pointing out that it involved a lot of detailed groundwork including checking on bus time-tables, going to youth hostels and checking on hot showers and bed bugs. “Not as glamorous as people think,” she Dani Valent’s latest Thermomix cookbook.