Food Safari Earth

Maeve talks herbs and vegetables with Sydney chef Peter Gilmore in his extensive garden before delving deep into eggplant territory with Thai chef and restaurant owner Amy Chanta and her daughter Palisa Anderson at Boon Luck Farm in the NSW Northern Rivers. Melbourne’s Middle Eastern chef Joseph Abboud, re-imagines the golden smoky delight of eggplant in a dish he calls ‘the whole baba’ like the famous baba ganoush before it's blended. Then Maeve gets a rare insight into the science-meets-food-art kitchen of Sepia's owner and Executive Chef Martin Benn.

Maeve seeks out the deeply satisfying carbohydrates at the heart of many of the great dishes of the world. Indian chef, Ajoy Joshi shares his recipe for the textural delight that is gossamer, thin Indian dosa with spicy potato, sambhar and dhal. While down in Melbourne, she then visits pasta genius Alberto Fava who shows us how to transform durum wheat into silky sheets before shaping them into little ‘hats’ called cappellacci, before meeting Ethiopian bakers Karim Degal and his mother Meftuha Osmen who give Maeve a hands-on lesson in injera bread-making.

Spring is the season that chefs around the world look forward to most and Italian food legend, Stefano Manfredi harvests the freshest produce of the season for a Roman vignarola. Chef Chase Kojima reveals the secrets to a perfect tempura batter as Ibrahim Kasif is inspired by a Turkish spring and shares his dish of slow- braised broad beans. Maeve then visits the garden of Zimbabwean-born home cook Dorothy Johnson as she prepares muboora une dovi a recipe of pumpkin shoots and delicate flowers served with a rich peanut sauce.

Protein-rich beans have always been the heavy lifters of the vegetable world. In this episode, Maeve discovers the secrets of a classic falafel with Al Alseel's chef and restaurateur Faysal El-Abd. Culinary teacher Daisy Rajan shares her delicious recipe for Keralan green beans with coconut and Maeve also discovers how soy beans are transformed into silky tofu with the Kim family. And to finish, pastry chef Joao Cadete showcases his Portuguese tart using white beans known as queijadas de feijao.

Maeve explores the wild thyme known as za'atar and finds out how it is grown, dried before using it in a home-baked flatbread. Young Persian chef Sanam Janghorban creates a spectacular flavoursome fresh herb omelette kuku sabzi before Bangladeshi-born chef Tapos Singha showcases the whole spice blend known as panch phoron in a Bengali vegetarian dish called shukto. After this spicy bash, Maeve is then rewarded with a luscious Sri Lankan love cake baked by Debbie Solomon.

Tomato Day is the most special day on the Italian food calendar and Maeve joins three generations of the Baggio family in suburban Melbourne as they preserve the goodness of summer with a homemade passata. Italian food legend, Guy Grossi celebrates the seductive power of the vegetables known as nightshades (eggplant and tomatoes) with a delicious pasta dish, garganella alla Norma. With an abundance of fresh fruit over the summer, third generation gelato-maker Marco Enea of the Melbourne gelateria il Melograno whips up fragrant fresh strawberry gelato, Sicilian-style!