Rachel’s Australian food odyssey begins… Rachel begins her eight week Melbourne food journey in one of the world’s most liveable cities. She kicks off the series with a wander around the European designed streets and samples coffee at the city’s oldest establishment. Rachel explores the oldest Chinatown in the Southern Hemisphere and discovers the importance the early settlers had on Melbourne’s food scene. On her travels Rachel also visits the new breed of restaurants whose food philosophy is dedicated to old school back to basics and fresh seasonal ingredients.

Everything old is cool again in the Melbourne food scene. Rachel digs deep into retro Melbourne and discovers another side to its very hip and bohemian food styles. She visits a traditional century old Milk bar. She samples a new take on a quintessential classic and cooks with Kate Gibbs, the granddaughter of the legendary Aussie cook Margaret Fulton.

Rachel continues her eight week journey of the cuisine capital of Australia. In this episode she explores some of the city’s suburban pockets and discovers an open-hearted food community. First up Rachel meets a kindred spirit and discovers some of the tastiest croissants outside Paris. Rachel will cook with expat Matt Wilkinson who is leading the charge in seasonal cooking and uncovers a not for profit restaurant.

Rachel takes a break from city life and spreads her wings on a road trip to the Bellarine Peninsula, a region emerging as the new ‘it’ area for foodies seeking local produce. Her day trip is full of inspiring food stories where she will meet up with local producers and providores, harvesting mussels, sampling fresh produce to create seasonal sensations and she even learns to milk a goat.

Melbourne prides itself on being the sporting capital of Australia. Rachel discovers what fuels the weekend warriors inside the city limits and shines the spotlight on the sports fanatics’ favourite gourmet fast food. She will cook with the city’s original Food Truck proprietor, sample some of the best Southern fried chicken Melbourne has to offer and visits a cutting edge craft brewery.

Immigration has played a massive role in shaping the food scene of Melbourne. Rachel explores Melbourne’s melting pot of authentic cuisines, wandering through the authentic Vietnamese areas, tracking down the popular suburban hot bed of all things Greek and learns how to create the famous tomato based Passata from an Italian Nona.