Tasting Australia Airlines (yes, the festival has its own airline) touches down in Coober Pedy with a plane-full of foodies eager to lap up a bucket list culinary collaboration between two of the country’s top chefs: Attica’s Ben Shewry and Africola’s Duncan Welgemoed. Fifteen years after my first visit to the historic opal mining town, the endless expanse of red earth that morphs into a moonscape of white mounds or shafts still fills me with great wonder. It’s a striking motif for over a century of prospectors mining for precious opal. 

“It was almost called Emerald city” local Anangu guide Tanya van Horen later explains of the official naming of the town in 1920, but the Progress Committee settled on the Aboriginal term “Kupa Piti” she adds, relieved, meaning “white man in the hole.”

Along the main street, the main business is naturally opals. Shopfronts with faded retro signs like “Star Opal” and “Opal Cave”, appear unchanged since the 1970s and 80s Opal Rush that attracted city folk and immigrants from around the world. Many of them stayed and incredibly make up 42 nationalities in a town of less than 2000 people. South Australia’s last remaining drive-in cinema is around the corner, and showing “The Lost City” with Sandra Bullock. I’d go, but Ben and Duncan are cooking.

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Squid in the Desert

Professor John Carty greets us at the Coober Pedy’s Big Winch 360 scenic lookout, offering spectacular views of the sunset-washed town for pre-dinner drinks and snacks. Back in Adelaide, he’s Head of Humanities at the South Australian Museum, and works extensively with Aboriginal artists and communities to tell better, richer stories about the Country we share. For the next 24 hours though, he plays a key role as part-host and part-cultural bridge between the Antakirinja Yunkunytjatjara (Anangu) Traditional Owners, chefs and guests. His presence is a sign that the decision to stage this culinary event in Coober Pedy runs deeper than the novelty of doing a “pop-up” in a strangely majestic desert town, and that we might be here to do more than eat.

Team Attica are serving a delicious mouthful of Filipino style devilled eggs, a nod to the town’s excellent Filipino owned bakery, CK Confectionaire. Meanwhile, Duncan is grilling succulent squid with native XO on the bbq. 

“Why did you just get a bit of a squid in the middle of a desert?” says John reading my mind, “Coober Pedy is a place that has all of the threads of colour from deep time, from 100 million years ago when this was a sea.” John goes on to paint a vivid picture of an arid Outback that was once the Eromanga Sea, with giant plesiosaurs and tiny ancient squid (belemnites) swimming around, their cartilage eventually fossilising over millions of years and forming into opals. 

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“It’s the most amazing expression of the complexity and beauty of this place, that most of us have no idea about” he says, “And that’s why you had squid. But there’s something far more precious and beautiful and colourful than opals that we want you to learn about, and that’s the human quality of this place…” 

The Chefs say a few words, but it’s not the usual platitudes. Ben Shewry just comes right out with it “you’re not coming to eat at Attica or Africola tonight, you’re coming to eat in Umoona (Coober Pedy).” It sets the scene for an emotional cultural experience few of us could have anticipated. 

The sun is setting over the desert as we take all this in. I marvel at the genius of this squid dish while listening to the beautiful story and song of local Elder and famous indigenous artist and musician George Cooley. It hits me that in all my years of exploring the Outback as both weather presenter and tourist, from the gorges of the Kimberley to the dugouts of Whitecliff, I’d merely scratched the surface. 

IGA Foraged Italian Miner’s French Fry Fritatta

As the sun sets, we’re ushered into the Big Winch 360 Cafe which overlooks the town and desert surrounding. On this night it is transformed into a pop-up gallery showcasing the work of established and emerging local Aboriginal artists from Umoona Community Arts.

“Fritz on Sticks” are passed around the room. “Being a New Zealander/Victorian, I wasn’t familiar with fritz until I came here to Coober Pedy” Ben says of this playful take on the iconic Aussie meat (basically manufactured trimmings, like devon) skewered with cubed cheddar and pickled onion. It’s nostalgic and delicious. 

“That is the IGA and that’s where we foraged” says Ben, pointing to the remarkable local supermarket just down the hill from our dinner venue, describing the provenance of our next dish, ‘IGA-foraged Italian Miner French Fry Frittata.’ This ridiculously tasty dish kicks off the sit-down part of our fairy-lit long table dinner which Ben describes as “super casual, fun and not fine dining.” It’s inspired by the local Italian Club’s simple menu (‘fish n chips’ and ‘not fish n chips (bolognese)’) and what an Italian miner might like to eat after a hard day’s work. Topped with chips and pecorino, slathered on kutjera (or desert raisin) focaccia, with fancy New Zealand tinned butter and pickled green tomatoes, it’s an umami bomb. 

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A visit to the local IGA the following day reveals a treasure trove of specialty foods, a testament to Coober Pedy’s rich multicultural community. Dozens of shelves are devoted to delicacies like pickled cabbage and gherkins, and an incredible array of Asian condiments from Malay pickle to Green Jak Curry.

Dessert is another highlight beginning with a ‘Native Honey Service.’ Served by Ben in a ceremonial, almost religious manner from a locally carved wooden bowl, each guest samples a teaspoon of the rare and expensive indigenous honey made by the native, stingless Sugarbag bee. Less viscous and slightly sour, it’s unlike any other honey – and arguably far more precious than those tiny imported fish eggs. Meanwhile, Duncan is serving a delicious Mulga seed ice cream in a cone, made from the ground seeds of the native Mulga Tree or “Umoona” as it is known to the Anangu traditional owners, which tastes remarkably like peanut butter. 

Breakfast at the Kanku-Breakaways

The following morning is dark and still at the Kanku-Breakaways, Country of deep significance to the traditional owners. As the sun rises, it reveals breathtaking coloured hills and an endless arid plain. It’s soaked up while tucking into a freshly baked, perfectly flaky vanilla danish from CK Confectionaire, making this one of the most memorable breakfasts imaginable. 

Throughout the morning, Anangu guides Tanya van Horen and Jonathon Fatt Clifton share story. At the famous ‘Dog Fence’ I marvel at the human feat of building and maintaining a wire barrier over 5,300km long across three states to keep the native dingo away from sheep country. But for Jonathan the fence represents a difficult tension. “I’d like to share what this means from our perspective” he says, explaining that for Aboriginal people this fence separates the ‘Two Dogs’, salt and pepper coloured hills of great cultural significance to the traditional owners, from the rest of Country. A familiar but striking expression of the Aboriginal meaning of a place interrupted by colonial ambition. But the story telling is warm and funny and heartfelt; part of a renewed cultural ambition for Anangu to create cultural tourism beyond the cliches, and to tell their own stories for Coober Pedy. “This distinct ability of many Aboriginal people to tell a hard truth while delivering with humour and dignity is a graceful and powerful skill that I’ve long admired,” Ben Shewry later reflects. 

Church Service

Back in town, carved into rock as deep as 17m below the ground, is the Serbian Orthodox Church. Built almost 20 years ago by volunteers , it’s an awe-inspiring example of the human spirit, faith and community in Coober Pedy. In the adjacent community hall, also underground, sandstone walls are adorned with photographs of clergyman in traditional garb with a shrine-like devotion to the local Soccer team. 

The intoxicating aroma of smoked meat beckons us towards the buffet. Our Serbian host Danny and members of his community have been tending to a slow cooked spit roasted lamb and pork for hours, which is served alongside traditional dishes like roasted Srpska Proja (Serbian cornbread) and Borek (Spinach, Fetta and Ricotta Filo). I’m blown away by the improbability of enjoying an authentic Serbian feast, in an underground church – and in the desert, no less.

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In between offering shots of Manastirka Slivovitz, a traditional Serbian plum brandy, Danny eagerly shares his exploits on the soccer field and in the mines with John and Ben, stories which Ben is only too happy to hear given it seems he too has caught opal fever. “Ben Shewry has spent the last 2 days visiting every opal store in town, he’s obsessed!” says John, “The amount of non-food related research that has gone into Ben’s opal journey is extraordinary!” (It turns out that opal fever runs in his blood: Ben’s father Rob mined for opal in Coober Pedy in the early 1970s while his mother Kaye taught in the local school).

It’s been a monumental 24 hours and the church with its multi-coloured stained glass ceiling offers a quiet, reverent place for reflection. My heart aches. I could attribute it to the sumptuous banquet or a restless night in the underground hotel, but the truth is, there is an unexpected emotional scale to this culinary experience. It’s clear that this was no fly in, fly out gig for Ben and Duncan, they are invested in this place, and what they crafted onto a plate provided a passage to a deeper connection. Then, and now, I’m overwhelmed by the generosity of the Anangu and Serbian people and the richness of Culture in this community. I try to unpack why I feel so moved after just 24 hours in Coober Pedy, when I recall George Cooley’s words from the night before, “you’ll hear the mainstream version of Coober Pedy and you rarely ever hear the Aboriginal interpretation.” I realise that despite exploring the Outback many times before, this is also my first time seeing Country through the lens of the traditional owners. 

We have 20 minutes before our flight, and the busload of guests scuttle like scorpions across the dusty main street  in search of a souvenir. I have little time to buy opals, but I make it to the IGA. I leave Coober Pedy with pockets full of tins of fancy butter and more importantly, a heart full of lifelong memories and a newfound connection to the Outback. I’m eager to learn and long to return.

Experience Tasting Australia for yourself, tastingaustralia.com.au

Image credit: Meaghan Coles

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