You couldn’t move for pommie chefs in Australia this week.
First up it was Jimmy Doherty (you know, Jamie Oliver’s mate) in Jimmy’s Australian Food Adventure (C4, 8pm, March 1); close on his heels was the silver-haired Rick Stein in A Cook Abroad: Rick Stein’s Australia (BBC2, 9pm, March 2).
It was Aussie overkill from the outset, not helped by the fact the pair both hinged their trips abroad on the shift from a “pie and pints” diet in the country, to a resurgence in native ingredients.
You had to feel a little sorry for Doherty, though, whose producers chose a more back-to-basics style. While the Essex boy got up close and personal with a disgruntled saltwater crocodile amid warnings not to “move his hands too much”, the older and wiser Stein was feasting on Champagne, stuffed prawns and steaks at his Sydney holiday home.
Fast-forward 20 minutes and Doherty was foraging at Ayers Rock in sweltering heat with a native Aborigine who made him eat beans ground into a stone. Stein, on the other hand, was reminiscing on the “fantastic parties” he hosted while travelling around the country, one of which included him bedding a nurse, if you wanted to know (I didn’t).
Doherty’s grittier take on Australia’s gastronomic roots tickled the intellectual tastebuds with fascinating insights into sustainable living in the bush. Meanwhile, Stein bragged about how often he’s popped over to the Aussie coast over the past 50 years.
A well-pitched sentiment for viewers sheltering from the biting British wind, Rick.
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