Tablewares: opened by Tim Pak Poy
Anders expected my participation to add a bit of extra to the day and I’m sure Anders thought it would be good to get me out of my little rarefied box on Oxford Street - deals had to be reciprocal you see, you had to leave something in it for the next man, that was the way he worked. So I agreed to it if only he would make the vessels for use on the day, which was my way of reciprocating. I had in mind 1000 pieces, 500 in earthen ware and 500 in porcelain, I felt quite safe. He looked at me askance, one eyebrow raised in fierce concentration. I jumped in with a story of Indian chai wallahs in the 80’s parading alongside the carriages pulled up at railway stations selling hot tea in little earthen ware cups. Yelling ‘chai chai’ they would pass the cups through the bars of the open windows and take a few rupees as payment. The customer would simply throw the vessel out the window when finished where it would smash into pieces. The canny chai wallahs would wait for the train to pull out then rush to sweep up the remnants to be ground and added to the next round of slip casting. Slowly a glint began to appear in Anders eye; the concept was quickly mapped out on the back of a cigarette box and agreed upon. This was how deals with Anders were done. After which work began, quietly and in earnest, with regular progress meetings. On the day we offered two versions, a spicy curry with fresh herbs in the earthen ware bowl from the Wharf Restaurant and a fine smoked salmon consommé in the Limoges porcelain beaker from Claudes Restaurant. The two restaurants I operated at the time. Later that day a friend came to us horrified at having seen people throwing the beakers in the rubbish bins. Anders and I glanced at each other and smiled, I’m sure they thought we were quite mad. As it turned out some began searching the bins for discarded beakers. Shades of the chai wallahs? And of course they now use polystyrene cups and signs ask customers to break the cups before the throw them to avoid the being recycled. So the earthen ware has been replaced by plastic, the samoosa’s by white bread & processed cheese with the crusts cut off… this began our conversation about the vessels we use at table. We looked back to the early 80’s when the wide shallow Italian pasta bowl first landed in Sydney at Chefs Warehouse. It changed the way we ate. No longer did we have to serve soup in dinky little bowls prescribed to us Victorian England. We could now serve wet dishes from bouillabaisse to pot au feu which would never have worked on a flat plate or a dinky bowl. The wide shallow pasta bowl revolutionized the Sydney dining table. Vessels that funnel the aromas were required, that are conscious of the latent heat necessary, that direct the pour to the tip of the tongue to push the fruit to the fore. The inspiration for this is with us tonight from the hands of the masters in this remarkable collection of work. Thank you to Prue and Gwyn for curating and to Brett and Rex for bringing it together But touch changes the way we see things, we tend to snatch scent and strain to catch it again; damp tree bark, wet rabbit or mouse, sweet earth, lichen, forest floor; this is where memories begin. When something is so rare and shrouded in mystery, its presence gives cause to stop for a minute, the mind to still. The potters touch, subtle and delicate whilst powerful and intoxicating, both fleeting and As a cook I see the current popularity of food equating to our interest in eating but not to an understanding of the craft. With potential to inhibit young cooks focus on age old skill & craft, ‘gastroporn’ offers instant gratification to audiences but rewards with none of the associated sustenance - the gathering and preparing, the sharing and celebrating. If there is a message in this ‘conversation’ it might be ‘to hold on to the integrity of our vessels, our artists “The discovery of a new dish does more for mankind than a discovery of a new star”. BS 1826 Tim Pak Poy© |
Some years ago Anders Ousback asked for me to become involved with the Hyde Park community fair. The event held each year, restaurants set up stalls manned with volunteers to raise funds for HIV research; 100% of each item sold goes to the trust.