AUDIO and GALLERY: Hatted Indigenous chef teaches San Clemente High School students about bush tucker

Friday, 27 May 2016, marks the start of National Reconciliation Week, a time that celebrates and builds on the respectful relationships shared by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and other Australians. 

In awareness and celebration of the week, Australia's only hatted Indigenous chef and TV presenter/star of ABC TV’s “Wild Kitchen”, Clayton Donovan, today visited San Clemente High School, Mayfield, for a cooking workshop.

Clayton taught two groups of 20 students from Years 9 and 10 how to cook one of his favourite meals, kangaroo lettuce tacos, and spoke to the students about sourcing plants from the bush and his experience foraging for amazing native ingredients.

The hatted chef also demonstrated cooking techniques and shared his food-loving journey, saying, "I started cooking when I was four years old.

"I always loved hanging around the kitchen and cooking with my mum," said Clayton. 

Once the tacos had been plated, students were then given the opportunity to garnish the meal, before eating it. 

Year 9 San Clemente student, Violet, said that her favourite part of the 90 minute food demonstration was "watching him make the food and eating it".

Clayton's Janning Tree Restaurant received hats in the Australian Good Food Guide four years running before closing the doors last year to focus his attention on pop-up restaurants and workshops.

Listen to Clayton's interview from this morning on ABC1233 above on SoundCloud. 

Learn more about National Reconciliation Week here

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Alyssa Faith Image
Alyssa Faith

Alyssa Faith was the Communications Manager for the Catholic Schools Office, Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle from 2016 - 2017 and a regular contributor to Aurora and mnnews.today.