Inside... I know, that my expectations were very high, but why should I lower the bar?
Here is a summary of what I expected and what I found.
1st chapter of the exhibition was titled - Indigenous foods. Sounds exciting - doesn't it?
I read many stories how nutritious bush tucker can be, how white explorers died of thirst and hunger in environment where Aborigines lived quite comfortably. And I always wondered - why there is not a single restaurant serving Indigenous food? Why? (If someone knows one - please leave me note).
The only feasible explanation so far, I found in a movie - Crocodile Dundee - "you can survive on it, but it tastes like shit".
And what was the answer at the Gusto exhibition? An archeological map of some river with marked places where Aborigines fished for eels. Explanation how eels were trapped supported by 1 photo. End of the story. Not much as for some 20,000 years of history and hundreds of thousands of people. They even did not bother to mention the Bogong Moth :(
Chapter 2 - Sources of food. It started promisingly - list of goods brought to Portland by the first settlers in Victoria - Henty Family. Unfortunately the list is quite faded, I managed to decipher only one position - a box of 50 knives. It wouldn't be too much effort to place alongside a readable copy.
Anyway - 50 knives sharpened my appetite - to what extent these people depended on importing food from Tasmania? When they became self sufficient? Whether they hunted local animals or ate whatever bred on their pastures? When they produced first crop? Is there actually any food harvested in Victoria at all? Question marks - question marks - question marks. The only answer was a big.. big.. bull....
Next chapter - alcohol - mostly copies of warning posters and prohibition campaigns.
Next chapter - II World War times - rationing. There is a page from food rations book - how interesting. But which food produce were actually rationed? What was food quota for say - 4 people family? Was there a black market for rationed food? Was non-rationed food easily available? There is a poster about cooking classes - how to manage on ratio cards alone. Great! But we have no chance to learn the answer.
Final stage of exhibition is a random list of restaurants, which were and some of them still are landmarks of Victorian culinary scene. Memories and sentiments soften my heart, but the brain still asks: what was the origin of China Town in Little Collins St? Why Lygon St is what it is?
The best part of exhibition is probably in the bookshop. Great choice of cookbooks written by Victorian chefs. My recommendation below...
