Following an appearance at Cabin Fever, Dunsborough chef George Cooper will head to Carnarvon headlining at the Gascoyne Food Festival next month.
The two week event promotes WA to the culinary world where chefs will create a gourmet beach barbecue, long table lunch and tours throughout the region’s food producers.
Cooper joins a list of acclaimed WA chefs who have been invited to the festival to promote Gascoyne food which produces sweet corns, capsicums and watermelons.
“The food will be somewhat new to me, but a lot about what we do is about being local and sustainable, our philosophy is to work with local produce from the region we live in,” he said.
“I am quite excited to be able to go there and create a dish with ingredients from the region to the region.”
No stranger to food festivals, Cooper said these types of events were great because it was an opportunity to connect with other chefs and expand his knowledge as a cook.
On Saturday, Cooper joins Arima Estate head chef Evan Hayter to cook over the outdoor fire pit at the winery as part of the Cabin Fever event.
“I will be doing some interesting cooking methods over the fire, it is challenging because there is no control,” he said.
“A lot of my food is scientific, it is controlled and I know the end result, so I will go from scientific to cooking with nature, it is going to be interesting.”
Cooper said the Gascoyne Food Festival and Cabin Fever were great at promoting WA’s culinary skills to the world with the events attracting international writers and food critics.
“It is an excellent way of showcasing what we have as a region and as a state to the rest of the world,” he said.
“Gourmet Escape brings so much publicity and tourism to the region - and it is not only that weekend - it is ongoing throughout the year, it puts the region on the world map for food and tourism.
“I cook for people and they talk about Gourmet Escape, not that they had been, but they heard about the region through Gourmet Escape.
“People get to capitalise on it.
“I think it would be a shame if the event stopped, it brings such a wide demographic of chefs and celebrity chefs to the region who are all talking on social media, which brings new clients to the region.
“I do not think you can really judge how important that is.”
Next month will be Cooper’s first visit to the Gascoyne region and he was looking forward to getting his hands on some of the amazing produce and cooking alongside talented WA chefs.