OUR FOOD PHILOSOPHY

OUR FOOD PHILOSOPHY
Suzi McKay, proprietor and chef, is brains and passionate entrepreneur, the dreamer behind Harvest Home – the enterprise.
Much like the ideas of Alice Waters, one of Suzi’s inspirations, Harvest Home is built on a sustainable concept in the agriculturally rich Goulburn Valley. With gardeners Brian and Jessica, Harvest Home grows 90- 95% of the vegetable produce that is offered and served to guests at Harvest Home.

FROM GARDEN TO PLATE TO PALATE
The gardens and grounds of Harvest Home supply much of the produce served at the restaurant, which also features local wines of the region.
Sourdough bread is baked daily and fish, meats and small goods smoked on site, whilst organic vegetables and fruits from the garden are utilised in season or preserved.

The availability of locally farmed or sourced produce dictates the menu’s in the various dining areas of Harvest Home.

Suzi really loves to encourage other people to follow their hearts; much like her own; and to be passionate about what they produce. The honey offered for breakfast at Harvest Home is made by Bob, the Bee Man who lives in Avenel and has a passion about Bee keeping and providing Harvest Home with fresh honey for guests’ breakfasts.
 
Several years ago, a young lad under the guidance of his knowing father phoned and offered several brace of rabbits for sale. Suzi prepared him by saying “yes please” to the rabbits, but also,” they need to be young, freshly caught and female”. “Do you know how to sex a rabbit? To which the young lad replied ‘yes’. She continued, “ The older Bucks are too gamey and tough for the restaurant. If you know the difference, bring them in.” When the young lad arrived, not only did he have the correct game, but also his (guiding) father, who marvelled at the Hotel he himself supplied as a young lad 30 years previous to this. He remembered when he was a kid, much the same age as his son, seeing the Hotel in very different circumstances to what Suzi has transformed it into, the last 18 years since she has owned it.

“My focus has always been that if we don’t grow it, we don’t use it.”
interview with Suzi McKay, article Annette Madjarian,  Australian Gourmet Traveller Wine, Dec 2003

SLOW FOOD
Harvest Home’s philosophy is very much in keeping with the Slow Food movement around the world. Suzi’s vision and dream to prepare food that she has grown, so that it is seasonal and full of flavour on the palate, is time honoured ‘real food’ tradition that is the basis of the organised movement that promotes these ideals. Suzi is full of support- “so many people have never tasted anything straight from garden to plate and so the Slow Food movement, growing in countries around the world including Australia, needs to be commended. It is great to see that Farmers markets are growing in popularity as they too support the intake of seasonal produce and small local growers.”