Page 6 - APN June 2017

19th - 22nd November 2017
Mark these dates in your calendar
19th - 22nd November 2017
The Australasian Pig Science Association is pleased to announce that
the 2017 APSA Biennial Conference will be held at the
Grand Hyatt
Melbourne, Australia
from
19th to 22nd November 2017.
Linley Valley Pork’s John Thompson got cosy with
LVP’s social media guru Rebecca Blackman (left) and PorkStar, RockStar, TVStar, none other than APL’s Andrea Kavanagh, who helps John ensure foodies
Mitch Edwards, clearly the star of this show. plate up Linley Valley style.
Five-star ‘Mitchelin’ Perth PorkStar
Registrations Open Now
Registration Prices Early bird ends 01/09/17
APL’s eastern states big guns Kylie Roberts, Peter Haydon and Melissa Johnson ventured across the Nullarbor to touch down in Perth for PorkStar 2017.
WAPPA EO Jan Cooper and Esperance pork pro- ducer Deb Hoffrichter shifted gears and seats to chew each other’s ears after Jan had finished chewing Rob Broadfield’s.
REGISTRATION TYPE APSA Member
Non-Member
Student APSA Member
Full Registration Day Registration Full Registration Day Registration Full Registration
Early Bird
825.00
455.00 1025.00 555.00 380.00
Full
995.00
455.00 1325.00 555.00 380.00
Visit the website for more details
www.apsa.asn.au
Page 6 – Australian Pork Newspaper, June 2017
www.porknews.com.au
AS always, I lapped up the fine food, wonderful wine and ‘cheffy’ con- versation at Perth’s Pork- Star dinner, this year staged by Northbridge Indian restaurant Sauma and oh-so-well hosted and MC’d by Australian Pork Limited’s man of the moment, Mitch Ed- wards, most recently and notably seen performing on the national stage in a reality TV show.
Five-star ‘Mitchelin’ or what?
Well, last night (May 29) Mitch put on his usual flamboyant performance, warming up the assem- bled gathering of top chefs, various foodies, fussy food writers, indus- try sideliners and even, to my great joy, a handful of producers.
Although the very suc- cessful PorkStar con- cept, now marching tri- umphantly deep into its second decade, plates up pork-flavoured dishes, served with a side of Mitch and chef commen- tary, it’s always refreshing to host the primary end of the pork production chain.
I had the pleasure of sharing a humble cor- ner table with Esperance pork producers Deb and Steve Hoffrichter, David ‘Plantagenet’ Plant, an APL director and Milne Agrigroup monogastric manager, as well as West- pork boss Neil ‘fitness’ Ferguson.
The Hoffrichters are al- ways a delight, Deb be- ing an out-there promoter and spruiker of paddock to plate pork and Steve, in his own quirky, grounded farmer way, delighting in his animals, while being never afraid to express a view on anything that im- pacts on his cost of pro- duction.
Most recently, he’s been hammering his disap- pointment at the closure of a local abattoir, which means he’s now deprived of a local and cheap(er) source of meat meal.
Producing pigs on West- ern Australia’s isolated southeast coast can be a tough gig, but the latest delight for the ‘Hoffys’ is their recent national win in an APL-supported fresh pork cut competi- tion.
They both assured me they had the best loins in the business and it’s now been recognised.
Cant Comment
by BRENDON CANT
No further Cant com- mentary necessary at this stage, but well done to them both.
I also spotted West Australian Pork Produc- ers Association EO Jan Cooper seated alongside The West Australian’s food writer Rob Broad- field.
Let’s hope Jan took the gifted opportunity to get into Rob’s ear about the benefits of WA-grown, fresh pork.
Rob probably doesn’t need much prompting, as he’s a big and very public fan of Linley Valley Pork, in particular.
This comes about, I think, from his long- standing mateship with Linley Valley’s John Thompson, a chef who de- velops fresh product lines for Linley Valley and does his best, day and night, to keep the brand before the probing eyes of the likes of Broadfield and his me- dia contemporaries.
APL’s Canberra office was well represented too, which was refreshing.
I don’t recall previous- ly seeing Peter Haydon, GM Marketing, at a Perth PorkStar event, albeit I know he spends a lot of time in the air and un- derstandably attends more geographically convenient eastern states PorkStar ex- travaganzas.
His ‘sidekick’ last night,
jovially described to me by Peter as his ‘boss’, was Melissa Johnson, Canber- ra-based marketing co- ordinator, Food Service, with APL.
Jokes aside, this prob- ably sums up PorkStar.
It’s always been a team effort and, at least in my view, one of the most marketable marketing concepts A PL has ever manufactured.
So, chef’s hat off to Mitch and his team for a job well done for so long.
May they keep it up, because at a time when producers are suffering from poor prices, the pull of demand from chefs and their restau- rants may well do a bit to arrest a decline that is beginning to hurt.
The author’s PorkStar ‘producer’ table, with token chef (right foreground).