Foodscapes
It’s dusk at Parramatta Park in Western Sydney and the jacaranda trees are still flowering amidst the lush summer greenery of this treasured community gathering place. Inside the restaurant Misc. on the banks of the Parramatta River a hundred guests are pulling apart steaming wood-fired pita made with wheat flour and cricket protein, dipping hunks into hummus with cricket harissa and labneh with ezme salsa and mealworms.
This is the starter course of an insect-themed tasting menu that has been carefully crafted with the guidance of Skye Blackburn, an entomologist and founder of Circle Harvest, a world leader in edible insect farming techniques and Australia’s first and largest insect protein farm. ‘Tonight is a very special occasion,’ Blackburn says. ‘Elsewhere, there are restaurants that might serve a couple of insect dishes, but this is the first time in Australia where we’re doing a full restaurant takeover, with an all-edible-insect menu.’
Circle Harvest also makes what Blackburn humorously calls ‘gateway bugs’ — insect-filled lollipops and cricket corn chips with BBQ flavouring — but the goal this evening is to further her mission to nudge insect proteins from the novelty fringes right into the culinary mainstream. ‘The chefs at Misc. understood the assignment right away when we were developing the menu,’ Blackburn says. ‘We’re not using the insects for the shock factor but presenting them in lovely dishes, showcasing their flavour and texture.’ Misc. owner (and Gogglebox TV show favourite) Jad Nehmetallah describes the collaboration with Blackburn as a ‘journey of creativity and innovation’ and the insect tasting menu as a ‘testament to the ability of our chefs to push the boundaries while staying true to who we are’. Next up, there’s cacio e pepe with roasted mealworms, a mid-course of passionfruit and ant sorbet, and mains of chicken involtini with miso butter and crickets (accompanied by sides of charred broccolini drizzled with hazelnut and ant vinaigrette, and chips dusted with cricket ‘crack salt’). And for dessert: a pavlova with strawberry compote, garnished with tyrant ants (native to Australia). They’re named for their bullying behaviour, which might reduce any guilt about eating them with relish. The farmed-in-captivity ants have a surprising citrus-sweet zing and the satisfying texture of poppy seeds. ‘This dessert was my daughter’s favourite when we did the menu tasting at Misc. back in June,’ Blackburn says. ‘Since then, almost every day, she’s been asking to have it again!’
