Paddock and Palm

Powerhouse Food: Producers launched in 2024 to explore local food production across Western Sydney. Over two years, the series took audiences inside the farms, factories, shopfronts and kitchens of some of the region's most innovative food and beverage makers through intimate, co-designed programs that shared the people, processes and stories behind their work.

On the glistening Hawkesbury River, Paul Aquilina and Gary Howard cast trawling nets for a bounty of school prawns. Gary is a second-generation fisherman; his family has worked these waters for more than three decades.

Paul started out volunteering on trawlers and has since become a multi-method fisherman in his own right. Together, they carry on techniques like eel trapping and fish meshing — methods passed hand-to-hand for generations, sustaining the local fishing industry.

From their small warehouse in Lakemba, Paldo Kimchi — Australia's oldest kimchi producer — makes 2 tonnes of kimchi a day, slicing, salting and brining cabbage mostly by hand, to a recipe passed down by owner Esther Choi’s grandmother.

A similar family legacy continues in Cabramatta, where the second generation of bakers at Vinata’s Hot Bread opens shop at 4.30am to serve fresh bánh mì — known to many as the best pork roll in the city.