people & produce

Our keynote speaker for 2023 is Sadie Chrestman.

Together with her partner Matthew Evans, Sadie runs Fat Pig Farm where they live and nurture food from the soil. Since 2011 they have been busy turning the one-time apple orchard into a mixed farm full of chooks, pigs, cows, goats, and a market garden.

In 2016 Sadie and Matthew opened their farm restaurant which operated as a lunch venue, event and workshop space. They hosted Farm Feasts a few times each week, taking what was great from the garden and turning it into meals shared around their extended farmhouse table in a purpose built dining room.

In 2023 they decided to take a break, and stopped hosting Farm Feasts and now intend to open for weekly lunches, mostly a Summer of Pork & Pinot.

Sadie perfectly embodies what Growing Good stands for. As an advocate of small-scale and biodiverse farming, of thinking big and acting local, and of community-focused approaches to food production and consumption, we are so excited to have Sadie speak at the event.

Stephen Peak will once again be overseeing operations in the kitchen for Growing Good.

Stephen grew up in Byron Bay, and it was both here and in Queensland where he trained as a Chef and worked in several high-end restaurants. During a stint in London, Stephen was part of a team at Paxton & Whitfield cheesemongers where he sourced cheeses from small scale dairy producers for the retail and wholesale markets.

In 2018, Stephen moved to Tasmania to work at the Agrarian Kitchen, where he is now Head Chef. It was on a previous trip in Tasmania when he visited the Agrarian Kitchen that he saw an opportunity to focus his cooking on what he is most passionate about; high quality ingredients from local producers. As head chef, he has been able to establish close working relationships with Tasmanian producers and growers bringing local ingredients to the forefront of high-quality dining in Tasmania.

In 2022 Stephen joined the board of Sprout, where his passion and enthusiasm for small-scale producers is invaluable.

Zac Green and partner Alex Sumner run The Waterloo Inn, delivering a great dining experience in the East Coast town of Swansea.

Zac will tell you he didn’t plan on opening Tasmania’s quirkiest beachside restaurant — but that’s exactly where he and Alex landed, taking over an ageing ‘surf and turf’ restaurant at Swansea’s Waterloo Point Motel in December 2021, and reopening it as the 40-seat Waterloo Inn one week later.  

The Waterloo Inn instantly became one of Tasmania’s rare “destination dining” country restaurants. It’s casual – more pub style order at the bar than full restaurant service – and a warm, relaxed space you can spend time & dine with family and friends.  

Zac will be serving the canapes for guests at Growing Good 2023, so expect delicious snacks that represent his style of cooking at the Waterloo.

Tom Westcott is the chef at Hobart’s famed Tom McHugos.

Tom grew up on a sheep farm on the Tasman Peninsula, which meant they ate a steady diet of mutton. Westcott reckons it wasn’t until he got into restaurants as a glassie and kitchen hand when he moved to Hobart to study media, that he first ate lamb.

It was the two years at Garagistes that transformed Tom into the chef he is today. It “opened it up as a career path for me, and made it apparent it wasn’t just about slapping food on a plate and flirting with waitresses.. and being a ratbag. It was actually about having some credibility, learning about food and being a part of what now in Tassie is a movement.”

Tom also worked at MONA and Franklin, and together with partner Whitney now runs Tom McHugos, which has a nose-to-tail philosophy and an emphasis on locally grown, seasonal vegetables. Vegetables will certainly be a hero of the entrée he will be serving at Growing Good.

Glenn Byrnes is head chef at the acclaimed Dier Makr in Hobart and will be responsible for the main course at Growing Good 2023.

Originally hailing from Melbourne where he began his culinary career at some of the city’s best dining establishments, Glenn soon discovered a love for the extraordinary quality of Tasmanian produce that inspired his move to the Island.

He has has previously worked at Garagistes, Aloft, Fico and Peppina and places a huge emphasis on supporting local producers and working with produce that is seasonal and ethically farmed.

Sophie Pope – pastry chef, forager, playlist maker and all round nature lover – is one half of Omotenashi Hobart the restaurant she runs with partner Lachlan.

Sophie and Lachlan moved to Tasmania from South Australia in August 2020, working at Dier Makr, Port Cygnet Cannery, and at Luke Burgess’ Seven and a Half, a 10-seat rooftop pop-up in Hobart.

Sophie is a formally trained pastry chef, but as described on Omotenashi’s website ‘can swap roles between cooking, serving and story telling with the aim to create an experience that is informative about the produce served and the methods and techniques behind the cookery.’

Sophie’s desserts are extraordinary, so get ready for something delicious when she rounds off this year’s Growing Good meal.