Vic Cherikoff
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Australian Chef Vic Cherikoff is am ambassador of Australian produce and an advocate for an authentic Australian cuisine. He is the host and Executive Producer of a television cooking show, called Dining Downunder ™, in which the many unsung heroes of the kitchens in lesser known restaurants around Australia get to showcase their under-promoted offerings. Vic and two celebrity chefs on the show put their own uniquely Australian twist on dishes inspired by the places they visit around the country.
Vic and his co-presenter Benjamin Christie specialise in unique native Australian cuisine quite unlike any of their Australian chef counterparts.
Vic Cherikoff began his career by studying biology and then moved onto clinical pharmacology - it was this he says that gave him the grounding for everything he does now. He is passionate about introducing the world to new Australian ingredients.
Many regard Vic Cherikoff as a visionary due to his passion for and commitment to commercializing his selection of over two and a half dozen traditional Aboriginal food and medicinal resources as the basis of an authentic Australian industry. He has also taken the foods and re-engineered them into more contemporary ingredients (concentrates, encapsulates, extracts, emulsions etc) ideal for the growing list of innovative manufacturers who use them and recognise the value in embracing the newest flavours from the oldest living culture on the planet.
Vic Cherikoff has written two landmark books on Australian foods; The Bushfood Handbook and Uniquely Australian, A Wild Food Cookbook. His newest and most recent book on the TV series, The Dining Downunder™ Cookbook (co-authored and co-produced with Benjamin Christie) continues the spread of his enthusiasm for indigenous foods to gardeners and professional growers, foragers and foodies, cooks and chefs and academics to exporters.
Vic first got involved in cooking whilst watching his mother cook her fusion dishes of Russian/Chinese and Australian cuisine and has cooked for many famous faces in his career the most memorable being Prince Charles and Lady Diana and the discussion they had following the meal.
The motivation and untiring commitment behind Cherikoff Food Services is Vic’s vision that both, Australians and other cultures will soon learn to seek out and appreciate those wild and unique flavours which make his unique cuisine modern and distinctive. Authentic Australian ingredients are the one influence unifying the many food fads of contemporary, multi-cultural Australia and he sees the spread of his ingredients around the world as the natural result of a twenty-first century Spice Trade.
Vic is passionate about his career which has enabled him to travel widely and talk about his favourite subject - Australian ingredients of course!! In his precious spare time he enjoys bush-walking in the Outback and riding his motorcycle.
click View Vic`s showreel on YouTube
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