Good food is better when its shared; Rodney Dunn speaks with Graham Ross.
Rodney Dunn and Séverine Demanet embarked on their Agrarian Kitchen journey in 2008, establishing their cooking school and farm within their home—a converted school house—in Lachlan, Tasmania. In 2015, captivated by the allure of the historic Bronte building nestled in New Norfolk's Willow Court—once a mental asylum—Rodney and Séverine envisioned a grander culinary experience. With its vast, expansive space, large windows, and lofty ceilings, the building beckoned to be transformed into a dining haven. Thus, in June 2017, The Agrarian Kitchen Restaurant emerged.
As their enterprise blossomed, the cooking school and garden found a new home within Willow Court. In the Bronte building's vacant rooms, a state-of-the-art kitchen took shape.
Today, visitors are invited to embark on garden tours, participate in cooking classes, or engage in workshops, immersing themselves in a world of culinary delights and horticultural wonders.
“We feel extremely grateful to be able to carry on our stewardship of this land from its first agrarians, acknowledging and paying respect to the Aboriginal people of lutruwita (Tasmania), both past and present and their contributions to Aboriginal knowledge and cultural practices.” —Rodney Dunn and Séverine Demanet.
Where did your journey with food begin?
As a bored teenager in country New South Wales, I started baking. I enjoyed the creative process of cooking, so I began a cooking apprenticeship when I left school and have been involved with cooking ever since. I worked in food media, as a food researcher for Better Homes and Gardens TV where I first met Graham, then as the food editor for Australian Gourmet Traveller, before moving to Tasmania.
How challenging was it to convert these old hospital buildings into The Agrarian Kitchen?
These buildings have character and amazing bones. We fell in love with the Bronte building the moment we saw it. We opened the restaurant and now the cooking school, in the same building.
The exercise yard of the old hospital makes a perfect walled kitchen and flower garden. Do you grow food here for your restaurant? Any particular favourites?
It’s the perfect garden space. We grow over 90 percent of all the food we serve in our business as well as the flowers we use to decorate the space. It’s a space for events, tours and classes aswell as dining. Each season brings its favourite vegetables. It’s hard to beat the tomatoes, they herald a pinnacle of the gardening year. I am always sad to see the last of them. I love the different colours; I have a particular penchant for the large slicing varieties.
What plans do you have for your cooking school?
The cooking school is where we started 16 years ago when we moved to Tasmania. Education has been the heart of The Agrarian Kitchen and runs through all we do. It’s been great to bring some of this country’s best chefs and get them to cook from our garden. We also run garden classes using the ‘no-till’ technique.
Some of your guests travel long distances to your Agrarian Kitchen classes. Is their accommodation nearby?
Our guests come from all over Australia and overseas. There is a range of accommodation nearby and excitingly accommodation is underway in another of the old hospital buildings.
Come with us!
Springtime in Tasmania, where you can discover some of Tasmania’s finest gardens, and meet Rodney Dunn over lunch at the Agrarian Kitchen. Led by Colin Barlow from 2–9 October 2024. For more information and to book, visit rosstours.com or call 1300 233 200.
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