Since 2002, Tumbeela has provided our native food produce to a range of businesses looking for something a little different and special. Tumbeela customers include chefs, distilleries, cheese wrights, wineries, and of course, enthusiastic home cooks.
Over the years, hundreds of people have visited Tumbeela. Through our tour groups, we have introduced numerous Australians to a range of native plant foods, including our flagship product Lemon Myrtle. Few have come with any awareness of the edible aromatic herbs and spices, nuts and berries growing in the Australian bush. However, our visitors have tasted and smelled lemon and aniseed myrtle, mountain pepper, wattleseed, bush tomatoes and quandongs, with many experiencing these flavours for the first time. There has been no lack of enthusiasm!
As chefs have become more native-food savvy, and developed the skills andimagination to use them, increasingly they feature in the dishes on their menus. Customers readily accept native flavours when the dishes they are used in look good and taste good. Recipes featuring Lemon Myrtle in particular make frequent appearances in many restaurant menus, with this ingredient now known and enjoyed by customers.
Tumbeela customers, past and present, include:
The Hyatt Adelaide
The Hilton Hotel
Mt Lofty House
Woodside Cheese Wrights
Jock Zonfrillo (Orana restaurant)
Andrew Fielke—Creative Native Foods
Settlers Spirits Distillery
Something Wild
Baylies Epicurean Delights
Unico Zelo Winery
Southern Forest Green Tea
Tuckers Natural Crackers and Snacks
Mt Lofty Ranges Winery
Lot 100 Restaurant and Distillery
Short Stop Coffee, Barangaroo, NSW
and many others.
A tribute to Jock Zonfrillo
Jock Zonfrillo, celebrity chef, Master Chef judge and owner of Orana restaurant (and others) in Adelaide, was a great friend to Tumbeela. Jock immigrated to Australia in 2000. He became head chef of Restaurant 41 in Sydney, where he first used Australian native food in his cooking. In 2016, he started The Orana Foundation, to preserve historical cooking techniques and ingredients of Indigenous Australians.
Sadly, Jock passed away in 2023. Rest in Peace Jock.
“To our friend Jock Zonfrillo. Thank you for all the good times here at Tumbeela and for the wonderful dishes you and your team created. And thank you for being so kind to me when I cooked cakes for you. We will always remember you.” (Ewa and Warren)
