Vic Cherikoff
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Vic Cherikoff is regarded as an authority on Australian native foods and is a pioneer of the Australian native foods industry, having been involved in the selection and commercialization of many of the 35 or so indigenous Australian plant foods and spices now in the market place.
He is an author of three books, a contributor to countless articles and interviews, author on numerous scientific papers. He actively encourages chefs to embrace an authentic Australian cuisine through his cooking show (Dining Downunder) which has screened in 48 countries and which he funded, Produced but hosted along with chefs, Benjamin Christie and Mark McCluskey. Together with Benjamin Christie, Cherikoff also runs Australian cuisine promotions around the world including recent events in Prague, Moscow, Phuket, Guam, Newport (Rhode Is, USA), Nagoya, Osaka and more, often working together with Austrade and leading International hotels.
In the 1980s, Cherikoff worked in the Human Nutrition Unit of the University of Sydney researching the nutritional value of Australian native foods with Dr Jennie Brand-Miller. Cherikoff has a Bachelor degree in Applied Science from the University of Technology and a background in research in clinical pharmacology as well as nutritional science.
In the mid-1980s he started the Bush Tucker Supply Co., which later became Cherikoff Rare Spices, a division of Vic Cherikoff Food Services Pty Ltd. This wholesaling and product development business markets indigenous ingredients to the more innovative and creative chefs in restaurants around the world; provides ingredients to manufacturers in the food, beverage, nutritional supplement, other functional food and cosmetic industries; and is involved in publishing and television. As a wholesaler, Cherikoff played a critical role in the early development of the Australian native foods industry by connecting the regional native foods movement with the market place, networking with Aboriginal communities for supply and working with other bushfood industry pioneers.
Cherikoff has authored several books on Australian native food, including The Bushfood Handbook was a best-seller in the local market and publicly defined the emerging industry. His next book was a cookbook, Uniquely Australian, A wildfood cookbook and it sold over 12,000 copies in Australia and this has been followed up with the Dining Downunder Cookbook, co-authored with Benjamin Christie and which is the only book currently in stock.
Cherikoff has continued to play a prominent role in the development of the ingredients themselves to suit the modern kitchen and manufacturing processes (soluble essential oils, encapsulated products, infused oils, super-critical CO2 extracts, proprietary blends and formulae etc). He has also expanded into retail products in an attempt to provide more discerning consumers access to these impactful, versatile and delicious ingredients.
He continues to market and promote native Australian ingredients, both domestically and internationally, as the basis of a unique cultural cuisine and was recently nominated for the Australian of the Year award 2007.
[edit] References:
- Cherikoff, Vic, The Bushfood Handbook, ISBN 0-7316-6904-5
- Cherikoff, Vic, Uniquely Australian, ISBN 0-646-07470-9
- Cherikoff, Vic and Christie, Benjamin, The Dining Downunder Cookbook, ISBN 0-9752021-0-3
