The Truth and Love about Fervor

We asked every restaurant in Truth, Love & Clean Cutlery to complete a survey detailing their passions, processes and philosophy. Discover more of our restaurants’ stories in their own words.

• WHO: Paul Iskov, chef
• WHAT: A unique roaming restaurant with a focus on native Australian flavours
• WHERE: 68 Pinnacle Ave, Ambergate, Busselton WA 6280, Australia plus other locations – see website

When it comes to your restaurant or establishment, what are you most passionate about?

"The idea for Fervor came about after completing a year-long staging trip in 2012 that took Paul to many of the top restaurants around the world, such as D.O.M., Noma, Pujol and COI. These places all focused solely on using ingredients native to their location, creating fresh, exciting dishes that could only possibly be tasted at their utmost best from where the ingredients originated. Although Paul had previously worked with a handful Australia’s more common native ingredients, it made him wonder why the majority of these native ingredients were absent and not even heard of in current Australian cooking. And so, upon returning home with no money but armed with great passion, a huge thirst for knowledge and a desire to learn, Fervor was born.

"Over the past five years, Fervor has been constantly learning. Not only about the food, but about the amazing stories and culture of Australia’s First People, who have researched and used these ingredients for millions of years, at the same time being mindful and taking care of the land whilst doing so. The team at Fervor makes every effort to visit and engage the people and communities at every opportunity. They have been introduced to new languages, shared stories, cultures and flavours, and made life-long friends along the way. Fervor believes that with the environment being at a very fragile point, we need to look to the Aboriginal people for advice on how to better take care of our land, and make sure it is a priority to document and keep this age-old culture and its ideas alive."

There are many different ways to practice sustainability and integrity in hospitality. Give us some examples of an action or principle that is important to you.

Locality: "At the end of the evening a short speech is made to encourage people to think about sustainability, supporting local producers, and the importance of removing rubbish from bush land and forests. We educate people about native plants, which require considerably less irrigation and attention than introduced plants, and encourage them to buy Australian native food products, which support native food farmers who use non-invasive farming methods. By planting native plants from your own region, you are providing a habitat for native birds and insects, and help to maintain the character and identity of the area. You also help maintain the balance of nature. Furthermore, local plants cannot become garden escapes or environmental weeds, which are costly to remove from riversides and bush land. Some introduced plants, even those from other parts of Australia, can become weeds and take a toll on precious water supplies."

Sustainability: "Fervor has a huge focus on sustainability! Fervor has set up a native garden and has a foraging license to pick their own produce, reducing food miles by not having produce delivered. Native plants and trees require very little irrigation and grow extremely well in the wild, so water consumption on the garden is minimal. Fervor only uses organic cleaning products, so the small amount of water used in the kitchen runs off into the gardens. Rainwater is collected in the winter, stored and then carried to events and used as needed.

"The base kitchen is designed as passive solar and Fervor maximises the use of natural daylight, only turning lights on at night time if occupied. Switching off a typical fluorescent light for one hour in each working day will save 30kg of carbon dioxide emissions annually. Minimal gas is used in the kitchen and cooking is normally done over fire and coals, with wood collected from friends’ farms. When on location at a remote dinner Fervor is self-sufficient and only uses 8-10 deep cycle batteries for all of their power requirements. A rechargeable lighting and music system is used. All batteries are recharged with 3 x 140W, 1x200w and 2x 250w solar panels.

"Fervor also has a ‘no waste’ policy, and prepares only as much food as is needed for each dinner. At the commercial kitchen, all scraps are composted. They use cardboard boxes in the garden as mulch and any other recyclables are taken to the recycling centre five minutes from their base location. At all dinners they have recycling bins, which are taken off-site with them. All containers used are cleaned and reused again, so there is little to no rubbish. All staff are on the same level and they are working towards a waste-free kitchen. Fervor is looking at using leading Australian restauranteur and chef Joost Bakker’s philosophy with the closed loop organic composted system, aiming to reduce waste to almost zero."

Fervor

Community: "Fervor consults with local Indigenous elders to ask for permission where there is a site of importance to the Indigenous community, and as consultation regarding the native produce in the area. Although they forage certain less significant ingredients, they prefer purchasing it from Aboriginal-owned and run companies who grow or wild harvest these ingredients, or forage with elders who guide and educate them about how these plants grow and the story behind them."

Health & well-being: "Native Australian ingredients are some of the healthiest foods in the world! Gubingue or Kakadu plum has the highest vitamin C content of any tested fruit in the world and has five times the amount of antioxidants found in blueberries. Kangaroo is open-range, with almost no impact on the land compared to cattle, sheep, goats and camels, that ruin the soil. Kangaroo has less than two per cent fat and is wild-harvested. Currently there are more than fifty million kangaroos in Australia, so there is no shortage."

To read more about Fervor, visit their Truth, Love & Clean Cutlery profile here