Over The Bridge Coffee Table Book

A new, limited edition coffee table cookbook dedicated to farmers and chefs of Phillip Island and Bass Coast was launched this week.

The book, called Over the Bridge, is the first of its kind for the area and features more than 30 stories, recipes and hundreds of photos, including landscape shots of the island and surrounding ocean.

Farmers interviewed include Phillip Island Strawberries’ Roger Morris, who innovatively grows the fruit with one arm, following an horrific workplace accident. Other stories include keen surfing family, the Bismires of Cape Woolamai, who run Ocean Reach Brewing and even source saltwater from their favourite surf break to use in one of their beers.

On the mainland, there is a Grantville truffle producer, a self-sufficient garlic and vegetable grower, and Bassine Speciality Cheeses’ Glen Bisognin, who gives an insight into the tough job of dairy farming.

Over the Bridge has been produced by a new publishing arm of the Advertiser, called Chicory Publishing. It was designed on Phillip Island and printed in Melbourne, using sustainable paper stock.

Author Sarah Hudson worked with photographer Steph Thornborrow over the past year to interview and photograph passionate foodies from across the area.

Sarah said the 200+ page book offered a different perspective – for locals and visitors alike – on the island and waterline communities, which is not often seen or celebrated.

“We all drive past farms, whether it’s Ventnor or Rhyll, love the landscapes they offer but don’t necessarily know what’s going on behind the farm gate,” she said.

“This book is about supporting food with a postcode: local, seasonal, and low emission. The likes of Daylesford, the Yarra Valley and Mornington Peninsula always get the food attention in Victoria, but now it’s our turn.”

Phillip Island hasn’t always been known for its food, with fish and chips probably our signature dish for the past few decades. But there are chefs in this region who are working hard to put our coast on a plate. They are sourcing local ingredients, even foraging on the clifftop for Australian bush foods such as saltbush, and they’re celebrating provenance, and their own traditions, including migrant heritage.”

Recipes in the book include:

• Traditional Argentinian pastries, Palmeritas, from Gab Caffieri, owner of The Jetty on the Cowes jetty, also Gippsland Coffee Roasters and 3925 Espresso at Newhaven and Kristo’s Charcoal Rotisserie;
• Seafood chowder, from the San Remo Fisherman’s Co-op;
• Stinging nettle purée with roasted pumpkin, herb salad and soft feta, from Rachel Russo at Udder & Hoe in Kilcunda; and
• A traditional Apple and rhubarb pie from seventh generation Phillip Islanders Katie Jeffery and her husband Matt, who run Graze Farm to Plate on the family farm at Ventnor.