Food Safari

Food Safari journeys into the beguiling, gently spiced world of Moroccan food and meets a range of top chefs and home cooks who are passionate about their delicious cuisine. Food author and broadcaster Maeve O'Meara joins her friend restaurateur Omar Majdi who gives tips on the top spices and ingredients needed for Moroccan food.

Food Safari journeys into the intense spicy world of Malaysian food whose devotees cross oceans for the best laksa, roti and curry. Food author and broadcaster Maeve O'Meara joins her friend, 5 star chef Jess Ong (Sofitel, Sydney) who demystifies the endless range of sauces and spices, dried fish and fresh noodles and comes up with the top ingredients needed to start a workable Malaysian pantry.

Food Safari plunges into the fiery passionate world of Portuguese food where all the best food has a close relationship with fire, starting with the now famous Portuguese charcoal chicken. Food author and explorer Maeve O'Meara prizes a recipe for the famous marinated flattened chicken with peri peri sauce from her friend Luis Fernandes whose family brought the recipe from Angola to the world.

Food Safari journeys into the fresh healthy world of Vietnamese food to savor dishes that are both balanced in flavor and good for the body and the soul. Food author and explorer Maeve O'Meara joins her friend Peter Nguyen, engineer, food expert and Gourmet Safaris guide in Australia and Vietnam to learn which fish sauce is used for cooking and which for salads and why its similar to olive oil.

Food Safari journeys into the colorful spicy vibrant world of Indian food and learns how to make some fabulous 10 minute dishes as well as the secrets of great curries from the subcontinent. Maeve O'Meara joins her friend chef Ajoy Joshi in a spice emporium to learn the secrets of choosing the right spices - and comes up with some surprising finds.

Food Safari journeys into the warm, welcoming, delicious world of Greek food where "I'm not hungry" is never an excuse not to try something yummy. Maeve O'Meara joins her friend chef Peter Conistis in a Greek emporium to find out what olive oil is best to use, how to pick a good fetta cheese, which little tin holds the best tarama to make taramosalata, great spices like mastic, and much more.

Food Safari plunges into the intricate, balanced, thoughtful world of Chinese food where flavor and using fresh seasonal produce reign supreme. Maeve O'Meara joins one of the senior statesmen of Chinese food - chef and teacher Robert Ho to learn what basic ingredients are needed for a Chinese pantry. Chef Anthony Lui from Melbourne's Flower Drum shows some secrets to a good stir fry.

Food Safari journeys the world of the people who taught us how to drink coffee and appreciate good olive oil; those who showed us the simple deliciousness of pizza and pasta, scaloppine and saltimbocca: the fabulous Italians. Learn how to choose the top ten ingredients to begin an Italian pantry as Maeve joins her old friend, hospitality consultant and coffee expert, Sam Cosentino.

This week Food Safari enters the fresh, clean world of Thai food where the flavors are intense and yet are balanced together to create harmony for both the palate and for overall health. While many ingredients are available in supermarkets, Maeve visits Thainatown in Sydney with her chef friend Sujet Saengkham of Sydney's popular Spice I am Restaurant to learn about fish sauce and noodles.

Food Safari goes in search of the fresh green flavors of Lebanese food and host Maeve O'Meara finds the biggest mound of fresh parsley being chopped for use in falafel, the delicious fried snacks made from chick peas that go so well with creamy hommous and smokey eggplant dip baba ghanouj. Maeve journeys into one of her favorite big Middle Eastern emporiums with master chef Greg Malouf.

Mexican cuisine is one of the most ancient and developed on earth but is little known outside its borders and too many restaurants are more "Tex" than "Mex" according to the small number of Mexican expatriates in Australia, some of whom welcome Maeve O'Meara into their kitchens to explain some of the recipes and tips.

This week Food Safari enters the delicious colorful world of one of the cuisines we know least about in Australia - Turkish food. While kebabs and Turkish delight are well known, some of the amazing array of vegetable dishes, dips, and marinated meats are yet to be discovered. Maeve O'Meara journeys into an emporium filled with ingredients for Turkish cooking with her friend, chef Serif Kaya.

The final episode of Food Safari ends with the fire and passion of Spanish cooking - you can smell the heady scents of saffron, paprika and garlic as host Maeve O'Meara investigates the key ingredients needed to create a Spanish pantry and visits chefs and home-cooks to gather some really easy recipes. Learn about the art of Spanish tapas.