Ballarat Chef Truffle Farmer Liam Downes On His Tree Change And Finding The Black Gold -Graeme Kemlo

Travel Writers Radio

Well tonight’s show seems to be all about destinations and unique experiences both near and far, so why dn;t we start off with Graeme’s visit one hour away to one of the suburbs of Ballarat where he met a chef, a dog named Dot, acres of French and English oak trees in alternating rows, and the discovery of a $500 truffle under one of the trees by Dot, who seemed to pick up the art of truffle hunting from a couple of other dogs. The other thing you need to know is that the truffle farmer Liam Downes was a successful Ballarat chef with five restaurants, one of which had a hat, but he has forsaken the restaurants for a literal “tree change” running Black Cat Truffle Company where he now cooks at a more leisurely pace. Photo: Graeme Kemlo - Liam with 160 g white truffle