Episode 2

Rick Stein heads north out of Sydney and explores the Hawkesbury River, on the city’s fringe – a region defined by both the water and the bush. Here, he explores how Australia’s great outdoors influences how people live, eat and cook.

Rick’s first step is to take himself on a bush picnic, recreating a meal that was first recorded by early British settlers in the 1800s. The bush, as he explains, is used to describe anything that isn’t the city – and it’s a big part of Australian life.

From here, Rick travels to meet two of the river's traditional custodians, Dharug elder, artist and writer Leanne Redpath, and her daughter, Rhiannon Wright. Welcoming him to the country, they share some of their knowledge of the river, the Dyarubbin as they call it, where for thousands of years custodians farmed yams and fished for eels.

Making his way along the river, Rick travels to the tiny bush community of Spencer to meet John Ralley, formerly a pastry chef in a Michelin-starred London restaurant, who moved here to live within nature. At his off-grid Bush River Kitchen, John shares his food philosophy as they prepare a dinner of fire-roasted venison. Rick is shocked to discover that a meat that is highly prized in Britain is so unpopular here that most butchers don’t stock it. As John explains, deer were first introduced to Australia by the British and are now a feral pest that wreak enormous damage on the bush. John’s solution is to use them to create meals that introduce diners to the delicious value of solving the problem of feral pests by eating them.

For Rick, it’s a perfect day that speaks to the enduring influence of the Australian outdoors on food and culture. Inspired by the people he’s met, Rick shares a recipe of sauteed chicken served with sweet potato.