Could the Fraser Coast become Queensland’s next great food region? Exploring how local growers, sustainable agriculture, new industries and smarter infrastructure could create jobs, support small businesses and shape the region’s future.
Home cooking, local dining and the stories behind what we eat. From simple meals to shared tables, this is where food meets everyday life.
There are train journeys, and there are high teas. Put the two together and send the whole affair rattling through the Mary Valley.
Eggs in Japan: From Tamagoyaki to Ramen
TRAVEL through Japan and it doesn’t take long to encounter eggs. They might arrive rolled into neat layers of tamagoyaki. A softly cooked egg may sit on top of a steaming bowl of ramen. Elsewhere, an omelette wraps around seasoned rice to create omurice.
Then there’s perhaps the biggest surprise for Australian visitors: raw egg.
In Japan, eggs aren’t confined to breakfast. They move easily between morning meals, lunch, dinner and snacks. They’re humble, inexpensive and extraordinarily versatile.
More importantly, they offer a delicious glimpse into Japanese food culture.
Affiliate disclosure: This article contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase through one of these links, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. This helps support Jocelyn Magazine and the creation of independent content.
Tamagoyaki is made by cooking and rolling thin layers of seasoned egg to create its distinctive shape and texture.
Why are eggs so popular in Japan?
Japan has one of the world’s great food cultures, yet many everyday Japanese meals are remarkably simple. Rice, noodles, vegetables, fish, meat and eggs can be combined in countless ways.
Eggs fit particularly well into this style of eating. They can add richness to rice or noodles without overwhelming other flavours. They also provide protein and can transform simple ingredients into a satisfying meal.
Presentation matters too. Japanese cooking often pays close attention to colour, shape and texture. The golden yellow of cooked egg can provide a striking contrast against rice, vegetables or darker sauces.
And few dishes demonstrate that better than tamagoyaki.
Eggshell and yolk colours can vary, but colour alone isn’t a measure of nutritional quality. The breed and diet of the hen play much bigger roles.
What is tamagoyaki?
Tamagoyaki is a Japanese rolled omelette. Rather than cooking the beaten egg as one flat omelette, the cook builds it in thin layers. Each layer is rolled before another is added. The finished omelette is then sliced into neat pieces.
It sounds straightforward. Watching an experienced cook make one suggests otherwise.
A rectangular pan, known as a makiyakinabe or tamagoyaki pan, is traditionally used. The shape helps create the distinctive rectangular roll.
The egg mixture can be seasoned in different ways. Some versions are slightly sweet, while others contain dashi and savoury seasonings.
Tamagoyaki may be served at breakfast or tucked into a bento box. It can also appear as a sushi topping. The result is recognisably an omelette, yet quite different from its Western counterpart.
What is an onsen egg?
The name onsen tamago translates roughly as “hot spring egg”.
Traditionally, these eggs were slowly cooked in the naturally hot water of Japan’s onsen, or hot springs. The gentle temperature creates an unusual texture.
Instead of a firm white surrounding a soft yolk, both components remain delicate. The white becomes silky while the yolk turns creamy.
Today, you don’t need a Japanese hot spring to make one. The technique can be recreated using carefully controlled warm water.
Onsen eggs can be served simply with a light sauce. They also make a rich addition to rice and noodle dishes.
It’s another example of how Japanese cooking can turn an ordinary egg into something distinctive through technique.
Onsen tamago takes its name from Japan’s hot springs, where eggs were traditionally cooked slowly in naturally heated water.
And what about those eggs in ramen?
For many travellers, the egg sitting in a bowl of Japanese ramen is particularly memorable. These are commonly known as ajitsuke tamago or ajitama.
The eggs are usually soft-boiled before being peeled and marinated. Soy sauce and other seasonings give the outside its characteristic colour and savoury flavour.
Cut one open and the attraction becomes obvious. The white is seasoned, while the yolk may remain soft and almost jammy.
Alongside noodles, broth, meat and vegetables, the egg provides another layer of flavour and texture.
It’s easy to see why ramen eggs have developed a following well beyond Japan.
A seasoned egg adds another layer of flavour and texture to a steaming bowl of Japanese ramen.
What is omurice?
Some Japanese egg dishes have surprisingly international origins. Omurice is one of them. Its name combines “omelette” and “rice”, which is essentially what the dish delivers.
Seasoned fried rice is wrapped in, or topped with, an omelette. Tomato ketchup is commonly part of the dish, either mixed through the rice or served over the egg.
Omurice emerged in Japan during the development of yōshoku. The term describes Western-influenced dishes adapted to Japanese tastes. It became a popular example of Japanese comfort food.
Modern versions can be remarkably theatrical. In some restaurants, a soft omelette is placed over the rice before being sliced open. The barely set egg then tumbles over the mound beneath it.
It’s food and entertainment on the same plate.
Omurice combines omelette and rice in one of Japan’s best-known examples of Western-influenced comfort food.
What is oyakodon?
Oyakodon brings chicken and egg together in a bowl of rice.
The name has a rather charming literal meaning: “parent and child bowl”. The parent is the chicken. The child is the egg. Perhaps it’s best not to think about the family reunion too closely while eating it.
For the dish, chicken and onion are simmered in a lightly sweet and savoury sauce. Beaten egg is then added and cooked gently. The mixture is served over a bowl of hot rice.
Like many great comfort foods, oyakodon isn’t especially complicated. Its appeal comes from the combination of familiar ingredients, warmth and flavour. It’s also another reminder that eggs in Japan certainly don’t clock off after breakfast.
Oyakodon brings chicken and egg together over rice. Its name translates charmingly as “parent and child bowl”.
Why do Japanese people eat raw eggs?
This is the question that tends to make overseas visitors hesitate.
One of Japan’s simplest egg dishes is tamago kake gohan, often shortened to TKG. A raw egg is mixed into a bowl of hot cooked rice, usually with soy sauce or other seasonings.
For Australians raised with warnings about raw eggs and food poisoning, that can seem rather adventurous. There is an important reason the practice is more commonplace in Japan.
Japan has stringent hygiene controls throughout egg production, grading, packing and distribution. The Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries also points to careful refrigeration and handling by consumers as part of the picture.
Even so, raw eggs always require appropriate food-safety precautions.
The Japanese approach shouldn’t be taken as evidence that any egg, anywhere, can automatically be eaten raw. When travelling, local food-safety advice remains the sensible guide.
Are Japanese eggs different from Australian eggs?
An egg is still an egg, but farming and handling practices vary between countries.
Japanese consumers place considerable importance on freshness because raw and lightly cooked eggs feature in everyday foods. Egg packaging may also provide information that helps consumers understand the period recommended for raw consumption.
In Australia, food-safety authorities advise caution with raw or lightly cooked egg dishes. This is particularly important for vulnerable people.
So, while recreating Japanese dishes at home can be great fun, Australian food-safety guidance should take priority.
Fortunately, most Japanese egg dishes can be enjoyed without eating a completely raw egg. Tamagoyaki, omurice and oyakodon offer plenty of places to start.
Eggs beyond breakfast
Perhaps the most interesting thing about eggs in Japan isn’t any individual dish. It’s their freedom.
Eggs don’t seem burdened by the same breakfast identity they have acquired in Australia and other Western countries. They can accompany rice in the morning, appear in a bento box at lunch, crown ramen later in the day or become part of dinner.
That versatility raises an interesting question.
Why do so many of us think of eggs primarily as breakfast food? The answer has less to do with nutrition than history and habit.
And if Japan demonstrates that eggs can comfortably belong to any meal, there’s no reason Australian kitchens can’t do the same.
An omelette filled with vegetables makes a perfectly respectable dinner. No passport required.
Want to explore Japanese cooking at home?
From tamagoyaki and ramen to rice bowls and everyday Japanese favourites, a good Japanese cookbook from Amazon can take the story from armchair travel to the kitchen.
A taste of Japan
Food is one of the pleasures of travelling in Japan because it constantly encourages curiosity.
Sometimes you know exactly what’s arriving at the table. Sometimes you don’t.
Years later, the name of a particular dish may have disappeared from memory. Yet the experience of sitting down to eat somewhere unfamiliar can remain surprisingly vivid. That’s certainly true of my own travels through Japan.
In 2019, I photographed meals along the way, although today I can’t confidently name everything on those plates. Perhaps that doesn’t matter.
Together, the photographs (below) form their own record of travelling through Japan and discovering its food, including ramen with egg, noodles, soup, dumplings and other traditional and everyday meals. Somewhere among all those bowls, plates and bento boxes, there were almost certainly eggs.
Why Do We Eat Eggs for Breakfast? The History Behind the Habit
EGGS and breakfast seem to belong together. Fried, poached, boiled or scrambled, eggs appear on breakfast tables around the world. Add toast and coffee and the combination feels almost inevitable.
But why? There is nothing about an egg that makes it better suited to 8 am than 6 pm. Chickens certainly don’t produce them with serving instructions attached.
So how did eggs become one of our most familiar breakfast foods? The answer stretches back centuries. It involves farming, religion, changing meal habits and, eventually, some very clever marketing.
Affiliate disclosure: This article contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase through one of these links, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. This helps support Jocelyn Magazine and the creation of independent content.
Eggs have become synonymous with breakfast, although there’s nothing about them that confines them to the morning meal.
Did people always eat eggs for breakfast?
Humans have eaten eggs for thousands of years. Long before chickens were domesticated, people collected wild bird eggs as a valuable source of food. Once chickens became part of farming life, eggs became easier to obtain regularly.
They were portable, versatile and required little preparation. They could be boiled, fried or cooked into other dishes. That made them useful at any time of day.
The idea that eggs specifically belonged to breakfast came much later. For much of history, breakfast itself wasn’t the clearly defined meal we know today.
Breakfast hasn’t always been such a big deal
Before supermarkets and refrigeration, keeping chickens gave households ready access to fresh eggs.
Our modern pattern of breakfast, lunch and dinner can seem timeless. It isn’t. Meal habits have changed considerably across cultures and centuries.
In medieval Europe, for example, attitudes towards breakfast varied according to class, occupation and religious practice. Labourers often needed food before beginning physical work. Wealthier people could sometimes wait until later.
Religious customs also influenced when certain foods were eaten. Christian fasting rules restricted animal products on particular days and during certain periods. Eggs were among the foods affected.
As those restrictions changed, so did eating habits. Eggs gradually became an increasingly practical choice for the first meal of the day.
Fresh eggs made sense in the morning
A familiar breakfast ritual with a personal history: these egg cups came from my mother’s kitchen.
Before refrigeration and supermarkets, people ate according to what was available close to home.
For households that kept chickens, fresh eggs were an obvious food source. Hens generally lay during daylight hours. Collecting eggs became part of the daily rhythm of farms and households.
Eggs also cooked quickly. That mattered when people had physical work ahead of them. A cooked egg could provide protein and energy without requiring hours of preparation.
Over time, practicality helped strengthen the connection between eggs and the morning meal.
But eggs weren’t alone. Bread, porridge, cheese, fish and leftovers have all appeared on breakfast tables at different times and places.
When did bacon and eggs become a breakfast classic?
This is where the story gets particularly interesting. Bacon and eggs may feel like an ancient breakfast partnership, but their modern popularity owes something to 20th-century marketing.
In the 1920s, American public relations pioneer Edward Bernays worked on a campaign for a bacon company. The campaign promoted the idea that a hearty breakfast was preferable to a light one. Bacon and eggs were presented as an ideal combination.
The message worked. Bacon and eggs became increasingly embedded in American breakfast culture. That influence travelled well beyond the United States. Britain already had its tradition of substantial cooked breakfasts. Australia developed its own fondness for eggs, bacon, sausages, tomatoes and toast.
Eventually, the cooked breakfast became as much a cultural idea as a meal.
Why are eggs such good breakfast food?
Tradition isn’t the only reason eggs have endured. They’re genuinely convenient.
Eggs cook quickly and can be prepared in many ways. They also provide high-quality protein along with several important vitamins and minerals. Then there is the sheer variety.
A boiled egg can be eaten almost anywhere. Scrambled eggs take minutes. Poached eggs turn toast into a meal. An omelette can accommodate whatever happens to be lurking in the fridge.
That combination of nutrition, convenience and versatility has helped eggs retain their breakfast crown. But it doesn’t explain why we continue to think of them primarily as morning food.
Habit does much of that work.
Bacon and eggs became firmly embedded in modern breakfast culture during the 20th century.
Do other countries eat eggs for breakfast?
Absolutely, although not always in ways familiar to Australians. Breakfast traditions vary enormously around the world.
In Japan, eggs might appear as tamagoyaki, a rolled omelette with a distinctive layered texture. Raw egg can also be mixed with hot rice for tamago kake gohan.
Chinese breakfasts can include boiled or tea-infused eggs. In parts of the Middle East and North Africa, eggs feature in dishes such as shakshuka.
Elsewhere, breakfast may include rice, soup, noodles, beans, fish or foods Australians associate more readily with lunch or dinner.
Our idea of what constitutes “breakfast food” is largely cultural. After all, there is no nutritional clock inside an egg.
In Japan, egg and rice combinations show how breakfast traditions can look very different across cultures.
Why don’t we eat eggs for dinner more often?
Actually, plenty of cultures do. Eggs appear in curries, noodle dishes, salads, soups, rice dishes and savoury pastries. They’re eaten throughout the day across Asia, Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
Even in Australia, quiche and frittata have long escaped breakfast’s gravitational pull. The omelette sometimes has a harder time.
Perhaps we’ve become so accustomed to seeing eggs on café breakfast menus that we unconsciously assign them a morning shift.
Yet eggs make considerable sense at night. They’re quick to prepare and easy to combine with vegetables. They’re also useful when the fridge contains several ingredients but nothing resembling a planned meal.
That’s why I’ve made the case elsewhere on Jocelyn Magazine for eggs for dinner.
So, who decided eggs were breakfast food?
Nobody did. At least, not by themselves. There was no single moment when someone declared that eggs belonged to breakfast. Instead, the association developed gradually.
Availability played a part. So did farming routines, religious traditions and changing ideas about breakfast. Later, advertising helped reinforce combinations such as bacon and eggs.
Eventually, repetition did the rest. We grew accustomed to eggs arriving in the morning. Restaurants put them on breakfast menus. Families served them before school and work. The association became so familiar that we stopped questioning it.
Perhaps that’s the most interesting part of food history. The things we regard as traditions often have surprisingly complicated beginnings.
Eggs are no exception. They may have conquered breakfast, but they were never really breakfast food. They were simply food.
And, as an omelette at dinnertime proves, they still are.
Inspired to put eggs back on the menu?
From perfectly poached eggs to omelettes, baked eggs and brunch favourites, there are countless ways to cook this everyday ingredient. Browse egg cookbooks and kitchen essentials on Amazon Australia for a little inspiration.
Eggs for Dinner: Why Breakfast Shouldn’t Have All the Fun
SOMEWHERE along the way, we decided eggs belonged to breakfast. Poached eggs on toast at 8 am seem perfectly normal. Scrambled eggs before work barely warrant a second thought. Yet serve eggs at 7 pm and they suddenly need an explanation. Perhaps they needn’t.
Eggs are quick to cook, nutritious and wonderfully adaptable. They also work with whatever vegetables, herbs or leftovers happen to be in the fridge. That makes them particularly useful on nights when cooking feels like one job too many.
If the evening meal happens to be an omelette? Even better.
Affiliate disclosure: This article contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase through one of these links, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. This helps support Jocelyn Magazine and the creation of independent content.
Tomatoes, feta and fresh herbs can turn a simple omelette into a colourful meal at any time of day. Photos: Canva Pro.
Why save eggs for breakfast?
There is no nutritional reason to restrict eggs to mornings. Around the world, eggs appear in meals throughout the day.
They can become curries, soups, rice dishes, salads, frittatas and savoury tarts. They are folded through noodles and tucked into sandwiches. In Japan, eggs appear in everything from ramen to rice bowls.
Yet Australian food habits still tend to associate eggs strongly with breakfast and brunch. That’s partly tradition. It’s also why an omelette can feel like the perfect loophole.
Call it scrambled eggs and you might think breakfast. Add mushrooms, spinach and feta, fold everything neatly into an omelette, and dinner is served.
Are eggs actually good for you?
Eggs provide high-quality protein along with a range of vitamins and minerals.
Eggs pack an impressive amount of nutrition into a small package.
They provide high-quality protein and contain all nine essential amino acids. Eggs also supply vitamins and minerals, including vitamin B12, selenium, iodine and vitamin D. One large egg generally contains around six to seven grams of protein.
Protein helps maintain and repair body tissues, including muscle. It can also help us feel satisfied after eating. That’s one reason eggs can work well as part of a balanced evening meal.
Rather than making the egg do all the work, though, think about what accompanies it. Add vegetables, wholegrains or a generous salad to create a more substantial dinner. This approach also fits comfortably with the protein-focused principles found in the CSIRO Total Wellbeing Diet.
If you’re interested in that style of eating, I’ve written previously about the CSIRO Diet on Jocelyn Magazine. There are also several CSIRO Total Wellbeing Diet books available through Amazon Australia for recipes and meal-planning ideas.
Want to explore the CSIRO Total Wellbeing Diet?
The CSIRO Total Wellbeing Diet takes a higher-protein approach to healthy eating, with practical recipes and meal ideas for everyday life. If you’d like to explore the program further, browse the range of CSIRO Total Wellbeing Diet books on Amazon Australi
Are brown eggs healthier than white eggs?
Brown eggs can look a little more wholesome than white ones. Perhaps their earthy shells have simply benefited from very good natural-food marketing.
Nutritionally, however, shell colour makes little difference. Brown eggs aren’t inherently healthier than white eggs. The shell colour is mainly determined by the breed of hen that laid the egg.
What can affect an egg’s nutritional profile is the hen’s diet and farming conditions. Some eggs, for example, are produced with higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids.
Shell colour isn’t a reliable guide to those differences. Nor does a darker yolk automatically mean an egg is more nutritious. Yolk colour is strongly influenced by pigments in the hen’s diet.
So, when choosing eggs, look beyond brown versus white. Freshness, farming method, nutritional claims and your own preferences are more useful considerations.
Eggshell and yolk colours can vary, but colour alone isn’t a measure of nutritional quality. The breed and diet of the hen play much bigger roles.
What about eggs and cholesterol?
This is probably one of the most persistent questions surrounding eggs.
For years, eggs attracted suspicion because their yolks contain dietary cholesterol. Advice has evolved as researchers have learned more about cholesterol and heart health. For most healthy people, eggs can form part of a healthy, balanced diet.
The bigger picture matters. What you eat alongside your eggs can be just as important. An omelette packed with vegetables is a very different meal from eggs accompanied by heavily processed meats.
Anyone with particular health conditions should follow advice from their doctor or accredited dietitian. For the rest of us, eggs can be a convenient source of protein within a varied diet.
An easy omelette for dinner
An omelette is one of those dishes that sounds more complicated than it is. The trick is not to overload it. Use a few good ingredients, have everything ready before you begin, and cook it gently. Dinner can be on the plate within 15 minutes.
Easy spinach, mushroom and feta omelette
Serves 1
Ingredients
- 2–3 eggs
- 1 tablespoon milk or water, optional
- ½ cup sliced mushrooms
- A handful of baby spinach
- 30g feta, crumbled
- 1 teaspoon olive oil or a small knob of butter
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Chopped parsley, chives or other fresh herbs, optional
- Green salad, tomatoes or wholegrain toast, to serve
Method
- Heat half the oil or butter in a small frying pan over medium heat.
- Add the mushrooms and cook until softened and lightly golden.
- Add the spinach and cook briefly until wilted.
- Transfer the vegetables to a plate.
- Crack the eggs into a bowl and whisk until the yolks and whites are combined.
- Add the milk or water if using, then season with pepper.
- Add the remaining oil or butter to the pan and reduce the heat slightly.
- Pour in the eggs and gently move the cooked edges towards the centre.
- Tilt the pan so uncooked egg flows into the spaces.
- When the top is almost set, add the mushrooms, spinach and feta to one half.
- Fold the other half over the filling.
- Cook briefly, then slide the omelette onto a plate.
Serve immediately with salad, tomatoes or a slice of wholegrain toast.
How do chefs make a good omelette?
Good omelettes cook quickly. Have fillings prepared before the eggs go into the pan.
Omelettes are simple, but a few small details make a noticeable difference.
Choose the right pan. A small non-stick frying pan makes a two or three-egg omelette easier to control.
Don’t beat the eggs endlessly. Whisk until the whites and yolks are combined. You don’t need to turn them into foam.
Watch the heat. Very high heat can toughen eggs before the centre cooks. Medium or medium-low heat gives you more control.
Cook the filling first. Mushrooms and other watery vegetables can make an omelette soggy. Cook them before adding the eggs.
Go easy on the filling. This is an omelette, not an edible suitcase. Too much filling makes folding difficult.
Add cheese towards the end. It only needs enough time to soften or melt.
Don’t wait for the egg to look completely dry. Residual heat continues cooking it after it leaves the pan.
Above all, have your ingredients prepared before the eggs hit the pan. Omelettes cook quickly and aren’t inclined to wait while you chop mushrooms.
How can you turn an omelette into dinner?
The beauty of an omelette is that the recipe above is really only a starting point.
Have leftover roast pumpkin? Add it with feta and spinach. A lonely tomato in the fridge can join basil and mozzarella. Smoked salmon works beautifully with dill and a little cream cheese.
Try mushrooms with thyme and goat’s cheese. Add capsicum, zucchini or asparagus when they’re in season. Leftover roast vegetables are particularly useful. They have already been cooked, so dinner becomes even faster.
You can also take inspiration from other cuisines. Try tomato, feta and oregano for Mediterranean flavours. Add chilli, coriander and avocado for something brighter.
The main rule remains the same: don’t cram everything into one omelette. Choose two or three complementary ingredients and let the eggs hold them together.
Mushrooms and fresh herbs are an easy combination for turning eggs into a substantial savoury meal.
Are eggs good when you’re cooking for one?
Very much so. Many recipes are frustratingly designed for four or six people. An omelette scales down without requiring mathematics or three days of leftovers. Two or three eggs create a meal for one. Double the ingredients if you’re cooking for two.
Eggs also have another advantage for smaller households. They can turn odds and ends from the fridge into an intentional meal. Half a capsicum suddenly has a purpose. So does yesterday’s spinach or that small piece of feta.
That can help reduce food waste while keeping dinner interesting.
Eggs: inexpensive, easy and surprisingly versatile
With grocery costs continuing to matter, simple ingredients deserve another look.
Egg prices vary, but eggs can still provide useful protein without requiring a large quantity of meat. They also keep reasonably well in the refrigerator and require very little preparation.
That’s handy for busy households. It’s equally useful when you’ve been away and the fridge is looking decidedly uninspired. Keep eggs, a few vegetables and some cheese on hand and you’re rarely far from dinner.
So, can you eat eggs for dinner?
Of course. There was never a rule saying eggs had to disappear after brunch.
A vegetable omelette can be nutritious, satisfying and quick to prepare. It can also rescue those evenings when takeaway seems dangerously tempting.
Better still, eggs invite improvisation. Use what’s in season. Use what’s already in the fridge. Add a salad, vegetables or wholegrain toast and call it dinner.
Breakfast has monopolised the egg for quite long enough. Spring seems an excellent time to crack that habit.
Add plenty of vegetables or a fresh salad and a simple omelette becomes a more complete evening meal.
The Surprising History of Tomatoes in Indian Curries (and Butter Chicken)
THE OTHER day, while stirring a slow cooker full of butter chicken — the sauce thickening into that rich orange-red colour, the smell of garlic, ginger and garam masala filling the kitchen — I found myself thinking about one ingredient I’d tipped in without much thought: a tin of crushed tomatoes.
It felt ordinary enough. Practical. Almost expected.
But it struck me that this humble tin would have puzzled many cooks in older Indian kitchens.
Butter chicken, after all, feels deeply rooted in Indian food culture. Yet one of its signature ingredients is a fruit that didn’t even exist in India until a few centuries ago.
How did tomatoes — a New World fruit — become so central to Indian curries that many of us assume they’ve always been there?
It’s a fascinating reminder that recipes are never frozen in time. My butter chicken simmering away in the slow cooker isn’t just dinner; it’s the latest chapter in a much bigger story of migration, trade and adaptation.
Read on to learn about the history of tomatoes in Indian curries.
Affiliate note: Some of the books I used while researching food history are linked below. If you purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you, which helps support independent journalism at Jocelyn Magazine.
Fresh vine-ripened tomatoes spilling from a rustic basket, symbolising the global journey of tomatoes into Indian cooking.
A fruit from far away
Tomatoes began their story far from India, in the Americas.
Long before Europeans arrived, Indigenous peoples in Central and South America cultivated tomatoes as part of sophisticated agricultural systems. Their wild ancestors grew in the Andes, but it was in Mesoamerica that tomatoes became an important food crop.
When Spanish conquistadors returned to Europe in the 16th century, tomatoes came with them.
At first, Europeans weren’t entirely sure what to make of them.
Because tomatoes belong to the nightshade family, some believed they were dangerous or unhealthy. For a while, they were grown mostly as ornamental curiosities — admired more than eaten.
But slowly, especially in southern Europe, tomatoes found their culinary footing.
Italian and Spanish cooks began experimenting with them, discovering their acidity, sweetness and depth.
From there, tomatoes travelled again — not by land, but by sea.
And eventually, those trade winds carried them to India.
Which means the red sauce in your butter chicken owes as much to Aztec farming traditions as it does to Mughal flavours.
A creative map of India formed with spices and herbs, reflecting the layered history of trade, ingredients and culinary exchange.
How tomatoes reached India
The Portuguese were the first Europeans to bring tomatoes to India, most likely in the 16th century.
They introduced them alongside other now-essential ingredients like chillies, potatoes and cashews.
Their colonial footholds, particularly in Goa and along India’s western coast, became the first points of arrival.
Initially, tomatoes were mostly grown for Portuguese households, missionaries and colonial kitchens rather than local Indian families.
They were foreign, unfamiliar, and not immediately useful.
Later, British colonial trade helped spread tomatoes further inland, increasing both cultivation and availability.
By the late 19th century, tomatoes had become visible in Indian markets, but they still weren’t central to most home cooking.
That’s partly because Indian cooks already had an impressive toolkit for sourness.
Tamarind, kokum, raw mango, lime and dried fruits all brought acidity in ways deeply embedded in regional traditions.
The tomato still had to prove itself.
From “foreign brinjal” to pantry regular
In some Indian languages, tomatoes were originally described as a kind of “foreign brinjal” — a telling sign of how new and strange they seemed.
They looked familiar enough, but they weren’t part of the old foodways.
Early uses were cautious.
Tomatoes often appeared in small amounts, mainly to add tang rather than define a dish.
Traditional souring ingredients still held pride of place.
But tomatoes offered something different.
They brought acidity, yes — but also colour, body and a subtle savouriness that worked beautifully with spices.
Unlike seasonal mangoes or region-specific kokum, tomatoes could be cultivated widely and, over time, became increasingly accessible.
That mattered.
By the early 20th century, particularly in growing urban centres, tomatoes shifted from novelty to convenience.
They didn’t replace tradition.
They simply slotted into it.
That adaptability is probably why they succeeded.
The rise of the tomato-onion gravy
Much of what we now think of as “classic North Indian curry” is actually tied to restaurant culture.
In cities across northern India during the 20th century, restaurants and canteens developed efficient base gravies — versatile sauces built from onions, tomatoes, ginger, garlic and spices.
This standardised foundation could be adapted into dozens of dishes: paneer, chickpeas, lamb, chicken or vegetables.
It was practical and scalable.
But it also tasted good.
Tomatoes softened the edge of spices, added mild sweetness and created that rich red colour diners found appealing.
Compared with the sharper sourness of tamarind, tomato felt smoother and more universal.
Cookbooks, women’s magazines and later television cooking shows helped cement this style as “authentic”, even though it was relatively modern.
For many families, especially in older generations, tomatoes were still used sparingly with meat dishes well into the mid-20th century.
Their dominance is recent in historical terms.
And this is the culinary world into which butter chicken was born.
A chef preparing curry in a restaurant kitchen, representing the rise of tomato-onion gravies in modern Indian dining.
Butter chicken: a modern classic built on tomatoes
Butter chicken isn’t ancient.
It’s one of India’s great modern dishes.
Most food historians trace its origins to Delhi in the mid-20th century, where restaurateurs at Moti Mahal are credited with creating it by simmering leftover tandoori chicken in a buttery tomato-based gravy.
It was practical, resourceful and wildly delicious.
And tomatoes were central to it.
Without tomatoes, butter chicken would lose its signature colour, tang and silky richness.
They balance the smokiness of tandoori chicken, soften the spices, and form the perfect base for cream and butter to build on.
They also help rehydrate leftover roasted meat, which was the original point of the dish.
That’s the thing: butter chicken was born in a world where tomatoes had already become part of modern Indian restaurant cooking.
The tin of crushed tomatoes I use at home is simply today’s shorthand for that same style of gravy.
My slow cooker version is part of this same evolution — a home kitchen adaptation of a relatively young, tomato-rich curry tradition.
“In Indian kitchens, tomatoes are young, but their story is already centuries long.”
Bringing it back to my kitchen
So does using tinned tomatoes make butter chicken less authentic?
Not really.
If anything, it reflects the way Indian cooking has always evolved; absorbing new ingredients, adapting them and making them its own.
It’s worth looking around your pantry and noticing which foods feel ancient but are actually newcomers.
Tomatoes. Chillies. Potatoes.
All imports. All now indispensable.
The spices might be old. The story is not.
And next time you make a curry, or warm up naan on the stovetop, you might pause for a moment and imagine the journey those ingredients took, from the Americas, across oceans, into India, and finally into your own kitchen.
If you’d like to taste that story for yourself, try my slow cooker butter chicken and homemade-style naan recipes.
Butter chicken served with rice and naan, showcasing the creamy tomato-based sauce that defines this modern classic.
Sources & Further Reading
- Encyclopaedia Britannica – Tomato (plant and fruit history)
- Oxford Companion to Food by Alan Davidson
- Curry: A Tale of Cooks and Conquerors by Lizzie Collingham
- National Geographic – articles on Columbian Exchange food migration
Hungry for more food stories?
If this article sparked your curiosity, the books listed above offer fascinating deeper dives into the origins of ingredients, empires and recipes that shaped our kitchens. They’re part cookbook, part history lesson.
The Simple Pan Trick to Make Store-Bought Naan Taste Better
LET’S be honest, supermarket naan can be a bit of a let-down.
You buy it with high hopes, imagining pillowy, charred, buttery goodness like the kind that lands beside your curry at a good Indian restaurant. Then you microwave it, take a bite, and it’s… dense. Doughy. Slightly disappointing.
I’ve been there.
The good news? With a few simple tricks, naan from the supermarket can be transformed into something much closer to the real thing — warm, soft, lightly blistered and full of flavour.
No tandoor required.
Keep reading to find out how to make store-bought naan taste better.
Affiliate note: The products mentioned in this article are things I use in my own kitchen, and some links may be affiliate links. That means if you buy through them, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.
Store-bought naan warming in a Tefal non-stick frypan to create soft, blistered restaurant-style texture at home.
Why supermarket naan often falls flat
Traditional naan is cooked fast and hot inside a clay tandoor oven. That intense heat creates those lovely bubbles, smoky charred spots and soft, stretchy texture.
Supermarket naan, on the other hand, is pre-cooked, packaged and chilled. It holds more moisture and loses that just-baked edge.
That’s why microwaving it usually makes things worse.
Too soft. Too chewy.
A bit like eating warm cardboard in a flattering disguise.
The pan method that makes store-bought naan taste better
This is the easiest fix, and the one I use most often.
A hot, dry frying pan makes all the difference.
For me, that’s usually my Tefal non-stick pan, which gives the naan enough heat to blister without sticking.
What you’ll need
- store-bought naan
- butter or ghee
- 1 clove garlic, crushed
- sea salt
- fresh coriander (optional)
- nigella seeds (optional)
Step 1: Heat the pan properly
Heat the pan to medium to high heat. Not smoking, but properly hot.
This helps create those little blistered spots that mimic tandoor cooking.
Step 2: Warm the naan dry
Place the naan straight into the dry pan.
Cook for about 60 to 90 seconds on each side.
Press lightly with a spatula as it heats. This encourages puffing and creates better contact with the pan.
If it starts bubbling, you’re on the right track.
Step 3: Add the good stuff
While it’s still hot, brush lightly with melted butter or ghee mixed with crushed garlic and a pinch of sea salt.
This is where supermarket naan starts tasting much less like supermarket naan.
Scatter with chopped coriander if you like. Or nigella seeds. Or both.
The pan that makes the difference
A good naan starts with good heat.
For this method, I use my Tefal non-stick frypan — hot enough to blister the bread, easy to clean, and versatile enough for everyday cooking beyond curry night.
It’s quickly become one of those pieces that earns its place in the kitchen.
The steam trick for softer naan
This is the part many people skip.
Once cooked, wrap the naan in a clean tea towel for a minute or two.
That little bit of trapped steam softens the bread beautifully without making it soggy.
It’s the difference between not bad and actually pretty good.
Oven or stovetop?
You can warm naan in the oven, but for smaller batches I think the stovetop wins.
Oven method
Good for larger quantities, but you lose some of the char.
Stovetop method
Better texture, faster, more flavour.
If you’re heating two or four pieces, the pan is the clear winner.
Which supermarket naan is best?
Not all naan are equal.
Look for:
- thicker artisan-style naan
- plain or garlic naan without added sweetness
- brands from the chilled section rather than shelf-stable packets
In my experience, fresher is better.
Avoid anything that feels stiff before heating. That’s rarely a good sign.
What to serve it with
Good naan deserves a good curry.
It’s perfect with:
- butter chicken
- lamb rogan josh
- chickpea curry
- spinach dhal
I usually serve mine with my winter butter chicken, which is made for batch cooking and tastes even better the next day.
And if you’re wondering what to eat or drink with spicy food, I’ve got thoughts on that too.
Why naan tastes different in India
Part of the magic is the tandoor. That fierce heat is hard to replicate at home.
But it’s also regional. Across India you’ll find naan, roti, paratha and chapati, each with its own texture and purpose.
On rail journeys through northern India, warm flatbreads often arrive wrapped in paper, ready to tear and share.
Simple food. Fast. Full of comfort.
Which, really, is what good naan is all about.
Even if it started in the supermarket aisle.
Better naan starts with better basics
You don’t need a tandoor oven to get soft, blistered naan at home; just a hot pan and a few simple tricks.
The Tefal frypan I used here has already earned its keep for naan, eggs, quick curries and everyday lunches.
In a smaller kitchen, I’m learning that the best cookware isn’t about having more. it’s about having the right pieces.
→ Explore Tefal cookware and kitchen essentials
Affiliate note: The products mentioned in this article are things I use in my own kitchen, and some links may be affiliate links. That means if you buy through them, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. It helps support Jocelyn Magazine and keeps the stories, recipes and travel inspiration coming. As always, I only recommend products I use or believe are worth considering.
Need a Winter Warmer? Try This Slow-Cooked Indian Curry
THERE’S something about winter that makes a slow-cooked Indian curry feel less like dinner and more like a necessity.
When the nights cool down and the kitchen windows fog up, I start craving the kind of food that bubbles away for hours, filling the house with spice and promise. A good curry does exactly that. Better still, it’s one of those meals that tastes even better the next day.
This simple butter chicken has become one of my winter favourites for that reason. It’s easy, deeply comforting, and generous enough to feed six, which in my townhouse usually means dinner for one or two, with four or five portions tucked away in the freezer for later.
Future me is always grateful.
Lately I’ve been making it in my Ninja Foodi using the sauté and slow cook settings. It takes the fuss out of it and delivers beautifully tender chicken every time.
Serve slow-cooked Indian curry with basmati rice, warmed naan and a cool cucumber raita on the side.
Affiliate note: The products mentioned in this article are things I use in my own kitchen, and some links may be affiliate links. That means if you buy through them, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.
Ninja Foodi multi-cooker prepared for slow-cooking butter chicken with garam masala, cumin and turmeric.
Why this curry works for batch cooking
Not every meal survives the freezer well. Slow-cooked Indian curry does.
The spices settle in overnight, the sauce thickens beautifully, and the flavours deepen rather than fade. It’s also forgiving. Swap chicken for chickpeas, lamb or even leftover roast vegetables if that’s what you have.
This version sits somewhere between a butter chicken and a homestyle tomato curry — rich, warming and mildly spiced without blowing your head off.
It’s practical food. The kind that earns its place in a small freezer.
Winter Butter Chicken for Six
Ingredients
For the curry
- 1.5kg chicken thighs, trimmed and cut into chunks
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 large brown onions, finely diced
- 5 cloves garlic, crushed
- 2 tablespoons fresh ginger, grated
- 3 tablespoons garam masala
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 2 teaspoons turmeric
- 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 400g crushed tomatoes
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
- 250g Greek yoghurt
- 300ml thickened cream
- 1 tablespoon butter
- Salt to taste
- Fresh coriander to serve
Optional:
- 2 handfuls baby spinach stirred through at the end
- 2 tablespoons mango chutney for a little sweetness
For the basmati rice
- 2 cups basmati rice
- 3 cups water
- pinch of salt
For the cucumber raita
- 1 large Lebanese cucumber, grated
- 1 cup Greek yoghurt
- 1 tablespoon chopped mint
- 1 tablespoon chopped coriander
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- pinch of salt
- squeeze of lemon juice
To serve
- Store-bought naan bread (one per person)
Fresh chicken thighs and chopped onion prepared for a slow-cooked winter butter chicken recipe.
The kitchen gear behind this slow-cooked Indian curry recipe
For this butter chicken, I used my Ninja Foodi for the slow cooking. It’s one of those appliances that earns its bench space, especially for batch cooking and winter meals.
For warming naan and everyday stovetop cooking, I reached for my Tefal non-stick frypan.
If you’re building a practical kitchen setup, a good pan is one of the best places to start.
Method
Step 1: Build the base
Set your Ninja Foodi to Sear/Sauté on medium.
Add the olive oil and cook the onion for about five minutes until soft.
Add garlic and ginger and cook for another minute.
Stir in the garam masala, cumin, turmeric, smoked paprika and coriander.
Cook for 30 seconds until fragrant.
This is where the kitchen starts smelling like an Indian restaurant.
Step 2: Add the chicken
Add the chicken pieces and stir until lightly browned.
No need to cook them through.
Add the crushed tomatoes and tomato paste and stir well.
Step 3: Slow cook
Switch to Slow Cook (Low).
Put the lid on and cook for four hours.
This is where the magic happens. The chicken softens, the sauce deepens, and the whole thing settles into itself.
Step 4: Finish the sauce
About 20 minutes before serving, switch back to Sear/Sauté (Low).
Stir in the Greek yoghurt slowly.
Add the cream and butter.
If you’re using spinach, stir it through now.
Simmer gently for 10 to 15 minutes until rich and silky.
Taste and season.
Scatter with fresh coriander.
A batch of homemade butter chicken cooking in a Ninja Foodi for an easy winter meal.
Cook the rice
Homemade cucumber raita served as a cooling side dish with Indian curry.
Rinse the basmati rice until the water runs mostly clear.
Add rice, water and salt to a saucepan.
Bring to the boil, then reduce to low and cover.
Cook for 12 minutes.
Turn off the heat and let it rest for 10 minutes before fluffing with a fork.
Make the cucumber raita
Grate the cucumber and squeeze out the excess water.
Mix with yoghurt, mint, coriander, cumin, salt and lemon juice.
Chill until serving.
The cool yoghurt cuts beautifully through the warmth of the curry.
Warm the naan properly
Store-bought naan warming in a Tefal non-stick frypan to create soft, blistered restaurant-style texture at home.
This is where a good frying pan earns its place.
I use my Tefal for this.
Heat the pan dry over medium-high heat.
Warm each naan for 60 to 90 seconds on each side.
Brush lightly with melted butter and a little crushed garlic.
Then wrap briefly in a tea towel to soften.
It makes all the difference.
(If you’ve ever wondered why supermarket naan can taste a bit flat and doughy if not heated well, I’ll share more on that in my next article.)
Homemade butter chicken served with basmati rice, charred naan and cucumber raita.
Freeze now, thank yourself later
Let the curry cool completely before dividing it into airtight containers.
It will keep:
- up to three days in the fridge
- up to three months in the freezer
For me, this usually means one or two dinners now and several easy meals later.
Like most curries, it rewards patience.
A little travel note
One of the things I love about rail travel, whether through India or closer to home, is how food becomes part of the journey.
Curries served aboard Indian trains are often simple, regional and deeply comforting.
This recipe has that same spirit: practical, warming and made to be shared.
Not fancy. Just good.
Cook this at home
This meal came together in my Ninja Foodi for the slow-cooked curry, with my Tefal frypan for the naan.
It’s proof you don’t need a huge kitchen or fancy setup to cook something warming and full of flavour.
A few reliable pieces of cookware, and a little patience, go a long way.
→ Explore Tefal cookware and kitchen essentials
Affiliate note: The products mentioned in this article are things I use in my own kitchen, and some links may be affiliate links. That means if you buy through them, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. It helps support Jocelyn Magazine and keeps the stories, recipes and travel inspiration coming. As always, I only recommend products I use or believe are worth considering.
Is it the Queensland Nut, Macadamia Nut or Bauple Nut?
WHEN I was a boy, we’d occasionally get a treat that we knew as a Queensland nut. I was amazed to learn a few years later that they came from Hawaii.
That’s only part of the story, though and, as with many stories, it involves bias and inaccuracies.
The nut was indeed a native product of Queensland, but could also be found in parts of northern NSW.
I wonder if the “Queensland nut” label was just a case of state rivalry and one-upmanship.
Other names used for the nut include Macadamia Nut, Maroochi and Gympie.
More recently, I learned the nut was known, perhaps, as the Bopple (or Baupal or Bauple) to the indigenous people of the Wide Bay hinterland, where it was first recorded by Europeans; to wit, Allan Cunningham.
I say perhaps because, as with any translation or appropriation from the native tongue to another language, there are many pitfalls.
Indeed, at the turn of the 20th Century, in the closest European settlement to the locale of Cunningham’s “discovery”, all three spellings were used in the town; the Post Office was called Baupal PO, the school and the mountain were Bopple, and the sugar mill was Bauple.
This wasn’t settled until 1913, though the decision to go with Bauple seems rather arbitrary.
There was, for a time, a coastal trading vessel, the SS Bopple, registered in Maryborough, that plied the waters between Wide Bay and Grafton in NSW.
Four native species — and the history behind Australia’s macadamia nut
I have also discovered, latterly, that there are four native species of the nut.
Interestingly, one species, M. jansenii, is quite poisonous, releasing a cyanide compound that can kill.
The Hawaiian connection arose from the fact that the trees were first imported to Hawaii to act as windbreaks for sugar cane and were later successfully commercially grown there.
Currently, South Africa holds the distinction for the largest commercial production of “our” nut.
Bopple Maryborough, from the State Library of Qld and John Oxley Library.
A note on nourishment
Nourishment isn’t always about what’s on the plate. Sometimes it’s memory, language, and the stories we inherit — and how they shift over time. This piece reflects a curiosity about food, place and naming, rather than certainty or conclusion. If it sent you down a rabbit hole of your own, it’s done what it needed to do.
This content is for general interest only and reflects personal experience rather than professional dietary advice.
This piece was first published in the Maryborough Herald in 2020, when Jocelyn was editor. Following the closure of the paper, the original article is now available via The Courier Mail’s site. It has been lightly edited for Jocelyn Magazine.
About the author
Peter Woodland is a contributor to Jocelyn Magazine. A former teacher and school librarian, his interests include computing, geography, palaeontology and good food.
Is Chocolate Really a Fruit? A Short History from Cocoa Tree to Chocolate Bar
FOR ANYONE curious about chocolate history, there’s a comforting idea worth entertaining: the love of your life may be a fruit.
That’s the light-hearted theory put forward by Chris Jahnke during a guided tour of a small chocolate plantation in North Queensland.
“Chocolate is made from the seeds of the cocoa fruit,” Chris joked. “So in my mind, that makes chocolate a fruit.”
There was laughter all round — the kind that suggests people are more than happy to believe it might be true.
And while the idea is playful rather than scientific, it does have a kernel of truth. Chocolate is made from cocoa beans, which come from the fermented, dried and ground seeds of the Theobroma cacao fruit.
What complicates chocolate’s reputation, of course, is not its origin — but what happens next. The addition of fat and sugar is what turns cocoa into the indulgence we know today, and what keeps chocolate hovering between treat, comfort food and cultural obsession.
Cocoa fruit exposed. Photo: Everjean from Antwerp, Belgium, Creative Commons.
Chocolate Starts as a Fruit: Cocoa, Seeds and a Popular Myth
Cocoa pods grow directly from the trunk of the cocoa tree, each one encasing rows of seeds surrounded by a sweet, sticky pulp. Those seeds are what eventually become cocoa beans — the raw material for chocolate.
Nutritionally, cocoa itself contains antioxidants and compounds that have been widely studied. It’s the processing and additions that determine whether chocolate leans closer to nourishment or indulgence.
This distinction — between cocoa and chocolate — is one of the themes that runs through the history of chocolate, and one that becomes especially clear when you see how it’s made from scratch.
From Cocoa Tree to Chocolate Bar: Inside Charley’s Chocolate Factory
I learned just how much goes into that transformation during a Cocoa Tree to Chocolate Bar tour at Charley’s Chocolate Factory, near Mission Beach in North Queensland.
Owners Chris and Lynn Jahnke are deeply immersed in the world of cocoa. After years of moving between Melbourne and Queensland, they eventually settled on a rural property at Mount Edna, not far from the coast.
The land had previously been used for bananas, then cattle, before the couple began exploring alternative crops better suited to the climate — macadamias, mangoes, lychees — all with long lead times.
Then came a moment of inspiration.
Chris recalls watching an episode of ABC Landline about cocoa and realising that, while globally beloved, chocolate is grown in surprisingly few places.
“Chocolate is moderately popular,” he quipped. “The rest, as they say, is history.”
Today, cocoa trees grow on their property, and chocolate is produced onsite — from nursery to plantation to factory — resulting in small-batch chocolate that has gained national and international recognition.
Did Chocolate Ever Count as Health Food?
Chocolate’s reputation has long swung between virtue and vice.
Research has suggested that dark chocolate, when eaten in moderation, may be associated with benefits such as improved cholesterol profiles and cardiovascular health. These findings tend to relate to cocoa content rather than sugar-laden confectionery, and they sit firmly in the “interesting, not prescriptive” category.
What history makes clear is that cocoa’s earliest use had little to do with dessert.
For thousands of years, it was consumed as a drink — bitter, frothy and valued as much for ritual as for sustenance.
Chocolate History: How the Olmecs First Made Cocoa Drinkable
Traces of cocoa have been found in drinking vessels carbon-dated to around 3,800 years ago.
The earliest civilisation associated with cocoa consumption is the Olmecs of southern Mexico. It’s believed they observed animals cracking open cocoa pods, discarding the seeds and consuming only the sweet pulp.
Humans, however, went a step further.
The Olmecs fermented the seeds, dried them in the sun, roasted them over fire and ground the nibs into a paste — creating a drink that was both nourishing and culturally significant.
How they arrived at this process without modern food science remains one of the enduring marvels of food history.
For much of its life, cocoa remained a beverage. It wasn’t until 1847 that English chocolate maker Joseph Fry created the first solid chocolate bar, setting the stage for chocolate as we know it today.
Where Cocoa Grows — and Why North Queensland Works
Cocoa is a tropical tree with specific demands.
It thrives in hot, humid environments with consistent rainfall and grows most successfully within 15 degrees north and south of the Equator. Globally, the majority of cocoa production occurs in West African countries such as Ghana and Nigeria.
In Australia, suitable growing conditions are limited, but parts of coastal North Queensland, particularly between Tully and Mossman, offer the right combination of climate and soil.
Mission Beach sits squarely within that zone, making it one of the few places in the country where cocoa can be grown and processed locally.
Where Is Charley’s Chocolate Factory?
Charley’s Chocolate Factory is located at Mission Beach in North Queensland, between Tully and Mossman.
Here, cocoa plants are grown from seed, and chocolate is made onsite in small batches. Among its accolades, the business has been recognised under the International Cocoa Awards’ Cocoa of Excellence program.
For visitors interested in learning more about cocoa cultivation and chocolate making, further details are available via the Charley’s Chocolate Factory website.
From bean to bar, Charley’s Chocolate Factory is a reminder that some of the best food stories are grown, made and shared close to home. Cocoa pods on the tree, delicate blossoms, hands-on explanations, and rows of tropical plants thriving in North Queensland conditions — it’s chocolate with a strong sense of place. Visiting here isn’t just about tasting chocolate (though that’s reason enough); it’s about seeing how curiosity, climate and craft come together to create something special in Mission Beach.
About the author
Jocelyn Watts is a writer, editor and photographer based in Hervey Bay, Queensland. She writes about food, place and everyday culture, with a particular interest in how history, landscape and lived experience shape what — and how — we eat. Jocelyn is the editor of Jocelyn Magazine.