The Duke and Duchess of Sussex got a taste of Australia’s native cuisine when they visited a social enterprise in Fitzroy, Melbourne.
During their whirlwind tour of the city, Harry and Meghan dropped into Charcoal Lane for a ‘touch, taste, smell’ hands-on tour of native ingredients.
READ: Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan take Melbourne by storm on day three of the Royal Tour
Duchess Meghan and Prince Harry visited a Melbourne cafe on day three of their Australian tour. (Image: Getty Images)
The royal couple entered via a laneway. (Image: Getty Images)
They entered via the laneway where artist Robert Young discussed his mural ‘Celebration Dreaming’ which adorns the side of the building.
The painting depicts a Victorian Aboriginal Health Service van flying a banner which reads ‘Deadly Future’.
“Deadly has a different meaning for us,” the Gunnai and Waradgerie man told Harry and Meghan to the sound of royal laughter.
He also explained the significance of the scar-tree and eagle which dominate the picture.
Melburnians were thrilled to meet the Duke and Duchess. (Image: Getty Images)
The couple sampled some of the fragrant ingredients. (Image: Getty Images)
Once inside, the royal couple was taken to the kitchen. Despite their lineage, head chef Greg Hampton explained the hierarchy of the kitchen.
“You can taste anything you like,” he said. “Just ask me first.”
The chef was motivated by the health of the pregnant Duchess.
“I would hesitate to give Meghan the Tasmanian pepper,” he said before the tour.
“The first time I tried it, I thought I was having an allergic reaction.”
Meghan’s pregnancy inspired the chef’s sample choices. (Image: Getty Images)
Also on the menu, crispy fried saltbush, bunya nuts, sea blight, rosella flowers, cinnamon myrtle, lemon tea tree leaves and river mint, to name a few.
One of his favourites was a leaf which the chef crushed and gave to Meghan and Harry to smell.
“It’s got a few different names, it’s called fruit salad herb, strawberry gum, forest berry herb… people get musk out of it, people get mango out of it, people get berries out of it, eucalyptus,” he said.
“They’re trying to describe something they’ve never smelled or tasted before.”
The leaf’s oil is versatile and used to make ice-cream, panna cotta, flavour meats and in seafood stock, he explained.
But the tour was about more than food and art. The royal couple met several of the young Indigenous trainees who are in the process of gaining certifications in hospitality.
In 10 years, Charcoal Lane has trained more than 250 young Indigenous people for the workforce with a 70 percent completion rate, Mission Australia CEO James Toomey said.
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