I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Cooking For at Melbourne Fringe

A quirky show breaking down our relationship with eating promises burnt grease, confronting questions and high anxiety. And you might even learn something about the end of WWII.

Alberto Di Troia prepping for his Melbourne Fringe cooking show. Picture: Andy Brownbill

If you thought cooking was already stressful imagine doing it with a time limit and a 25-person audience while fielding questions about the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand.

This is the premise of I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Cooking For, a Melbourne Fringe Festival show exploring our relationship with food and cooking.

In the participatory show one fringe artist will attempt to make a Jamie Oliver 30-Minute Meal in 30 minutes in front of a live audience.

They’ll also be answering a rapid-fire series of personal, cultural and political questions.

This is it! The 2019 Melbourne Fringe Festival program has officially launched. And it's a big 'un! More works by more...

Posted by Melbourne Fringe on Saturday, 10 August 2019

Thornbury artist Alberto Di Troia said he and co-creator Hannah Sallowsield were taken with how present Jamie Oliver was in their lives growing up but realised his message of making food fit into your life wasn’t for them.

“For Hannah and I food is an important way to connect with the people around us,” Di Troia said.

“ (30-minute meals) is not allowing us to see how we can see food as a way to connect with other people.

“It’s really simplifying food in a disruptive way.”

Di Troia said they had conducted a number of trials to test out the concept and it was “completely unpredictable”.

“It’s completely chaotic — almonds burning, grease flying. The more you get into it the harder it gets to answer questions. You’re blurting the first things that come into your mind.”

Questions range from your favourite Meryl Streep movie to what should have been done to end the world wars.

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The show runs from September 19 to 21 and 26 to 28 in Brunswick.

Purchase tickets at the Melbourne Fringe Festival 2019 website.

@richardapearce