Five Minutes with Andy de Groot, Queer Food

Who are you?
Andy de Groot, I’m a trans man. I started out studying law, and I’ve swapped between working for community organisations and following my passion for food, but now I’ve managed to integrate both of those things into running my passion project, which is Queer Food. I’m also the product manager at the Canberra Food Co-op.

Tell me about your business.
Queer Food is a sustainable queer catering company that runs on three pillars:
1. We tell the stories of historic and current well-known queer people in the community through food.
2. We use a portion of sales to support access to trans medical care through our social enterprise.
3. Our employment training program, which we were really lucky to get an ACT Government grant to fund.

If you weren’t in hospitality, what would you be doing instead? Did you have a dream job as a kid?
My dream job as a kid was to be a chef, and studying law was kind of the opposite of that! So I guess I’d still be doing that if I wasn’t a chef.

What’s a food that reminds you of your childhood?
The one-pot wonders that my Mum used to make, like pumpkin risotto and her chocolate pudding. Also, her burgers. We’d have barbies and we’d make the highest stacked burgers we could with absolutely everything on them.

What is your food philosophy?
Trying to use as many local and sustainable ingredients as possible but acknowledging that there are big systemic issues with food use and production. We can only try our best with the resources we have; we have to find a balance.

What is your favourite ingredient to use when cooking?
When I worked at Mabu Mabu (in Melbourne), we used to use lemon aspen salt on everything. We’re about to stock it at the co-op, which is really exciting. I’m all about balancing acidity in food: that’s what keeps you coming back for more.

What’s an underrated Canberra venue that you love?
Obviously, the Food Co-op! But another one is Kopiku at O’Connor shops: they do an epic rendang. They have this mix of Western brunch and amazing Indonesian and Malaysian food.

Who do you admire in the Canberra food scene?
Ruth Gaha-Morris from Southern Harvest Association: she’s doing amazing work with local food. And shout out to Mal at Pilot as well – I definitely admire his work.

Where’s the best place for a drink in Canberra?
I always end up at the Old Canberra Inn because it’s so close to where I live!

Who is your dream dinner party guest, and what would you make them?
Fabian LoSchiavo: he had this really strong influence in the queer community. He helped create the Australian chapter of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence and AngGays (an activist group of gay Anglicans) in the 70s and 80s. He passed away last year, but I think he would have been really amazing to meet.

Queer Food developed the ‘Euree Street Grazing Box’ to tell the story of the work he did in an activist share house in Canberra, so I’d serve that, but I would also want to go all out and make a nice meal to say thank you for all they’ve done.

What is your current food obsession?
I’ve been experimenting a lot with pasta: it’s such a simple thing to make, but there are so many different kinds. I made rainbow pasta for an IDAHOBIT event recently, which was really fun.

When you can’t be bothered to cook for yourself, where do you go and what do you eat?
Lyneham Kebab House: you get a really chunky kebab for such a good price. When I was younger, I heard about the Canberra trio of sauces: garlic, chilli and barbecue, so I always get that.

Where are you travelling next?
I’m marrying my partner in December, so we’re going to Europe next year as a bit of a honeymoon. We’ll visit family in the UK, Netherlands and France.

What TV show or movie are you watching right now?
I just watched The Challengers because Zendaya is amazing.

An easy one to finish – what’s your go-to coffee order?
I usually get a long black or a large almond cap.

Visit Queer Food’s website or follow them on Facebook or Instagram.