Newcastle restaurateur Neil Slater refused to let a certain pandemic cancel The Gastronomic Lunch for the second year in a row.
The research being undertaken by Hunter Medical Research Institute (HMRI) is, he says, simply too important.
This year's lunch, again organised by Slater and his wife Donna, will help Professor Bruce King and his team at HMRI develop an app for children with type 1 diabetes. Individuals input details about the food they are eating and the app calculates the calories, fats and proteins, and determines the amount of insulin the person eating that meal requires. Image recognition means the app "would work a bit like a QR code", Slater said.
"Eight per cent of the world's population suffer from type 1 diabetes so if this app were to be successful, initial seed funding would be coming from this lunch, which I think is pretty amazing."
The 2021 Gastronomic Lunch features the culinary talents of some of the Hunter's "young guns": Joel Humphreys (Scotties, Lost Boys Kebab), George Mirosevich (Signal Box), Nathan Bunting (Scratchleys on the Wharf), Dylan Abdoo (Newcastle Greens), Michael Portley (The Edwards) and Gareth Williams (Covered in Crumbs).
"This is my first year cooking in this fundraiser and I'm really excited. I want to make it a day to remember for all the guests," Mirosevich said.
"It's such a diverse and exciting bunch of chefs cooking for a great cause. I will be cooking the main meat course. Beef will be the star protein among a selection of Morpeth brassicas."
Portley, head chef at The Edwards, is taking care of canapes. He will be cooking a rillette of kingfish with coffee, nori and burnt butter; pizza fritta with taleggio and rosemary; and beef crudo with nashi, parmesan and koshikari rice.
"Neil tells me that HMRI are looking to fund an app which assists people with type 1 diabetes determine their appropriate doses. I know how important this software can be, and that it can be life saving," he said.
"Just recently a friend of mine overdosed on her insulin and remains in life support. Until this happened, I had no idea how dangerous an incorrect dose of insulin could be.
"It's great to be invited to cook for a beneficial cause. Even though we enjoy what we do, it's nice to be able to use our skillset to make a positive change."
Portley also gave a shout-out to the businesses donating ingredients for each chef to use on the day.
"It's important that when we choose these fundraising events to partake in, we know that all proceeds will go to the cause.
"I know Cleanseas have offered to donate Hiramasa kingfish, and Two Providores will be donating some cheese and great pantry items."
As for dessert, it's also in capable hands. Covered in Crumbs owner and pastry chef Gareth Williams will be making spiced parfait with roasted pear, honey macadamia and caramelised rye puff.
The 2021 Gastronomic Lunch is on May 2, noon, at Scratchleys. Tickets are on sale now, phone 4042 1000.
Did you know
- Parents of children living with type 1 diabetes spend a lot of their day counting carbs in food. Counting the number of carbs ingested in each meal is vital to calculate how much insulin to give to ensure their children's blood sugar is stable.
- Unfortunately, counting carbs is an imperfect metric to judge insulin requirements which often leads to incorrect doses of insulin and harmful high or low blood sugar levels.
- Professor Bruce King (Senior Paediatric Endocrinologist at John Hunter Children's Hospital and a HMRI researcher) is part of a team trying to solve this problem. They are developing an app that allows people to input specific foods, or ingredients of meals, and automatically calculate the required insulin based on fat, protein and carbs.
- The app has already shown great promise in trials by not only giving parents better information to manage their children's insulin, but also giving them back time and quality of life by cutting down on the need to break out the calculator for each meal.
- The HMRI team are working with computer engineers to build image recognition into the app. This would give people the ability to take pictures of food and have the app recognise the ingredients and automatically calculate the required insulin doses.
- This could be a game changer for families living with type 1 diabetes, lifting a massive burden of the disease, and improving their children's health outcomes.
- Go to hmri.org.au
