--- The Cook Up with Adam Liaw airs weeknights on SBS Food at 7.00pm. Francois Poulard's brunch episode aired Thursday, 18 November and is available on SBS On Demand. Catch him on the French episode Thursday, 30 December. ---
It's undeniable - the pandemic has placed so many things under a critical lens, and social constructs around mealtimes were no exception. With the shift to working-from-home and home-schooling, atop the wavering hospitality industry, the eight-hour workday drastically changed, and so did our eating habits.
It's become easier to satisfy your cravings and harder to ignore the rumbles when your personal kitchen and comfortable eating space was now only steps away. Has this become a welcome new normal?
Earlier this year, TikToker and intuitive eating coach Sarah Randall shared earlier that the 'three mealtimes' construct - breakfast, lunch, and dinner - was historically a settler concept used to combat Indigenous ideologies that encouraged eating when hungry. The latter exists more modernly as popular and trendy in-between mealtimes, namely midnight snacks or brunch.
More on intuitive eating
How stopping to appreciate food led to a healthier me
For French chef Francois Poulard, eating in the in-between is nothing new.
"In France, we eat anytime. Any time of the day," Poulard tells Adam before preparing his galette. He's in The Cook Up kitchen to make his best brunch dish, where Adam notes that common brunch foods (ie. French toast and crepes) tend to lean French. To the studio, he brings his ham, cheese and egg buckwheat galette - a pancake originally from his Brittany hometown in France. "Everything is focussed on the meal in France," Poulard shares, as opposed to the time. "Brunch is such a great thing, I really love that in-between."
"People are becoming more and more open to food in general. Especially in Australia - people are more open-minded. I think that's why people are more open to late night dinners and afternoon teas." He notes how some restaurants have started to tweak their trading hours, added an all-day bar snack menu, and abandoned the afternoon closure.
I think you shouldn't adjust the time you leave your towel on the beach on a restaurant's opening.
MAKE FRANCOIS' GALETTE
Ham, cheese and egg buckwheat galette
As a chef, and not unlike anyone in the foodservice industry, Poulard's schedule and time depend on the customer. A non-traditional eating schedule becomes second nature, and for the executive chef, every meal he cooks outside of work sits outside of that mealtime norm. "I'm eating when people aren't in the restaurant. I also currently have a pregnant girlfriend with cravings. I'm really cooking for others and forgetting a bit about myself."
When he does manage to eat, Poulard "loves snacking. I'm eating whatever - lots of dips and cheese, nothing overworked or too complicated."
Halfway through Sydney's second lockdown, Poulard made the difficult decision to leave Woollahra's Chiswick to front Bar Tropic, a wharf-side restaurant in Manly. For the French chef, this was more than just a sea-change.
Poulard, who grew up in a coastal town in France, wanted to reconnect with his roots. With Bar Tropic situated right on one of Manly's many sea-fronts, Poulard is home - literally. "I'm now a ten-minute walk away." Now at Bar Tropic, Poulard "can take a break between lunch and dinner, jump in the water, go home and see my child. I couldn't say no to that - it was a no-brainer. I'm almost too close to home."
Atop the shortened commute, he truly believed in this new restaurant's cosy Mediterranean concept. "I wasn't looking for anything or planning for a change. When the opportunity came up, I was like - wow. I saw it as such a good challenge and I'm stoked to embrace it." He remains grateful, however, for his time at Chiswick and the many mentors he's encountered living here. "I'm not going anywhere, I'm really happy with Australia. I do miss Europe and the people and the traditions, but I love how Australia's dining scene has really stepped up over the last few years. There are so many good restaurants here. Good food, good chefs. I respect where I'm from, but I'm good here."
Poulard spent most of the lockdown developing the menu for his new venture. "We're not trying to reinvent the wheel or do anything extravagant - we just want to make food that's tasty, consistent, and fun," Poulard admits. Especially post-lockdown, "the time for fun is well overdue."
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