Stephanie, Elena and local chef Max Porter are busy with preparations for a lunch with tropical flavours. Their kitchen looks onto a lotus pond and is located in the lush and tranquil gardens of The Spirit House, a restaurant and cooking school near to Noosa Heads. Before the guests arrive they are preparing a crab salad, lightly tossed with chunked avocado, Vietnamese mint, basil and lime juice. Stephanie looks back over the gathering they have done for this lunch. To get the crabmeat Stephanie and Elena go out on a boat off Mooloolaba to pull up crab pots. It’s a balmy Queensland day but the rolling waters pitch the boat around. Back on dry land fisherman Glen shows Stephanie the fastest and most efficient way to extract the delicious meat from freshly caught crabs. They travel high up into the Noosa hinterland to a tropical permaculture garden devoted to a wide range of exotic crops. Stephanie walks through a lotus pond and finds a lesser-known ginger and some lotus root to spontaneously add to the main course - duck. North through Gympie they find the Bendele duck farm and meet the free-ranged ducks. Avocados, limes and tropical fruit are gathered from orchards just outside Noosa. The night before the lunch Stephanie makes a pawpaw salad and marinates, steams and presses the duck. The lunch table is covered with giant hibiscus flowers in astonishing colours of burning hot pink and apricot, and the tropical fruit provides the centrepiece. The crab salad is served to the guests before the cooks rush back to the kitchen to do the final dramatic wokking of the crispy fried duck with pineapple and sweet red peppers. The spicy main dish is followed by the creamy coolness of a custard apple ice cream and there is much excitement at the tasting of the exotic fruits. The producers, many of whom are meeting for the first time, have much to talk about as the tropical Queensland breezes pick up in the late afternoon.
A Shared Table was broadcast on SBS ONE at Sunday 26 January 2020, 07:30. This episode was initially placed on Saturday 2 November 2019.