Peppergreen Farm visit explores Gold Era influence on what we eat today

Year 10 Food Technology classes visited Peppergreen Farm in Bendigo. As part of their unit exploring the multicultural influences on Australian food and eating habits, the students were able to learn about the influences on Bendigo from the Chinese during the Gold Rush Era.

The staff at Peppergreen farm discussed the history of the Chinese in Bendigo and students were able to see, touch and taste some of the Chinese foods and flavours which still grow in the farm’s grounds today. The students walked around the farm and experienced what the Chinese farm may have been like in the 1850s with the replica compost house which was used to provide fertiliser to growing crops. They also viewed photos of the original Chinese kiln (now buried to preserve) used to produce bricks still standing on the farm today.

We would like to thank the staff at Peppergreen Farm for sharing their wealth of knowledge, passion for the Chinese heritage in Bendigo and for allowing us to see first-hand how food was produced and its lasting influence on what we eat today.

Mrs Genevieve Powell