Sharing the Lode: The Broken Hill Migrant Story

Giacomo and granddaughter Hanna tend the crops

Wine, Food & Garden

We love our food and wine and enjoy sharing the fruits of our labour.









People often ask what our national food is and I would say it is Indian food because we just adopted it; that is the food we grew up with.
Adelaide De Main

There was not much fish in Broken Hill when we first came so we had to change and eat more meat but I still cook some meals the Norwegian way.
Dagmar Kanck

I cook Italian food all the time! I learnt to cook in Italy because my mother said, "You have to be able to cook this and this". I copied her and I love to cook - carry on in the way I learnt: gnocchi, polenta, a lot of Italian stuff". I don't know how to cook English food.
Anna Caon

People often said they were having chooks or turkeys at Christmas time - we had them all the time. We raised chooks, turkeys, ducks, and grew veggies in our big yard at the back.
Louis (Lou) Forner

I planted vines, a few stone trees, a fig tree, an olive tree and a few others. I still have a vegetable garden every year.
Con Frangonasopoulos

I like to cook. I cook Greek food always and have catered for special occasions. I've got Greek recipes and I have my mother's recipes. I often say my mother is cooking the meal when I use her recipes!
Veatrike (Vickie) Drosos

Australian food is alright; I love steak and eggs - it is my favourite. Australian food is multicultural. I didn't like the green peas that were served on the plate but now I prefer Australian food because it is healthier.
Spiros Niarros

Mum would think nothing of spending a morning making four hundred ravioli, which contained a filling of meat and spinach. She also made gnocchi, polenta and pasta with tasty sauces.
Noris Braes

The new Australians taught the Australians to cook properly. If we hadn't come, they'd still be on pies and pasties! They wouldn't eat garlic and they didn't even know what eggplant was. Now they love it!
Lily Chrisakis

The Slav cabbage is a very strong, green, leafy cabbage that was very popular with mum when she was back home and we love it; even today we have it growing in the garden.
Millie Alagich

They used to get the wine sent by rail from Griffith but that wasn't a success. It sat on the station in the sun for two or three weeks before they'd let you know it was there.
Lorenzo (Laurie) Cester


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Luka Bartulovich seated beneath his grapevines


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The Slav cabbage is a very strong, green, leafy cabbage that was very popular with mum when she was back home and we love it; even today we have it growing in the garden.- Millie Alagich


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Demijohn from Emanuel Pedergnana's wine shop opposite All Nations Hotel, Eyre Street South Broken Hill, 1934


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At times giardiniera was made by cutting up different types of fresh vegetables, packing them into glass jars, filling the jars with spicy vinegar before sealing them with a lid. Mum also made crostoli-fried pastry sprinkled with icing sugar. Noris Braes