About
This site is the creation of Michael Wilson, based these days in Medowie in Port Stephens. I'm a long term but now retired olive grower and processor from the Hunter Valley, originally from England but over 40 years in the Hunter, so I feel I qualify by now.
Why did I create this site? A couple of reasons, really. One is that I have a brand of olive oil and gourmet vinegars (Belarna Grove) that I want to promote and make more people aware of - my products are all hand made and I operate on a tiny scale, so selling on-line is by far the most practical option, and the second is that while I am not hard-line vegetarian, I do tend to eat more vegetarian based foods that anything else.
Having lived in the Hunter Valley for many years, and with easy access to many great restaurants and talented chefs to cook for me, and having eaten out with vegetarian friends and found many restaurants focus on meat, meat, meat and fish, I became frustrated that vegetables and pulses were given such a low profile. There are some fabulous cuisines on this planet that do not rely on meat.