“You come home from Woodford with that feeling of, oh, okay, maybe the world’s not so bad after all.” — Matt Golinski

Matt Golinski grew up on a tropical fruit farm in Palmwoods, knowing what a good tomato looked like long before any professional kitchen. Most of Australia met him across nine years on Ready Steady Cook — though he’d rather you call him a cook than a celebrity chef. He still cooks every day, sources almost everything straight from the farmers who grow it, and will happily drive hours into regional Queensland to feed 300 people on his own, for the joy of it.

Harley Breen sits down with Matt for a wide-ranging yarn: the farm, the TV years, the honest economics of one-person catering, and why there should never be such a thing as a food trend. And of course, there’s Woodford — which Matt’s been coming to since the very first Maleny festivals, surviving on baked beans and a $20 tent that collapsed on night one. He’s watched trees he helped plant grow into the canopy that shades the festival today. Driving through the gates, he says, simply feels like coming home.

Settle in for a conversation about food, farmers, and why the best meals are the ones with a story behind them.