Before people understand a culture through language, history, politics or travel, they often meet it through food.

It might begin with a question. What is this spice? How do you make this? Is this what you grew up eating? That has always stayed with me, because food is one of the gentlest entry points we have. It can make the unfamiliar feel welcoming.

I founded Exotic Bazaar in Ballarat around Persian and Middle Eastern flavours I grew up with. What began with meal bases and spice blends soon raised a question – how do you make heritage food feel approachable without sanding away what makes it distinctive?

Years ago, before I started Exotic Bazaar, I worked as an IT data analyst and used to bring homemade Iranian food to work for lunch. Someone would ask what I had brought. Someone else would taste it. Then came the questions about the spices, the rice, the stews, the names of the dishes and the way things were served. Nobody was trying to have a formal conversation about culture, but the food made people curious, and once people were curious, the conversation followed.

Australians hardly need much persuading to be curious. au survey of more than 2300 people found that more than 60 per cent wanted to experiment with global flavours, while most home cooks were already preparing meals from at least three cuisines each week. The appetite is there; however, the real work for food brands is making something unfamiliar feel easy enough to cook after work on a Tuesday.

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