This week's Sunday Profile comes from the Humans of Lismore Facebook page and was written by Denise Alison, who interviewed Scott and Kristen, from Mayfields Market Kitchen who run a home based business cooking delicious meals for the masses. They also serve yummy breakfasts at the Farmers Markets and are regulars at the Lismore Carboot Market. 

Scott

Scott: “I was born in Somerset where they make cider and grow onions. Dad was in Aviation and got a job managing Bahrain airport which at the time was a major hub. We moved to Bahrain when I was 3 and lived there till I was 11. Dad then got a job working for Swiss Air so we moved to Cypress for the next 2 years. We went back to the UK and I lived in Bournemouth and eventually to Hertfordshire in London’s north.

When I finished school I did a years working visa here. Dad was working for British air space and was selling aircraft called the 146 in the region of Australasia. The 146 are extremely good for short take off and landings. I think they only use them for cargo now but it was perfect for Hamilton Island.

It was also known as the whisper jet because it was super quiet. He’s travel to Australia, Vanuatu, New Zealand, etc. They wanted him to open an office in Circular Quay so we all got a 4 year visa so I lived here for 4 years.

I got a job working for Ansett in reservations and had the time of my life. I made loads of friends who are still friends now. When that time ended I had to return to the UK which was traumatic to say the least. By that stage I knew I loved Australia and wanted to live here.

England was such a contrast which I found depressing and miserable, however that’s when I landed my first job in a kitchen. I took whatever I could so I started out as washer. I told the chefs I wanted to learn what I could. I’ve always loved cooking but was sort of put off because all the chefs and people in that industry lived a pretty hard lifestyle. 

The Chef’s took me under their wing and saw that I had a natural ability, most of which I owe to my Mum, like most chef’s do. In that period Mum and Dad managed to emigrate to Australia permanently and the bracket came up for last remaining relative. I immediately applied and I got it.

My parents moved to Tasmania. I went there for 2 months and went back to Sydney to see my friends. One of my mates lived in an apartment in Cronulla above some girls who had an Antipasto business. He took me down to introduce me and one of those girls was Kristin. We knocked on the door and this smell of roast lamb poured out. She asked if I wanted to stay for dinner and I basically never left. That was 2003. 

Kristin

Kristin: “I was born in Monto just above the Darling Downs in the Burnett district. My father had a dairy farm there as did Mum’s family. We were the original settlers of that area . I still have a lot of family in that area. We lost our farm in the 1969 drought and moved to Gladstone.

My mum was disabled. She contracted Polio as a 16 year old at boarding school in Yeppoon. Mum was strapped to an iron frame for 18 months, all these awful things that did to her. My grandfather heard of a guy called Kjellberg (pronounced Schellbay) who was a Swedish Doctor. He had set up a clinic in Townsville where he stayed for many years. It ended up being like a tent city.

People were coming from everywhere to be treated by him because the Swede’s do Osteopathy and Chiropractic as part of their practice.

When Mum went to Kjellberg she was practically in an iron lung. She was paralysed from the neck down and they said she would never so much as feed herself again. She stayed for 9 years and at the end she was paralysed in one leg. She was probably the most full on woman you could ever meet.

She went from a real horse woman, farm girl to being the Arts and English mistress at the local college. She was the head of the musical society, the light opera society. She did children art classes in the afternoon and adults art classes at night so I had to learn to cook from an early age. Mum was a brilliant cook and my inspiration.

We were looking for ingredients back in the 60’s for Indian curries and Mexican food which was unusual back then. I started cooking family meals from the age of 9. 

I moved to Ballina after I finished school then onto Sydney where I stayed for nearly 37 years. My first restaurant was called Pipi’s in the old original Manly Hotel. It was licensed for 350 people. My beautiful dad had died. He was such a lovely, cuddly man. 

We went up to Airlie Beach and I more or less started the Airlie Beach toad races which are still going today. (laughs). I went back and worked in various restaurants in Sydney including Sailor Thai.

I worked at The Rockpool and Doyles at Watson Bay. I worked for 5 years in Rozelle at an award winning restaurant in the Sackville Hotel. I got a bit tired of hospitality and the hours so I got a job working for Kerry Stokes as housekeeper and cook for 4 years in his big mansion in Double Bay. That was interesting. From there I went to Montreal and worked in my friends beautiful jewellery shop. Not long after I moved to Cronulla and met Scott. 

We spent a little while with a cafe in Kenilworth near Eumundi but cafe’s were not really our thing as we were used to restaurants so we bought in Ballina. My friend Terry Lindenmayer had The Eltham Pub so we had jobs to come to. My sister lived in Bungalow and had a jewellery shop called Peek a Boo. We loved this neck of the woods and always felt very at home here.

We took over the Eltham from Terry in 2005 and stayed on till 2009. We then took over the kitchen at Dunoon Sports Club so we left the Eltham. We used to drive past the Eltham and see how busy it was so we went back and helped out the new owners for another year.

The Eltham Valley used to be called Mayfield so that’s where our name came from. The Eltham Pub used to be called The Mayfield Hotel. We started working at the markets and I was selling relishes. After about 5 years we started doing breakfast and we started the Wednesday night dinners. We’ve also done the Mullumbimby Farmers Market for many years which is a beautiful market. 

Everybody thought we so on the ball for Covid doing dinner deliveries. We started it online from home and now we cap it at 50 meals. It’s gone from strength to strength. We’ve been doing some gigs at The Rappville Hotel which has been so much fun. We’ve done a lot of film catering lately. We did the catering for the ABC production of Deadlock.

We’d arrive at Shelley Beach with our little old van. They are all standing there in the dawn light waiting for this big food van to show up and we rock up. They were like .…Huh!! At the end though we got a standing ovation as we drove out.

We love Lismore. At first we were unsure moving here from Ballina but we were welcomed with open arms. We made so many more friends. It’s real here. We used to come into Lismore and think the edges were a bit rough but it’s fantastic. We have the best cafes and it’s a community thing. That really came together for us with the whole Bentley thing. The whole community working together. These hills are home."

Scott

Scott: “That’s what Lismore means to me…Community, more than anything else. We’ve been supported so well by the community. The amount of places I’ve lived around the world and this is the first place my roots have gone down..This is home.”