When people ask me what makes Melbourne one of the great food cities of the world – and I get asked this often – I don’t point to our incredible restaurants. I don’t talk about our world-beating cafes and bars, or even the superb wine country that surrounds our city. These are all important, not least to me. But what I tell them instead is this: the thing that really sets Melbourne apart is the ready access we have right across the city to good, fresh food. The fact that Toscano’s, one of our greatest providers of the very best of that food, has just clocked 75 years in business says something important about our city, something good.
The ready availability of a great variety of good ingredients is something that you might take for granted if you’ve never lived anywhere other than Melbourne. We have, what, six, seven permanent fresh food markets, complemented by a full calendar of outstanding farmers’ markets and a constellation of independent supermarkets. This is not true of any other city in Australia, and it’s a hard claim to match for many cities in the wider world.
These providers of quality food are also not just in one moneyed bubble, serving a single class or culture; they’re right across town, serving very different communities and serving them well. And there’s depth here. There are more good delis in the halls at the Queen Vic and at Preston Market as there are in the entirety of the City of Sydney. (No, really.)
I don’t want you to think I’m making these claims lightly for the sake of making a point. Shopping for food and cooking for my family is something to which I devote a lot of time and thought. I’ve put in the hours, and I’ve put my money where my mouth is.
I’ve stalked rare mushrooms at Prahran Market, haunted the aisles of all the La Mannas, savoured mid-shop Afghan snacks at Dandenong Market, and made the most of the wares that John Pontelandolfo (of RRR fame) at Tomato City, and the crew at the Queen’s Harvest offer at the Vic. (Shout out to Gus and Carmel Bressi’s Il Fruttivendolo – you are sorely missed.)
I go to Psarakos in Thornbury for those perfect tiny red potatoes that no one else stocks, and to their supermarket for Greek coldcuts and that most sought-after jewel of the pasta world, La Molisana’s fusilli corti bucato no 108 – aka the thinking person’s fusilli.
I love that I can buy salt cod and pig’s trotters any day of the week at Piedimonte’s, and until recently I prized Russell’s at the thrillingly derelicte Brunswick Market for its fresh fenugreek leaves and exceptional olives. Preston Market contains multitudes – Tan Hung stocks one of the nation’s best ranges of fresh southeast Asian ingredients, Arc is on par with its more famous fellow Asian grocers like the mighty Minh Phat and KFL, and if you can’t get the fish, offal or game you want in its meat hall, there’s a good chance it can’t be had at all.
There is much pleasure in knowing that the cheapest good salted capers and the cheapest Fernet are both there for the buying at Mediterranean Wholesalers, or in the understanding that Northcote Shopping Plaza is home to not one, but two branches of Coles – the “good” Coles and the… ahem, other, Coles, and that between them lies a worthy Persian grocer and The Gourmet Meat Rack, Greek butchery of notable quality.
These markets and stores are the foundation of so much of what makes Melbourne a great food city and a great place to live. They’re not about splurges and special occasions, but about eating well every day, the sausages and onions, chickpeas and chicken, ginger and greens of feeding Melbourne day in and day out, and feeding it well.
And Toscano’s really gets it. They put every bit as much work into their workhorse staples, their celery and apples and pumpkins as they do their mangoes, mâche and lemon sorrel. Their zucchini are never too big, their cime di rapa never too woody. They’ve got a lock on the best artichokes in town. And somehow their prices are still on par with what you’ll pay anywhere else.
They’ve been around since 1950, but they’ve got the latest stuff, often before anyone else gets it – you want Tom Sarafian’s hummus or Kafeneion’s tarama? They’re right there in the fridge. This was the first place I saw Sad Girl Matcha Spread, and was my go-to for Victorian-grown red dates to make tea for my wife after she gave birth to our daughter earlier this year.
Fuzzy green almonds, bitter Seville oranges, crisp fingers of puntarelle, seasonal treats all. If there’s morels or fresh horseradish or yuzu or fiolaro di Creazzo going around, they’ll have it. (Yes, I had to Google fiolaro di Creazzo, too.) Purple sprouting broccoli? Fresh dates, crisp and sweet? Sauce tomatoes by the crate? Toscano’s, Toscano’s, Toscano’s.
They stock meats from the name meat merchants – Peter Bouchier and Donati’s among them – but also have the savvy to offer sausages from Nino and Joe’s, the butchery pride of Brunswick. They’ve got bread from Baker Bleu, sushi from Ocha and pastrami from Zaidy’s, and very good flowers. Shout out to the tireless and well-trained young women and men on the registers, too, who ring all this stuff up with unfailing good manners.
This is not some fancy shop where you go just to pick up the pièce de résistance to garnish the centrepiece of your dinner party; this is the real thing, the potatoes and chops and rice and spaghetti as good and as fairly priced as any in town. You can do a real shop here, and you can tap your fingers on your trolley handle to “Volare” while you do it.
I love restaurants more than just about anyone I know, but I would be much, much more excited about a Toscano’s-grade fruit and veg shop opening near my house than the arrival of another restaurant. No disrespect to restaurants – a good fruiterer makes your life better every day.
But here’s the thing. Just like they say you can’t make old friends, could you even make a new Toscano’s if you tried? So much of what makes it great stems from its history, the knowledge of produce and Victoria and relationships with growers and suppliers and customers.
We need to hold these treasures close – once they’re gone, they’re gone for good, and some of our quality of life, our culture, goes with them. Vote with your feet, your purse and your wallet – if you want good food in your city, shop at the places that go the extra mile to bring it to you. They are special, and they are rarer than you think.
By any standard, 75 years is a milestone to celebrate, but when it’s in so challenging an area as fresh-food retail, to thrive over three-quarters of a century, and to do it by going high rather than low – that’s a truly remarkable feat. Auguri, Toscano’s, and bravo, famiglia Toscano. Melbourne is so much the better for your efforts.
Toscano’s marks its 75th anniversary with a week of celebrations from Monday 10 November to Sunday 16 November at its Kew, Hawksburn and Richmond shops, including free tastings of cannoli, Pidapipo gelato, Seven Seeds coffee, and Melbourne Gin Company gin, plus demonstrations, masterclasses and more, all free.
In recognition that not everyone has access to quality fresh food, the Toscano family is also donating $10,000 to Vinnies Soup Vans, a long-standing community partner, to support their ongoing work providing meals to Melburnians in need.
For the full schedule and event details, visit toscanos.com.au or follow @toscanos_melbourne on Instagram.