Meet our People – Air Dovey
Air Dovey has worked at Compass Group Australia for 17 years in ESS Offshore & Remote sector in Perth, and is now National Culinary Lead. Air is always willing to help where she can. She goes above and beyond in her role, advocating for causes that are close to her heart.
Air caters for many events in the Perth office from Christmas in July, Chinese New Year, the head office Christmas Party, the list goes on. She does it all; creates gourmet menus, leads all the cooking, provides the safety notices, assists with set-up, and pack-down, and often cleans up by
herself. She is a true asset to the team, and has a can-do, enthusiastic attitude. Best of all, she loves what she does.
Air loves using native Indigenous ingredients in her cooking and encourages others to do
the same. Her favourite dish to make using Indigenous ingredients is crispy skin barramundi, with quandong, lemongrass and tomato chutney, which she cooked on video as part of NAIDOC Week. Quandong is an Indigenous Australian fruit, which has a delicious tart flavour. It brings something different to the dish and connects it to the culture and community of the Indigenous Australian people.
https://vimeo.com/742920164/b27e004275
Australia’s Indigenous communities have used native ingredients in traditional dishes and medicines for more than 40,000 years. Australian native ingredients not only offer nutritional and medicinal value, but also offer an important connection to country for the people.
Air strongly believes food is what unites and creates community, so loves using the Indigenous ingredients to recognise and connect with the Indigenous community. She was instrumental in creating the Bush Tucker How-To Guide, a guide encouraging other kitchen sites across Australia to incorporate native ingredients into their cooking. Her dedication to the Indigenous Australian community comes down to love, connection and
respect and she carries that out in all facets of her job.
In her cooking and her role, Air believes it’s all about passion, connection, and making people smile. She is happiest when others are happy and the greatest compliment to her is someone licking their plate clean.