Talk:Vic Cherikoff

Cherikoff’s role in native food species selection
In regards to this statement:

“Vic Cherikoff is regarded as the foremost authority on Australian native foods and is a pioneer of the Australian native foods industry having selected and commercialised most of the two dozen or so indigenous species on the market.”

There are at least 35 to 40 Australian native plant species on the market (not including macadamia). Some of the less widely marketed products are confined to regionally based restaurant cuisine and boutique value-added products, but never the less, they are marketed and sometimes exported.

Of the total Australian native food plant species marketed, at least 20 of these species were being developed with commercial intent by other people, before Cherikoff was involved with marketing those species. In some cases, species had been selected and promoted for crop development and commercial use; including essential oil profiling of the spices with commercial intent in the native foods industry. Some native essential products were also being marketed as flavoring but were not part of the generic native foods industry. Undoubtedly, Cherikoff did selection of native species for commercialization for his own companies product range, and in some cases he would have been the originator of the commercial process for some species. Therefore, the statement “…having selected and commercialized most of the two dozen indigenous species on the market.” is not precise on an industry level. Although, not to take away from Cherikoff’s very important innovative role in marketing, promotion and product development.

This statement is more precise:

“Vic Cherikoff is regarded as an authority on Australian native foods and is a pioneer of the Australian native foods industry, having been involved in the selection and commercialization of many of the 35 or so indigenous Australian plant foods and spices now in the market place.”

John Moss 12.38, 30 August 2006 (UTC)