Darren Middleton (left) with Clayton Donovan. Pics/Shadab Khan

It all started with a jaaning tree for chef Clayton Donovan, who grew up on the mid-north coast of New South Wales, home to the Australian Aboriginal tribes of Gumbaynggirr and Bundjalung. "I would climb the tree and forage for its fruit as a child," says the Nambucca Valley-based chef, who grew up watching his aunt cook native Aboriginal food. "But my mom would make me travel across the world with her recipe books. One day it would be Italian and another day, Japanese," says Donovan, 44, his dreadlocks tied in pony tail, his arms covered in tattoos.