Christopher Thé of Black Star Pastry dishes on philosophy and food

So how did you make pastry making your vocation?
I was researching for what I could do every day for the rest of my life, and it took me until the age of 23 to realise that it is food and cooking. A chef’s life is very tough. You don’t know if you’re going to be successful, you just hope for that to happen. I suppose I was just very determined and lucky enough to find some good mentors who taught me the understanding and philosophy of food.

How did you actually learn pastry making? Did you have any memorable mentors?
Yes, all the bosses I’ve worked for have really invested in me. When you find someone who is really eager to learn, it’s just as enjoyable to teach and to learn. Once I got into the restaurant Claude’s, Damien Pignolet taught me the art of pastry making and Tim Pak Poy and I just talked about food all the time. It was a great place to work. It was small so we made everything from scratch – even our rosewater was made from roses sent up from Tasmania. The French philosophy of cooking –with integrity and authenticity – stuck with me.

You still subscribe to that philospophy?
Yes, definitely! And it goes with everything you do with your life. Being true and honest is so important. And at Black Star Pastry, we want to be honest with our food and dealings with each other.

Are there any unique qualities about Australian pastries?
The tides of the slow food movement in Australia are still strong. Being really conscious of an ingredient’s provenance and origin, and supporting local producers are all things very important to us.

Your strawberry watermelon cake is a hit back in Australia. Why do you think it is popular with customers?
It’s brightly coloured, yet it doesn’t use any artificial colouring. I also like my cakes to have good structure: I don’t like it when you put your fork into a cake and cream just squirts all over the place, and you certainly don’t get that with the watermelon cake. It’s also very light, like a fruit salad.

You’ve also very interested in sustainability.
Yes, as a small business, it’s a big challenge, because until you get to a point when your business is successful enough, it’s hard to be completely carbon neutral. Bit by bit, we started meeting small sustainability goals. We did this very early on by using ethically-sourced meats and free-range eggs. Then we started introducing biodegradable cups. Now that we’re growing, we’re starting to experiment with other ideas. I have this belief that successful businesses will be the ones that experiment with sustainability goals and models, and find out what works. Sustainability is about giving back to the community.

You mentioned how Black Star Pastry has created a community. Could you elaborate more on that?
When you open a café or restaurant, it’s all about you, but after a few years it’s not about you anymore. It’s all about the people who work there, and all the people who go there. Realistically I might want to make this or that, but it’s the people who choose which creations stay on the menu. And when it comes to sustainability goals, it’s really us doing it together with the community.

You’ve active on Twitter and are social media-savvy. What makes a dish Instagrammable? What do you feel about how it affects the way we eat?
Well it’s all about the visuals, isn’t it? It’s all about colours and presentation. Pictures can evoke all sorts of feelings, emotions and memories in a person.