Jean-Paul Bruneteau is a French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

-Australian chef and author who is credited with playing a pioneering role in the development of an authentic Australian cuisine

Australian cuisine

Australian cuisine refers to the cuisine of the Commonwealth of Australia and its preceding indigenous and colonial societies. Indigenous Australians have occupied the lands of Australia for some 40,000-60,000 years, during which time they developed a unique hunter gatherer diet, known as "bush...

 based on indigenous ingredients.

Born in 1956 in Vendee, France, Bruneteau migrated to Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 with his parents in 1967. Bruneteau became Chief Cook on the MV Australian Venture. He then worked in the kitchens of the Sydney Opera House

Sydney Opera House

The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in the Australian city of Sydney. It was conceived and largely built by Danish architect Jørn Utzon, finally opening in 1973 after a long gestation starting with his competition-winning design in 1957...

.

In 1984 he opened Rowntrees, The Australian Restaurant, in Hornsby

Hornsby, New South Wales

* Highest Maximum Temperature: 42 °C* Lowest Maximum Temperature: 4.9 °C* Warmest Month: January* Coolest Month: July* Highest Precipitation: February* Lowest Precipitation: July-Notable residents:...

, Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

, with business partner Jennifer Dowling. It was the first 'Australian' restaurant listed in the Yellow Pages.

Bruneteau experimented with various native ingredients supplied by small-scale regional suppliers and wholesalers of bushfoods. This included products like riberry, Dorrigo Pepper

Dorrigo Pepper

Tasmannia stipitata, Dorrigo Pepper or Northern Pepperbush is a rainforest shrub of temperate forests of the Northern Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia. Leaves are fragrant, narrow-lanceolate to narrow-elliptic, 8-13 cm long. Dark bluish to mauve berries follow the flowers on female shrubs...

, tetragon (warrigal greens), lemon myrtle

Lemon myrtle

Backhousia citriodora is a flowering plant in the family Myrtaceae, genus Backhousia. It is endemic to subtropical rainforests of central and south-eastern Queensland, Australia, with a natural distribution from Mackay to Brisbane...

, Wattleseed

Wattleseed

Wattleseed is a term used to describe the edible seeds from around 120 species of Australian Acacia thatwere traditionally used as food by Australian Aborigines and they were eaten either green or dried to make a type of bush bread.Acacia seed flour has recently gained popularity in Australia...

 and Illawarra plum.

In 1988, Bruneteau won a gold medal for 'The Most Original Cuisine' at the Second International Cooking Festival held in Tokyo, Japan where he created his signature dish, now world famous 'The Rolled Wattleseed Pavlova', developed with the assistance of the Australian Egg Corporation (now defunct).

In 1989, when visiting Australia, French Master Chef, Paul Bocuse

Paul Bocuse

Paul Bocuse is a French chef based in Lyon who is famous for the high quality of his restaurants and his innovative approaches to cuisine...

 paid tribute to Bruneteau's role in developing an Australian cuisine.

In 1991, Bruneteau and Dowling opened Riberries - Taste Australia restaurant, in Darlinghurst, Sydney. In 1996, Bruneteau published many of his ideas and culinary experiences with bushfood

Bushfood

Bushfood traditionally relates to any food native to Australia and used as sustenance by the original inhabitants, the Australian Aborigines, but it is a reference to any native fauna/flora that is used for culinary and/or medicinal purposes regardless of which continent or culture it originates...

 in a popular and award winning book titled, Tukka, Real Australian Food.

Bruneteau then moved to Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

where he became the chef in two Australian themed restaurants, the Bennelong and Woolloomooloo.

He has recently returned to Australia and again is playing a leading role in Sydney's culinary forefront.