The celebration of Australian PorkFest, for the whole month of April is to showcase the versatility and appeal of Australian pork and Julie Goodwin, Australia’s first Masterchef, has been declared our very own PorkFest Ambassador.

Australian Pork Limited (APL) CEO Andrew Spencer said, "Australia’s pork farmers are very proud to be represented by such a passionate culinary icon. Julie is a busy, caring wife and mother who proved to a nation she can cook up a storm. Her unassuming talent and warmth epitomises the heartbeat of the ideal family kitchen.

"She loves cooking. She loves her cooking to please and she loves cooking with pork. What’s not to love? Julie Goodwin doing her bit for Australia’s pork farmers with her down-to-earth appeal to home cooks is a perfect fit."

April is a time when pork is at its most plentiful, at its peak quality, and is most economical. This boom of delicious pork is due to the fact that most of Australian pig herds breed and grow best in the cooler months, meaning that piglet batches born at the end of winter catch up in size with litters born at the beginning of the colder months. Consequently, more pigs come onto the market at that particular time of the year. It’s when pork is in ‘peak season’.

With supermarkets and over 1,300 butchers around the country on board for PorkFest, it’s easy to get into the ‘pork on your fork’ spirit. Shoppers can simply follow Julie’s featured PorkFest recipe each week – roast loin, pad Thai, cannelloni, and schnitzel on www.pork.com.au. Or they can be adventurous with any of the abundance of other cuts available with pork, be it leg, steak, cutlet, scotch, shoulder, belly, fillet, trotter, or hock.

Pork is a perfect fit for almost any cuisine style, so imagination is the only limit and PorkFest is all about getting the creative juices flowing and getting out of a recipe rut.