Our Team
ANTHONY HUCKSTEP
Co-Founder, Host
Deep in the Weeds, The Producers,
The Crackling
Anthony Huckstep is a food writer and restaurant critic with a passion for producers, restaurants, food & drink and hospitality. He is also the co-author of the #ausfishseafoodcookbook and Co-founder of Metal Mouth Australia.
ROB LOCKE
Co-Founder, EP
Rob Locke is the Executive Producer, he worked in radio programming and production in a past life, and now produces content for clients in the food, tech and travel industries. He lurks in the background of interviews and believes that sound tells the best story
DANI VALENT
Host,
Dirty Linen, The Producers
Dani Valent is one of Australia’s most respected food communicators. She is a longtime freelance journalist and restaurant critic, award-winning cookbook author, host of the popular Dirty Linen hospitality podcast and chief creator at danivalent.com. Her business card says: writer, eater, traveller and cook, and if you could sum up Dani’s ethos in a phrase, it would be "connecting people through great food experiences”.
SHANTEH WALE
Host
Over a Glass Podcast
Shanteh is the Head Sommelier at Sydney’s Award-Winning Quay restaurant. She is a rising star in the ranks of sommeliers in Australia having been three times nominated for the Good Food Guide Sommelier of the Year award. She has also been a Len Evans Scholar and has judged at numerous wine shows including Royal Sydney, Hunter Valley, New South Wales and Langhorne Creek Wine Shows. Shanteh has also recently contributed to Gourmet Traveller Wine Magazine.
JOHN SUSMAN
Host
Fishtales, a seafood podcast
John Susman has a long history in the seafood industry, working from catcher to cook and more recently as senior partner at Fishtales, provides counsel to catchers, processors, Government and Industry bodies, retailers, restaurateurs and fisheries managers. John is co-author of the Australian Fish and Seafood Cookbook
Who We Are
Deep in the Weeds is Australia’s leading food, drinks and hospitality podcast network with an audience comprising of the most engaged and influential food professionals based in Australia and also abroad.
From chefs to restaurateurs, sommeliers, waiters, farmers, fishers, wine makers and growers the Deep in the Weeds network reaches the whole industry through their in-depth conversations with the leaders and pioneers of our culinary landscape.
Deep in the Weeds was borne out of a way to give the hospitality industry a voice when the Covid-19 crisis first hit. The pandemic and lockdown affected everyone across the board and the podcast gave the industry a voice and way to support each other. Since then the one podcast has evolved into a suite of five industry-specific podcasts all positioned to support, nurture and share the very best of industry.
This new food media has created an opportunity to sit shoulder to shoulder with the industry and create an opportunity to give a voice to those colouring our culinary landscape. It’s a chance to tell real stores, spark a conversation in a very raw and inspiring way and foster camaraderie. From the inspiring to joyous, the challenges and the trauma, the podcasts feature the best of Australian hospitality.