1 October, 2018 - Diana Novak, Palm Bay Spirits; Rodney Dunn, The Agrarian Kitchen

Diana Novak

National Director of Craft Spirits Education,

Palm Bay International

As the oldest daughter of an Air Force Colonel, Diana Novak’s love of different flavors, textures and adventure can be credited to her family’s extensive travel history.

Diana’s passion for food and drink led her to pursue a degree from the esteemed Johnson and Wales University. She began formally bartending during college and after graduation, Diana returned to her home in North Carolina to continue her growth in the bar industry. Using flavor and texture skills combined with pure experimentation, Diana developed a fast consumer following by creating unique and thoughtful cocktails.

While working for local and regional chains, Diana was able to design feature and specialty cocktails for various concepts in both North and South Carolina, including serving on the opening management and development team of the Carolina Hospitality Group. After several years in the Carolinas, Diana moved to Indiana. There, she spent 3 years mixing in high-volume cocktail and craft competitions, and participated in the creation of several local cocktail menus.

In 2010 Diana joined Palm Bay International, one of the leading wine and spirits importers in the country, to spearhead education for the spirits portfolio and to serve as a connection between distributors and key accounts in Chicago and the Midwest markets. Diana was promoted as the National Director of Craft Spirits Education in fall 2013 – a role she continues to hold today. In her capacity as National Director, she can be found creating the cocktails for the market and educating each segment of business about spirits categories, competitive sets, and how to use spirits in new and exciting ways.

Diana has been featured in Tasting Panel Magazine for her cocktails featuring Los Amantes Mezcal, Boulard Calvados, and more. Her recipe, “Smoke, Spice, and Everything Nice,” recently won the About.com “Savory Cocktail” competition. 

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RODNEY DUNN

The Agrarian Kitchen

Co-Founder & Chef

New Norfolk, Tasmania

Rodney Dunn worked under Tetsuya Wakuda at the Sydney restaurant Tetsuya’s before moving into food media, working as a food researcher for the Better Homes and Gardens television program and as food editor of Gourmet Traveller magazine.

In order to indulge his passion for growing fruit and vegetables, raising pigs, milking goats and keeping honey bees, Rodney, with his wife Séverine Demanet, opened The Agrarian Kitchen Cooking School in Lachlan in Tasmania’s beautiful Derwent Valley in 2008. It offers guests a unique paddock-to-plate experience where guests harvest produce from its garden to be used in the cooking experience and is led by Rodney. In 2010, it was voted as Australia’s “Greatest Gourmet Food Experience” by Australian Traveller Magazine.

In June 2017, Rodney and Séverine opened their restaurant, The Agrarian Kitchen Eatery in the small town of New Norfolk, just a few minutes drive from the Cooking School. In October 2017, just four months after opening, The Eatery was awarded two hats and voted "Best Regional Restaurant in Australia" by Fairfax in the National Good Food Guide. In July 2018, the Australian Financial Review awarded The Eatery as the “Top Newcomer in Australia” and it also came 32nd in its Top 100 Australian restaurants for 2018.

Rodney has authored two books with Penguin Randomhouse Australia under its Lantern imprint, entitled The Agrarian Kitchen and The Truffle Cookbook.