Mark Olive

Mark Olive, aka “The Black Olive”, is an Australian cooking icon. He’s been a chef for 30 years, well known for his charisma and unique creativity in the kitchen.

Mark is impassioned by native flavours and contemporary lifestyle cooking, and fusing the two is where he finds his niche; he’s created an international profile specialising in gourmet Australian Indigenous Cuisine. His series The Outback Café documents his travels and experiments combining bush food with international flavours to create his own unique and peculiar recipes. He’s also known for his work on SBS’ A Chef’s Line, On Country Kitchen, Good Cooks and various other lifestyle and cooking shows across the world.

Mark is a Bundjalung Man. His family originated from the Northern Rivers region in NSW and he was born in Wollongong. He was always fascinated by cooking as a youngster; he would spend much of his time in the kitchen, front row to his mother and aunts preparing meals. Mark has been hooked ever since and has worked in many kitchens across the world.

Mark holds a distinctive and rare charm that leaks into his cooking style; he looks both to our backyard and across the seas for his ingredients and the result never ceases to amaze the lucky gourmand who eats his art. His style and manner have garnered him a large fanbase – he regularly does cooking demonstrations for clients including large corporations and cultural events. As a part of Oprah’s Ultimate Audience, a handful of lucky audience members were treated to a rich cultural experience of indigenous food, art and storytelling as a part of Mark’s demonstration. Ever since, Mark has hosted audiences from across the world.

In recent years, Mark collaborated with Peters where they worked together to produce The Connoisseur Gourmet range of Ice Creams and, in response to popular demand, Mark recently opened a Café, Dapbeto’s Midden.

With decades of experience behind him, Mark is a natural storyteller. He’s spent years captivating listeners and entertaining audiences. He’s passionate about the land and all that grows from it, and he’s an expert in Native Fauna and the food and medicinal purpose produced from them. Mark lends his wit and captivating stage presence to all events he’s invited to.