A brutally honest take on the restaurants of the Launceston CBD shared through a unique series of dinners, and an awards ceremony, where the only opinions that matter are those of the kids.

Presented by Streets Alive in association with Mammalian Diving Reflex and Mowbray Heights Primary school, the innovative arts project involved a group of students from Mowbray Heights Primary School dining from the standard lunch or dinner menus at the participating restaurants, in turn, over a number of weeks. The students then personally created a range of different categories, selected the winner for each one, and staged a special awards ceremony, presenting the awards to the successful restaurants and staff.

The learning was not limited to understanding different types of foods, encouraging good eating habits or learning general etiquette in public. It was about bringing together people who don't normally socialise in different contexts. Students involved in the project learned how to use public transport courtesy of Metro Tasmania, undertake a tour of Drysdale, take pasta cooking classes with Pasta Resistance, undertook workshops with Lenine Bourke a practicing artist from Queensland and participate in a workshop with a food critic.

View the Final Awards List

Mammalian Diving Reflex , led by Darren O'Donnell and Natalie De Vito, is an award-winning, internationally acclaimed research-art atelier dedicated to investigating the social sphere. Mammalian Diving Reflex smashes ideas together at high speeds to see what pops out, always on the lookout for contradictions to whip into aesthetically scintillating experiences, producing one-off events, theatre-based performance, theoretical texts and community happenings.

Working with adults and children alike, Mammalian Diving Reflex creates critically-engaged participatory performances including Slow Dance with Teacher, The Children's Choice Awards, Old People Shooting Guns and the international hit Haircuts by Children. MDR has thrilled audiences all over the world in Sydney, Melbourne, Dublin, New York, Los Angeles, Portland, Bologna, Terni, Oslo, Trondheim, Lahore, Mumbai, Montreal, Victoria, Vancouver, and at home in Toronto.

The Restaurants

Fresh on Charles, Romanelli's, Fluid, Cafe@Sebel, O'Keefe's, Toro's on York, Archers Manor, The Prickly Cactus, The Royal Oak, Stillwater, Flip Burgers, The Northern Club.

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The Team

• Artistic Director: Darren O’Donnell
• Artistic Producer: Natalie De Vito
• Project Coordinator: Angela Driver
• Streets Alive executive: Kim Schneiders
• Restaurant Coordinator: Fred Showell
• Graphic Designer: Philippa Steele
• Artist in Residence: Lenine Bourke
• Marketing & Publicity: Shweta Dakin
• Webpages & technical advice: Graham McKenzie
• School coordinator: Cindy Wright
• Supervising Teachers: Marcella Glachan, Karen Higgins, Judy Harris, Chris Cullen, Kathy Robson and Julie Rodwell.

Supporters

A special thank you also to the following people for their generous support of the project:
James Newton, Alderman Ian Norton, Alderman Ray Shipp, Jenny Johnston, Justin Cudmore, Tant Pour Tant, Drysdale, Pasta Resistance, Sarah Lebski, Chris Batchelor, St. Vincent de Paul Society, all participating restaurants.