Chiko Roll 2024

Summary

This ceramic artwork of a Chiko Roll was made by Kenny Pittock for the 2025 City Gallery exhibition 'The Dirty Dozen'. Curated by award-winning food writer and author Richard Cornish, the exhibition delved into the sometimes-dark, often-uplifting stories behind street food, produce markets and the dining habits of the 19th-century elite. The twelve ceramic artworks produced by Pittock bring to life 12 quintessential Melbourne street foods. All look good enough to eat.

"In 1950, outdoor caterer Frank McEnroe saw a competitor selling fried rolls filled with chop suey outside the Richmond Cricket Ground. He developed the idea, making them a robust street food. Despite the fact they had no chicken – instead filled with filled with cabbage, carrot, celery, onion, green beans, barley and four per cent beef – he called them Chiko rolls. He sold the first one at the Wagga Wagga Agricultural Show in 1951. By the 1960s, he was manufacturing them in a factory in Essendon." - Richard Cornish, 'The Dirty Dozen' exhibition catalogue