More Melbourne cooks and food producers are steering away from industrial seed oils, choosing olive oil, butter, tallow or coconut oil instead. This guide explains what these suppliers typically offer, how they sell, what you'll pay, and the questions worth asking before you buy.
Family-owned Melbourne producer of certified-organic, 100% seed-oil-free mayonnaise and probiotic salad dressings (olive-oil based, no preservatives or artificial thickeners). Stocked in health stores across VIC incl. Organic Health Foods Wangaratta and Rare Organics.
Wholefood eatery in Gellibrand Lower in the Otways, cooking with olive and avocado oil and keeping the menu free from seed oils and refined sugar. House-made organic gluten-free and vegan desserts are on offer, with the eatery open seven days from 10am to 3:30pm.
Melbourne gourmet Italian butcher with own family farm at Romsey Range; renders beef tallow in-house from grass-fed Australian beef, sold retail and wholesale for cooking, frying and skincare/soap-making.
On-farm mobile abattoir company processing 100% grass-fed and grass-finished beef ethically on-farm across local Victorian and NSW farms; sells 'The Good Fat' grass-fed beef tallow (rendered from suet) and paddock-to-plate beef online — a seed-oil-free traditional cooking fat.
A Melbourne smash burger and falafel chain with sites in the CBD, Brunswick, Carlton North and Coburg North, cooking in halal beef tallow with no seed oils. Popular with a strong social media following, it's a solid option for a straightforward burger night out.
Shelter Cafe is a Great Ocean Road cafe in Apollo Bay, Victoria, cooking without seed oils and using ghee and coconut oil instead.
Pure Poultry is a locally owned fresh poultry store in Brunswick, Melbourne, offering duck fat for $7.99 alongside its poultry range.
Traditional fish and chip shop cooking fish and chips in beef tallow — praised in local western-suburbs Facebook food groups for old-school tallow frying.
"Seed-oil-free" is a kitchen choice, not a legal category. It generally means a producer avoids industrial seed and vegetable oils — such as canola, sunflower, soybean, cottonseed or generic "vegetable oil" blends — and cooks with fats like extra virgin olive oil, butter, ghee, beef tallow, duck fat or coconut oil instead.
Around Melbourne, you'll find a few different types of vendors making this choice. Fish and chip shops and burger kitchens are a common example, frying in tallow or dripping rather than seed oil. This page features venues such as Burger Heist (with CBD and northern-suburbs locations), Friterie in Windsor, Noble Park Fish & Chips, Greenbrook Fish and Chips in Epping, and the Fish and Chippery at Hay St Market in North Melbourne. Barbecue and meat specialists such as Grange Meat Co. in Alphington, Pure Poultry in Brunswick and Red Gum BBQ at Red Hill also appear here, alongside cafes and wholefoods kitchens like Shelter Cafe and Icaro Wholefoods in Apollo Bay, Miss Amelie Gourmet (with a Prahran Market presence), and Hambuger in Rosebud.
Selling models vary widely:
Prices change constantly, so treat these as a rough guide only and confirm with the vendor:
Frying in tallow, duck fat or good olive oil tends to cost the kitchen more than bulk seed oil, so seed-oil-free venues may price a little above the cheapest options nearby.
Because "seed-oil-free" isn't certified or regulated, transparency matters more than marketing. A few things to look for:
When you're ringing ahead or standing at the counter, a few direct questions clear up most doubts:
This directory describes what vendors sell, not health outcomes. Avoiding seed oils is a personal preference, and we make no medical or therapeutic claims about seed-oil-free foods. Focus on flavour, quality, sourcing and honest information from the producer, and use the listings here as a starting point for finding kitchens and suppliers whose approach suits you.
Or read the full seed-oil-free foods guide, or browse all Melbourne producers.
It's a kitchen choice, not a legal or certified category. It generally means the producer avoids industrial seed and vegetable oils such as canola, sunflower, soybean or cottonseed, and cooks instead with fats like olive oil, butter, ghee, tallow, duck fat or coconut oil. Always confirm directly with the vendor, as practices vary.
Fish and chip shops, burger kitchens and barbecue specialists that fry in tallow or dripping are common examples, along with some cafes and wholefoods kitchens. This page features venues across these categories, but it's still worth asking each one exactly what they cook in.
Ask directly what they fry and cook in, and whether it's consistent across the whole menu. Where organic is claimed, look for recognised certification such as ACO or NASAA. "Spray-free" and "chemical-free" aren't certified terms, so ask what they mean.
Often a little. Fats like tallow, duck fat and good olive oil usually cost the kitchen more than bulk seed oil, so prices may sit slightly above the cheapest options nearby. Ranges on this page are rough guides only — confirm current prices with the vendor.
This directory describes what vendors sell, not health outcomes, and makes no medical or therapeutic claims. Choosing to avoid seed oils is a personal preference. Focus on flavour, quality and transparent sourcing when picking a supplier.