Small Goodness:The Art of the Slow Savour

How Aaron White is Reviving the Craft of Small goods

By Neil Dixon

In an era of instant gratification and industrial-scale production, Aaron White is doing something radical: he's intentionally slowing down. As the founder of Small Goodness, Aaron isn't just making salami, he's preserving a lineage of patience, a generous dash of nostalgia, and a strictly disciplined approach to Australian craft that feels almost countercultural in 2026.

Walk into any supermarket and you'll find salami. Rows of it, plastic wrapped and price pointed for the quick grab. But what you won't find is the story that Aaron is telling through every carefully cured batch a narrative woven from old world technique, uncompromising standards, and the kind of time most modern businesses have forgotten how to spend.

A Kitchen Built on Stories

For many, the kitchen is a place of utility somewhere to reheat, microwave, and move on. For Aaron, it was a classroom without walls, a living archive of technique and tradition. Growing up in a home where food was the primary language of love, he spent his formative years orbiting the counters of his mother; nanna and grandad, absorbing lessons that had nothing to do with recipe cards and everything to do with intuition.

"The kitchen was where stories were told, skills were passed on, and time slowed down," Aaron reflects, his voice carrying the warmth of someone who still lives in those memories. While his peers might have been rushing through meals to get back to their screens, Aaron was learning the instinctive cooking of his Nanna the kind that doesn't measure, doesn't question, just knows and the quiet alchemy of fermentation with his Grandad, watching as time and salt transformed simple ingredients into something extraordinary.

"The kitchen was where stories were told, skills were passed on, and time slowed down."

It was a childhood defined by the hands on and unhurried, by the understanding that good things cannot be rushed. That philosophy didn't just shape his palate; it would eventually become the entire heartbeat of his business, the compass by which every decision would be measured.

From N64 to the Curing Room

Aaron's path to becoming a small goods producer wasn't a straight line and that's part of what makes his story so compelling. With a self-deprecating laugh, he admits that his earliest career aspiration was to be a professional wrestler, inspired by countless hours hunched over a Nintendo 64 controller, watching larger-than-life characters command the screen. While the theatrics of the ring didn't stick, the big personality and iron discipline required for excellence certainly did, finding new expression in an entirely different arena.

The true turning point, the moment when hobby crystallised into calling, arrived in his early twenties during annual family pilgrimages to Melbourne. These weren't casual visits they were full day productions, elaborate rituals that felt like stepping outside of time. "We'd make a full day of it every year, twenty legs of pork, everything mixed by hand," he recalls, his face brightening at the memory. Piping meat into casings and hanging them in the garage for six weeks wasn't just a hobby or a tradition; it was a meditation, a practice that demanded both precision and surrender.

When Aaron began bringing the fruits of this labour back to Brisbane, sharing his creations with friends and colleagues, the reaction was unanimous and immediate. People could taste the difference. More tellingly, they could see it in him the way his face would light up when he talked about the cure, the perfect ratio of salt, the anxious anticipation of the wait. By late 2023, after years of encouragement and his own growing conviction, Small Goodness was born, not as a business plan but as an inevitability.

The Integrity of the Batch

What sets Small Goodness apart in an increasingly crowded artisan market isn't just nostalgia or aesthetics it's a defiant commitment to restraint in an industry that often rewards corner cutting. In a world of fillers, shortcuts, and "liquid smoke" designed to mimic what time and patience create naturally Aaron’s ingredient list reads like a manifesto of purity. His products are composed of 97-99% Australian ingredients, utilising free-range pork and beef wherever possible, sourcing from farmers whose names he knows and whose practices he trusts.

"Cured meats demand patience and respect. You learn by doing, and there are no shortcuts."

"Small-batch production, time, and restraint are at the core of everything we do," Aaron explains, his tone shifting into something more serious, almost protective. "There are no shortcuts. Every batch teaches you something, whether it's a subtle shift in humidity or the way a particular cut responds to the cure. You learn to listen to the process."

This dedication to uncompromising quality means that the worst day in the Small Goodness office isn't a difficult customer or a supply chain hiccup it's a day where a batch doesn't meet his exacting standards. When that happens, there's no debate, no calculation about whether it's "good enough." If it isn't perfect, it's scrapped. Full stop. It's a high-stakes, potentially ruinous way to run a business, but for Aaron, his name is his bond, his reputation the only currency that truly matters.

The Signature Cacciatore Salami: Crafted from 100% Australian free-range pork, this is the product that started it all. Fermented and air-dried for six weeks using the traditional Melbourne-family method. No fillers just meat, spice, and time.

Premium Streaky Bacon: A masterclass in restraint. This isn't your supermarket bacon; it’s cured with intention to ensure the natural sweetness of the pork shines through without being overwhelmed by salt or artificial smoke.

"Food is deeply personal," he says, leaning into the weight of that statement. "It goes into people's bodies, becomes part of their celebrations, their everyday moments. If my name is attached to it, it has to meet a standard I'm proud of not just commercially, but personally. I have to be able to serve it to my family and feel good about it."

This isn't marketing speak. It's the kind of conviction that gets tested daily, that costs money, that makes the easier path constantly visible but ultimately unthinkable.

A Legacy in Every Slice

Behind the commercial success the growing interest from top-tier chefs, the shelf space in boutique delis, the customers who return not just for the product, but for what it represents there lies a bittersweet motivation that Aaron doesn't often discuss but clearly carries with him. His greatest regret, the shadow beneath the achievement, is that the grandparents who taught him to ferment and fold dough, who showed him that food could be a language and a legacy, aren't here to see the brand he's built in their honour. They didn't live to witness their casual weekend rituals transformed into a business that's bringing old world craft back to Australian tables.

"It's a reminder that life is short," he says quietly, the usual brightness in his voice dimming for just a moment. "Being present, not putting things off, really showing up for the people and the work that matters that's what I think about when I'm in the curing room."

This sense of presence, of being fully invested in the moment rather than racing toward some distant finish line, is exactly what he hopes customers experience when they taste his salami or pastrami. It isn't just sustenance, isn't just protein and fat and spice. It's a story of Australian farmers working the land with integrity, of traditional techniques that refused to be forgotten, of a man who decided that some things, actually are worth the wait.

The Balance

As Small Goodness continues to expand its reach, attracting attention from food writers and industry insiders, Aaron remains remarkably grounded, anchored by his wife and young family. They're his reminder that the business should exist alongside life, enriching it, rather than consuming it entirely. It's a lesson he learned watching his grandparents, who understood instinctively that the point of good food wasn't fame or scale it was connection, celebration, the simple joy of gathering around a table.

It's this balanced approach to an ancient craft that makes Aaron's story feel both timely and timeless. In a culture that increasingly values speed over substance, convenience over character, he's offering something different. Proof that when you do things properly, when you honour the process and respect the ingredients, when you're willing to scrap a batch that's merely good in pursuit of excellence, the results are quite literally full of goodness.

And perhaps that's the real revolution here. Not just bringing back traditional small goods, but bringing back the values that made them worth savouring in the first place.

Aaron White is the founder and head maker at Small Goodness. With a background rooted in multi-generational family traditions and a professional commitment to the "slow food" movement, Aaron transitioned from a lifelong passion for fermentation to a commercial venture in late 2023. Based in Brisbane, he remains a hands-on producer, personally overseeing every batch to ensure it meets his uncompromising standards of craft and quality. When he isn’t in the curing room, you’ll find him spending time with his wife and family the primary inspiration behind his "do it properly" philosophy.

Small Goodness products are available at select delis and Barrels & Stills Hawthorne.

Small Goodness Cacciatore Salami - Twin Pack (250g)

A$15.00

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