Sunday 25 September 2022 05:05 PM True story of the humble Aussie who invented chicken salt trends now Outside of Peter Brinkworth's friends and family, few people know he invented chicken salt, or that it's even Australian. Now the South Australian man, who is every bit as unpretentious as his creation, is getting his moment in the sun with a short film set to be released about the seasoning called Salt of the Earth. 'The other morning my wife kissed me and said 'I just kissed a film star',' Mr Brinkworth, now 81, tells Daily Mail Australia. 'I'm very flattered and I can't quite believe it to be honest.' Outside of Peter Brinkworth's friends and family, few people know he invented chicken salt, or that it's even Australian Chicken salt is celebrated in its hometown Gawler, especially in a restaurant named after the classic Aussie seasoning, which is called Extra Chicken Salt. It even has a chicken salt flavoured beer on tap When compared to the greatest ever Australian inventions, chicken salt may not have saved lives as the black box flight recorder did, or even improved as many as the cochlear implant. Poll Is chicken salt the greatest Australian invention? Yes 0 votes No 0 votes Now share your opinion But for its sheer popularity, which has seen chicken salt colonise every takeaway shop selling hot chips, it's the equal of any of them. The film, called Salt of the Earth, recalls the origins of chicken salt and how far its come. 'You have to be amazed really, it was just an idea, but I suppose most good inventions just start out as someone's idea.' Mr Brinkworth tells Daily Mail Australia he has 'no friggin' idea' how he came up with it or how much money he made from it. But he damn well knows how good it is: good enough to put on his eggs every morning for breakfast and on his steaks, 50 years after he came up with the recipe. Mr Brinkworth first mixed and sold chicken salt from the Gawler's Ozone Theatre, just above the roundabout in the above photo Now the South Australian man, who is every bit as unpretentious as his creation, is getting his moment in the sun with a short film set to be released about the seasoning called Salt of the Earth The son of a chicken farmer, Peter Brinkworth worked for his father and later his older brother, Tom, who eventually become one of Australia's largest pastoralists. After a spell as a delivery driver, Peter opened his own chicken shop and a frozen chicken wholesale business in his 30s, just as chicken shops began to take off in South Australia. 'In the 1970s there were chicken shops everywhere in SA but hardly any interstate,' he remembers. Mr Brinkworth sold the recipe and his chicken wholesale business to immigrant family company Mitani in 1979, which commercialised chicken salt 'We were in the industry and we had a chicken shop too, and I decided I wanted to put a flavour enhancer on the chickens on the rotisseries rather than a bit of this and that. So I concocted a mixture.' It was in his shop, in the old Ozone Theatre, that he mixed up his first batches of chicken salt. Mr Brinkworth doesn't remember how long it took him to get the mix right: 'I don't friggin' know, it was 50 years ago. 'I just mixed it up and that's what it is.' He does admit that he did add 'unspecified herbs and spices' to the description as 'a bit of a joke'. The recipe is no secret - onion powder, garlic powder, salt and celery salt, paprika, chicken bouillon and monosodium glutamate. 'We were supplying other shops with frozen chickens. I talked to guys buying the chicken and put it in with some shipments and it went well.' The seasoning quickly became popular with other local chicken and fish shops. 'Pretty quickly we were selling it in one kilogram bags,' he said. The son of a chicken farmer, Peter Brinkworth opened his own chicken shop in his 30s and decided to create a seasoning to put on rotisserie chickens Mr Brinkworth's role in creating chicken salt was unknown until 2018 when his daughter Jodie (pictured centre) told a mate at Adelaide university her dad's claim to fame. That friend was chef Adam Liaw, who went on to win Masterchef But Mr Brinkworth decided to sell up by 1979 and move into farming, which he continued for the next 20 years. 'We'd worked our bums off, we'd had enough.' Mr Brinkworth sold the recipe and his chicken wholesale business to immigrant family company Mitani in 1979, which commercialised chicken salt. After marketing it to takeaway shops across the state, they eventually created a supermarket version. 'The Mitani family are the the ones that got it known. They got the idea from us and they promoted it.' Today chicken salt is celebrated in its hometown Gawler, especially in a restaurant named after the classic Aussie seasoning, which is called Extra Chicken Salt. The restaurant even has a chicken salt flavoured beer on tap. It might be 40-plus years since he sold his invention, but he's still a passionate advocate for chicken salt and points out it has many more uses than on chicken and chips He puts chicken salt on his eggs every morning but also on steaks when his six kids or 17 grandchildren come to visit Mr Brinkworth can't remember how much he sold chicken salt for but says he 'doesn't care' about the money. 'Wouldn't have a clue, it was 40 years ago, I wouldn’t know if it was a thousand or 50,000.' Mr Brinkworth's role in creating chicken salt was unknown until 2018. His daughter Jodie boasted to a university friend, Adam Liaw, that her dad invented chicken salt. Liaw, who studied science and law at University of Adelaide, went on to win Masterchef in 2010 and wrote about her friend Jodie's claim in a 2018 news article for The Guardian. It might be 40-plus years since Mr Brinkworth sold his invention, but he's still a passionate advocate for it and points out it has many more uses than on chicken and chips. He and his wife of 46 years, Helen, still have chicken salt 'on our eggs for breakfast every morning'. He also uses it as a steak seasoning when his six children and 17 grandchildren visit. 'I think it should be on every table in every pub in the country,' he said. But he does want to clear up some misconceptions about it. First, neither chicken nor salt are essential ingredients. Even though the recipe has chicken bouillon - that doesn't mean it needs chicken in it. 'Chicken bouillon is often just made from vegetables,' he said. 'And not too much salt, it should be less than half. The flavour comes from the other ingredients.' Mr Brinkworth stands by his version of chicken salt, which he insists is the original and the best. Peter and Helen Brinkworth (pictured centre) with filmmakers Thomas Van Kalken (far left) and Jacob Richardson (far right) If there is one ingredient you can't leave out it's the MSG, he said. 'It is essential,' he says, and staunchly denies it's bad for anyone. 'It's been proven time and time again it’s a fallacy that it's bad for you,' he said. 'If people really knew what it is exactly they wouldn't worry, it's basically what you get out of mature cheese, matured meats and mushrooms, it's that extra flavour of a matured product.' Salt of the Earth, made by Jacob Richardson and Thomas Van Kalken, debuts at the Adelaide Film Festival on October 20. All rights reserved for this news site (dailymail) and under his responsibility