Lou's FoodEmporium

Italian cane-cutting families settled the lower Herbert River sugar country from the early twentieth century, and their tastes still shape Ingham's main street. On Lannercost Street, this delicatessen has traded since 1988, when Venero and Karen Cavallaro took it on, and it holds what it calls the largest range of olives, cheeses and salamis in North Queensland. Continental smallgoods and imported and Australian cheeses are cut to order at the counter; shelves run to fresh and frozen pasta and sauces, marinated vegetables, and Italian biscuits, cakes and chocolate. It is the sort of provisions shop a town of Italian descent expects to keep, stocking the pantry rather than performing its heritage for visitors.