As part of a $100,000 or so tender for new cooking equipment, the Governor-General's office has also put in a bid for stick blenders, food processors, a KitchenAid, deep fryer and pasta maker.

But of all the pieces of equipment, it was the Thermomix that captured the imagination of the Senate's Finance and Public Administration Committee on Tuesday.

"You're going to have to help with with this, a Thermomix," Labor's Joe Ludwig asked innocently. "I don't know what a Thermomix is."

Official secretary to the Governor-General, Mark Fraser, was similarly ignorant in reply.

"I don't know what a Thermomix, senator, is," he added apologetically.

In the end, it was up to committee chair and South Australian senator Cory Bernardi to educate the room.

He explained a Thermomix was a food processing machine "very popular amongst the home masterchefs of today".

Senator Ludwig then wondered aloud if this was something "elite trendies" use.

"In Queensland you may refer to them as that. I just refer to them as those who have a particular interest in cooking," Bernardi lobbed back at his Sunshine State colleague.