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  • Published: 21 March 2012
  • ISBN: 9781921382789
  • Imprint: Lantern
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 368
  • RRP: $39.95
Categories:

A Cook's Life




A surprising, intimate and revealing insight into the perseverance and drive it took Stephanie Alexander to become an Australian culinary legend.

With The Cook's Companion front and centre in half a million kitchens, Stephanie Alexander is the very definition of a household name. Each day thousands turn to her 'food bible' for the most reliable recipes and advice. But before Stephanie Alexander penned a word for the emerging food media, let alone for The Cook's Companion, she had spent decades avidly documenting food experiences.

Shaped by her mother's dedication to good food and her father's love of reading, she trained as a librarian and all the while observed, assessed and re-created the dishes she loved. Her monthly university allowance rarely lasted more than a week – all spent on pan-fried flounder and chestnut Mont Blanc.

She was seduced over pain Poîlane while working as an au pair in Paris, and later over ackee and saltfish in London. In 1966, with no formal culinary training and a newborn baby, but brimming with confidence and sheer determination, she opened Jamaica House with her first husband. The personal toll was great and it was many years until she emerged on the restaurant scene again.

Stephanie's Restaurant would become part of Melbourne food folklore, permanently raising the bar for restaurant dining in Australia. At the time of its opening, in 1976, a salad to most people meant iceberg lettuce, no-one had heard of goat's cheese and ginger came in a tin. Over the next twenty-one years, in her quest for the sort of produce she had enjoyed while living and travelling in Europe, Stephanie championed small local suppliers or grew it herself.

Her indefatigable determination and single-minded vision have influenced – and sometimes intimidated – a generation of chefs, cooks and diners. And now her Kitchen Garden Foundation is inspiring tens of thousands of primary school children across Australia to grow and cook their own food.

A Cook's Life is a very personal account of one woman's uncompromising commitment to good food, and of how it shaped her life and changed the eating habits of a nation.

  • Published: 21 March 2012
  • ISBN: 9781921382789
  • Imprint: Lantern
  • Format: Hardback
  • Pages: 368
  • RRP: $39.95
Categories:

About the author

Stephanie Alexander

Stephanie Alexander AO is regarded as one of Australia’s great food educators. Her reputation has been earned through 30 years as an owner-chef in several restaurants, as the author of 18 influential books and for her groundbreaking work in creating and promoting the Stephanie Alexander Garden Foundation. Everything she has achieved and worked towards has been driven by her desire to break down anxieties about cooking, to emphasise the beauty of produce fresh from the garden and to promote the pleasures of sharing around a table. Her strong belief is that the earlier children learn about food through example and pleasurable hands-on experience, the better their food choices will be throughout life.

Stephanie received a Medal of the Order of Australia in 1994 for her services to the hospitality industry and tourism, and for encouraging young apprentices. She was named Victorian of the Year in 2010. In 2013 Stephanie was awarded Officer of the Order of Australia for her work with the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden project.

Her fifth book, The Cook’s Companion, first published in 1996, is regarded as an Australian classic, and has sold over 550,000 copies.

Among Stephanie’s other books are Stephanie’s Menus for Food Lovers, Stephanie’s Australia, Stephanie’s Seasons, Stephanie Alexander’s Kitchen Garden Companion, Stephanie Alexander & Maggie Beer’s Tuscan Cookbook, Stephanie’s Journal, Cooking and Travelling in South-West France, Home, Fresh, and her memoir, A Cook’s Life.

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