Cravat-A-Licious

Australia knows him as the cravat-wearing critic and hulking soulful judge on TV's crazily successful MasterChef Australia but it's his writing that has had the food world talking for the last ten years. Here are all his best stories and columns.

A collection of Matt's irreverent, intelligent, and amusing adventures in food, this book will take you from the best restaurants in the world to grungy hole in the walls on the wrong side of town; from the ritual of a traditional pig annual kill to lunch at a Sikh temple in the suburbs; basically wherever the world's best food can be found. There are Matt's insightful interviews with some of the world's most influential food thinkers, romps across continents in search of the world's finest salt and sugars, and more than a few insights - from the compelling to ther completely bizarre - from the set of Australia's biggest TV show, MasterChef.

You'll also find simple solutions for making everything from jam to the perfect risotto - even how to create an authentic 1970s soiree - each told in Matt's unique style. It's all here. The stories that won him the title of Australia's Best New Food Writer in 2000, those that subsequently saw him win top national awards for both his food and recipe writing and the pieces that earned him his current title, that of the Le Cordon Bleu World's Best Food Journalist. Now read what's inside to see if that's a title he deserves.

'Matt Preston is dangerously close to becoming a fetish.' Miranda Devine, Sydney Morning Herald

'MasterChef judge Matt Preston . . . has earned near-cult status on the back of his dandified turn on the show.' Ros Reines, Sunday Telegraph

'Debonair and cultured, this master critic is winning over Australian audiences with his wicked sense of humour.' Rove, Network Ten