Stephanie'S Australia

"Stephanie's Australia" is an account of Stephanie Alexander's personal odyssey around Australia looking at tastes, places, stories and people. It offers a portrait of the country and its emerging culinary traditions. For a food lover, each landscape has extra meaning and this book gives a cross-section of what is happening in the Australian food scene. Stephanie is, above all, a food lover and was determined to record the abundant evidence of the variety and quality of foods grown in this country. There are memories of country childhoods when the living was simpler if not easier, of days scrabbling for pipis in the sand, an account of the generosity of an Italian gardener in a Victorian country town, as well as interviews with national marketing bodies concerned with Australia's export levels. She chronicles the success story of anchovies from Fremantle and introduces bush food flavours. There are stories of Gabrielle Kervella and her goats in Western Australia, Blissy's Tuckerbox, which sells rabbit satays from an old bus on the road to Alice Springs, and fiery Catalonian cooking in cold Tasmania. More than 60 recipes capture the spirit and use of the ingredients described. John Hay accompanied Stephanie on this gastronomic journey through Australia. His photographs capture the variety of city and countryside, and the people who labour to produce such delicious tastes.