A Matter of Taste

A Matter of Taste: the Australian Women's Weekly and its Influence on Australian Food Culture by Lauren Samuelsson will take the reader on an adventure into the world of family cooking and how it changed during the first fifty years of the publication of The Australian Women's Weekly.

As a child I can remember being sent to the local newsagent each week to collect a copy of The Australian Women's Weekly for my mother. This magazine became an institution in Australian households. It was first published in 1933 and, although it is now published monthly, is still a popular Australian women's magazine.

Although the magazine was a general publication for women, it is the food section that was not only particularly popular but provides an aspect of history of this country through changes in the preparation and taste of food. As well as articles with recipes in each issue of the magazine, many cookery books under the Australian Women's Weekly banner were published.

The Australian Women's Weekly Cookbook and The New The Australian Women's Weekly Cookbook were both books I regularly referred to in the past and still treasure with my cookery books. Also on the shelves is The Australian Women's Weekly 100 Delicious Biscuits and Slices from which my sons used to choose recipes. I still refer to The Australian Women's Weekly The Complete Book of Cake Decorating and the most popular book of all was The Australian Women's Weekly Children's Birthday Cake Book. I can still remember spending hours making the train on the cover of that book for one birthday.

The book has six main chapters - Triple Tested discussing the types of recipes published, some submitted by the readers and others by the cookery editors; An Exhaustible Appetite discussing how meat has been used in recipes during scarcity as in the 1930s Depression and the Second World War as well as in times of plenty; Let Them Eat Cake showing changes in the culture of baking cakes; Crash! discussing various trends in recipes for slimming and dieting as published in the magazine; Dinner Parties and Barbecues discussing the role of men in cooking and types of home entertaining; 'It Was Taken Up With Cries of Delight' discusses the arrival of foreign foods in family cooking.

 A Matter of Taste contributes to the social history of Australia as well as recreating many memories for readers.