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.

Miss Eliza's English Kitchen

Eliza Acton wants to be acknowledged as a poet. Her father arranged for one book of poetry to be published but she hopes this time that her work will be accepted by an established publisher. Instead she is told to write a recipe book. Needless to say she is not impressed with this reaction but when she starts looking at recipes in cookery books she realises that she could write a much better cookery book than those already published.

When her father becomes bankrupt, Eliza's mother sets up a boarding house and Eliza becomes the cook providing her with the opportunity to test recipes.  She needs a scullery maid to help her and Ann Kirby is employed in this role. Ann comes from a poor family where her father is an alcoholic and her mother is placed in an asylum. Ann has wanted to be a cook so this is a great opportunity for her although she feels guilty about not being able to look after her parents, especially her mother.

In the kitchen Eliza and Ann soon establish a strong working relationship as they experiment with recipes and ingredients. Existing recipes frequently did not list the quantities of ingredients to be used. As Eliza collects recipes for the book she plans to write, she makes a list of the required ingredients and the quantity required before writing instructions to prepare the dish. Eliza also continues to read poetry and write poems. 

The plot is revealed in alternate chapters through the voices of Eliza and Ann. The novel is about friendship, the joy of cooking and creativity with food.There is lots of food. It also explores the limited options for spinsters in the nineteenth century, especially if they are to gain some independence. Eliza's mother is not impressed with her daughter's plans and tries to persuade her not to admit that she actually cooks in the kitchen though it is acceptable if people know that she plans the recipes. The novel paints a picture of life for different parts classes of society at this time.

Miss Eliza's English Kitchen by Annabel Abbs is a work of historical fiction so many of the characters are based on real people though others, including Ann, have been created by the author. A selection of recipes is included at the end of the book plus a list of books for further reading and information about some of the real people and places mentioned in the novel. There is also a suggested list of questions for book groups.

The cookery book, Modern Cookery in all its Branches (later published as Modern Cookery for Private Families) was first published in 1845.

Eliza Acton - Modern Cookery in all its Branches - History in the Making

Eliza Acton - Wikipedia

Modern Cookery for Private Families - Wikipedia

The Paris Cooking School

Having recently enjoyed reading A Secret Garden in Paris by Sophie Beaumont, I decided to read her previous novel set in Paris, The Paris Cooking School. I was not disappointed.

Sylvie Morel runs the Paris Cooking School where people from overseas countries can spend four weeks experiencing French cuisine. Eight people are in the class that Gabi Picabea and Kate Evans, two Australians, attend. The novel follows their experiences in France as they each endeavour to come to terms with other events in their lives as well as learning how to prepare French food. Sylvie has problems of her own as she discovers that someone is trying to sabotage the cooking school.

The stars of the book are Paris and the French food discussed in the book. As the cooking classes continue Gabi and Kate reassess their lives and how they want to live in the future. This is a book of friendship, love and hope as well as the magic of visiting the city of Paris, not to mention the mouth watering food.

Lessons in Chemistry

Set primarily in the 1950s and early 1960s Elizabeth Zott wants to be a research chemist but discovers that being a woman made her aims almost impossible to achieve. She gets a job as a lab assistant at the Hastings Institute in California but she is not accepted by the male members of staff because she is a female attempting to work in a man's world. She is also not accepted by female employees because she aspires to be more than a secretary.

When Elizabeth meets another chemist, Calvin Evans, who has a great reputation as a scientist but also is not accepted by the other staff at the institute, they discover that they have much in common and form a permanent relationship. Elizabeth decides that she does not want to be married as that would make her professional aspirations even more difficult to achieve.  However living with a man when not married is also considered by society to be unacceptable. To compound problems Elizabeth does not want to be a mother but she and Calvin decide to fill the gap by adopting a dog, Six-thirty.

But when an event occurs causing Elizabeth to find another line of work she finds herself hosting a cooking show on TV five days a week to support her family. However this is not an ordinary cooking show. Elizabeth makes it clear that she is a chemist and she treats cooking as chemistry. The male producers are not keen on the idea but it soon becomes clear that most women (and some men) watching the program appreciate learning more than just putting different foods together to create a meal.

In Lessons in Chemistry, Bonnie Garmus encourages the reader to look at how far we have come in accepting equality in the workforce. The world in which Elizabeth lives is very different from that of the 2020s. In most cases women today have a chance to work with men in fields, as equals, which in the 1950s and early 1960s was considered not acceptable because of their gender. Attitudes to marriage and having children outside marriage have also changed in many countries. Although often humorous, Lessons in Chemistry shows that much of what we now take for granted has not always been the case.

This book was one of three books selected as a possible title for the Monash Alumni Book Club in July to October 2026.

The little book of chocolat

This cookery book by Joanne Harris and Fran Warde contains 50 recipes celebrating chocolate.

In 1999 Joanne Harris published Chocolat, a book about Vianne Rocher and her chocolate shop and cafe in a French village. Since then Joanne Harris has written three sequels to the original novel. It is not possible to read Chocolat without feeling the need to consume an excellent piece of chocolate, a piece of rich chocolate cake or drink a delicious cup of rich hot chocolate. This book, published in 2014 supplies a collection of recipes based on chocolate, including some of the delicacies featured in the book. A must read for any chocoholic.

Maggie's Kitchen

Set in 1941-1942 London, Caroline Beecham, has written this story of Maggie Johnson's attempts to establish her own restaurant providing food for people still working and living in London. This was only achievable through participation in the British Restaurant project established by the Ministry of Food in 1941 to provide food at low cost to ordinary people ensuring that they had at least one good meal a day. British Restaurants was a continuation of the National Kitchens project that operated during the First World War. Food available to the restaurants was severely rationed and it was expected that only food from a set menu would be served. Many other restrictions were placed upon the managers of these restaurants making it difficult to operate the restaurants efficiently. There was also opposition from private caterers who felt that restaurants participating in the British Restaurants project were receiving special privileges.

Maggie's restaurant, Maggie's Kitchen, established with the help of a team of loyal friends, soon became popular in her local area not just as a place to eat nutritious food but also as a community hub. This is a story of life in London during the early 1940s, of challenges. fears and love. I really enjoyed reading this book. After reading this novel you will be careful not to waste food again.

A series of recipes mentioned in the book are provided at the end of the book along with some of the resources used. At the beginning of each chapter there is a paragraph from a Ministry of Food pamphlet or recipe books written during the war.

British Restaurants in 1940s wartime Britain - Link

National kitchens: communal dining in wartime - Link to The Gazette

World War II British Restaurant - Youtube

 Ministry of Food War Cookery Leaflets - Link

Wartime Recipes - Link

The Little Breton Bistro

Nina George is a German writer who now has two books translated into English - The Little Paris Bookshop and The Little Breton Bistro. At the cricket at Launceston recently a friend was reading The Little Breton Bistro and recommended it. We also saw it displayed at Launceston airport. So I borrowed a copy from the library to read.

Marianne Messmann is a German lady who visits Paris with her husband of forty years - Lothar. Her marriage is not a happy one and one evening Marianne decides to jump off a bridge into the Seine. Much to her dismay she is rescued by a tramp and taken to hospital. However, in hospital she discovers a small painted tile of a beach scene in Brittany and decides to visit the place before she attempts to end her life once more.

This scenario sounds dismal however when Marrianne arrives in Kerdruc she makes a new group of friends and shares many new experiences, enabling her over time to rediscover the enjoyment of life. It takes a while, however, for Marrianne to decide whether to continue with her new life and identity or return, with her husband, to the old life she did not enjoy.

Marianne is not the only person who needs to make decisions as to how they want to live their life in the future. This is a book about relationships, about being brave enough to make a change and take a chance instead of thinking about what may have been. The power of water, either the river or the sea, is often in the background. The setting of Kerduc is an important feature of the book especially the bistro, Ar Mor, where Marianne finds employment and becomes an accepted member of the community. Naturally the enjoyment of cooking and eating food is a feature. However this is primarily a book about facing challenges and second chances and I enjoyed reading it