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Writer's pictureSarah Willott

Food Fanatic

Updated: Aug 4, 2021

Wikipedia : A foodie is a gourmet, or a person who has an ardent or refined interest in food and alcoholic beverages. A foodie seeks new food experiences as a hobby rather than simply eating out of convenience or hunger.


Yep, that pretty much covers it. Although I will add that although I may have an “ardent and refined” interest in food, the food itself doesn’t always fall into the “refined” category. I love food, I always have. Whether it’s a beautiful silver service affair or a big bowl of home-made soup with doorstops, I love food.


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Fine dining anyone?


So where did this love come from? Well my family has some pretty decent cooks. My Nanna setting the benchmark and passing on her wisdom, teaching her children, then her grandchildren many of her secrets. On visiting my Nanna’s home, my first port of call as a child was the kitchen or more specifically the cake tin in her kitchen. “Any cake Nanna?” Of course there was cake! This was Nanna’s house! It didn’t matter if it was her famed lemon meringue pie or a more modest but equally delicious Madeira cake. I was all over it! We all grow up with a couple of nicknames, one of mine was “cake-face”. Yep. Lovely. I remember being given the left over pieces of pastry when she would be making something like an apple pie, all smooshed up and rolled out to make a jam turnover. I thought I was a cook extraordinaire!

My Mum, an awesome cook, took her lessons from my Nanna and then went on to tweak and master recipes of her own. Helping out in the kitchen is where my love of recipes and cooking came from but I also have to thank my parents for introducing my sister and I to a broad range of eating experiences growing up. We were the kind of kids that you could take out to a fancy restaurant and would sit at the table (no running around, although my younger sister did go through a stage of religiously knocking over her drink!) to enjoy a meal with our family. We were introduced to new tastes and were eating quite spicy Indian curries before we were 10 year olds. Chinese, Thai, Indian, Moroccan, Seafood etc, we would eat it all. That may not sound all that impressive, but in the 80’s many Aussie households were strictly a meat and three veg kind of family. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t all exotic. Mum also cooks a mean roast and a good english stew with dumplings (Booflings for you Uncle N). Many a time has someone in my family rang another for a cooking tip. The last recipe I got from my Nanna were her salmon fish cakes, so so good!


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Uncle N’s amazing pork pie. Traditionally English and eaten cold, he is more than welcome to keep this Christmas tradition alive!



Mum's cupcakes for my 29th birthday. Yum!

Mum’s cupcakes for my 29th birthday. Yum!


It’s not just the food itself I love. It’s all the things that surround it. No, getting the essentials for the week from the local supermarket isn’t that exciting, but once you start talking about Adelaide’s Central Market, or the many gorgeous farmer’s markets scattered around, things start to get interesting. Fresh produce is something that gets me excited and you just can’t beat buying local. I also have an addiction to recipe books and blogs. I have spent many hours pouring over other people’s delicious recipes whether they be in one of my many recipe books or online. There are just so many great books out there, whether it’s a beautiful hard cover with enticing photographs or a thin cheapie you pick up while standing inline at the supermarket. Blogging about food is huge (I’m doing it now!) and there are some awesome blogs to follow. I follow many on WordPress and am subscribed to others. Here are some of my favourites – My Darling Lemon Thyme, Not Quite Nigella, The Cook Who Knew Nothing, Flourishing Foodie, Seven Spoons, Bit By a Fox, Some the Wiser, Two Red Bowls, Hortus Cuisine, i am a food blog (Saveur food blog awards winner 2014). I love books and blogs that include a bit of a story too. Whether it be a personal journey, a family history, or the origin of the recipes themselves, the story just adds to the appeal.


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I love cook books! I could easily spend a day just going through and reading the recipes.


The thing about food I love the most? It would have to be the way it brings people together. Many of my fondest memories feature food and drink. Christmas feasts spread out on my Mum’s table with the whole family there (always a noisy affair). Lounge room picnics as kids (affectionately called picky-tea) sitting on a table cloth placed on top of the rug, while watching Hey, Hey It’s Saturday. Lazy Sunday afternoons during my 20’s spent with girlfriends at The Adelaide Oyster Bar, enjoying Oysters Atlantic with a bottle of unwooded Chardonnay . Grabbing a garlic sauce laden yiros from Makis Yiros after too many drinks on a night out down the bay. My son trying his first bit of cake surrounded by the people who love him the most on his first birthday. The list is endless.


Prawn cocktails for Christmas entree at Mum's place.

Prawn cocktails for Christmas entrée at Mum’s place.



Oysters Atlantic. Delicious!

Oysters Atlantic. Delicious!


So, it is safe to say, I am a food fanatic. I hope to share good food and create new memories in the kitchen with my kids as they grow up. Who knows, maybe I’ll be getting that phone call about one of my recipes in the future.

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