Is Matthew Evans our answer to Britain’s Jamie Oliver? He, too, is a professional chef who, through his food writing and television show, Gourmet Farmer, has become a campaigner for ethical food produced in ways that are kind to the environment, our bodies, the animals we eat, the farmers who raise them and, importantly, our tastebuds.
One of the best things about anthologies is the way they introduce you to writers in manageable, bite-sized chunks and set you on paths of further exploration once you’ve set the volume aside. Such is the case with this compilation of women’s food writing from around the world.
Open this book and you will relive your Vietnam trip (if you’ve been lucky enough to do one) through the words and recipes by Luke Nguyen (of Red Lantern, Surry Hills, fame) and the beautiful, atmospheric photographs taken by his partner, Suzanna Boyd (food photos by Alan Benson) as they travelled the country.
There’s a lot to like about this handsome hardback from one of Sydney’s most prominent chefs. First, it’s accessible for the competent home cook. All too often when chefs get publishing deals they see an opportunity to show off what they do in their restaurants with their army of sous chefs and kitchen hands and it doesn’t translate to the home.
It was General Charles de Gaulle who pointed out the difficulty of governing a country that made more than 300 cheeses.

