When we cook for others, or ourselves, the deepest hunger we feed is love. In her new memoir, Kitchen Sentimental, respected chef and paddock-to-plate pioneer Annie Smithers answers the question she is asked most often: why cook?
Annie takes us on a journey through every significant kitchen in her life, both domestic and professional, sharing with engaging honesty her personal development, her surprisingly complex relationship with food, and the lessons she has learned along the way to find her culinary niche at the famed du Fermier restaurant in country Victoria.
Annie Smithers is one of Australia’s most highly regarded chefs and one of the first to truly epitomise the paddock-to-plate ethos.
Her restaurant du Fermier, in the small village of Trentham, features a menu du jour based on classic French farmhouse cooking, using vegetables harvested that day from her kitchen garden, and local meats and poultry.
Annie has written two cookbooks and writes for The Saturday Paper fortnightly. Her first memoir, Recipe for a Kinder Life, was published in 2021.
“A beautiful Australian who feeds our hearts and souls.” – Virginia Trioli
Kitchen Sentimental is published by Thames & Hudson Australia & New Zealand and is available from all leading book sellers including QBD Books.
Image: Kitchen Sentimental – courtesy of Thames & Hudson Australia & New Zealand