Celebrity Profiles
Barlow, John
John Barlow was born in West Yorkshire, England, in 1967. He read Literature at Cambridge and Applied Linguistics from the University of Hull, where he was awarded a PhD. After working as a university lecturer in both Spain and the UK, he became a full-timer writer in 2004, and currently lives in A Coruña, Spain with his wife and sons.
A former recipient of the Paris Review Discovery (Plimpton) Prize for short fiction, he is the author of three books: EATING MAMMALS (3 novellas), INTOXICATED (novel), and EVERYTHING BUT THE SQUEAL (travelogue), and has also written for the Washington Post, Slate.com, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Big Issue, Metro, and Departures Magazine. His writing has been translated into German, Italian, Russia, Polish, Portuguese and Galician.
John also works with the Swedish conceptual artists Simon Goldin and Jakob Senneby. Their long-running Acéphale (Headless) project has been exhibited at galleries and festivals worldwide.
Beer, Maggie
Maggie, originally from Sydney, worked and travelled overseas in an amazing variety of jobs from a Lift Driver in a New Zealand department store to the Assistant to the Senior Geophysicist for British Petroleum in Libya. Returning home in 1968 and well before becoming immersed in the world of food, she was employed in fields as diverse as light aircraft, Citizenship Law for the American Embassy and House Management at the Women’s College of Sydney University.
Her marriage to Colin in 1970 led them to the Barossa Valley in 1973 where they began pheasant breeding and grape growing. The establishment of the Pheasant Farm was the start of a career that now spans farming, food production, exporting, food writing and television presenting.
There have been lots of awards over the years from those first heady days when in 1991 the Pheasant Farm Restaurant won the Remy Martin Cognac/Australian Gourmet Traveller Restaurant of the Year. More business related accolades included the Telstra Business Woman of the Year in 1997 and the Jaguar/Australian Gourmet Traveller Award of Excellence in 1999 and then in 2001 Maggie was overwhelmed to be presented with the Food Media Club’s Industry Peer Award.
Maggie has written 7 books in total, drawing on her own philosophy of quality produce and the pleasures of the table – The first being Maggie’s Farm, Maggie’s Orchard and Cooking with Verjuice and then she collaborated with Stephanie Alexander and chronicled their Italian cooking school experiences in Stephanie and Maggie’s Tuscan Cookbook which has been translated into 5 languages. Her fifth book Maggie’s Table won the Best Regional Cook Book in English in 2001, and then against all other languages, replicated its success in the Gourmand World Cook Book Awards in Perigord, France. In 2003 Maggie’s Table was also awarded the Australian Food Media Award for
Best Hardcover Recipe Book. The sixth addition to her literary collection is Maggie’s Harvest, a veritable tome of Maggie’s cooking expertise, superbly bound in hand embroidered Chinese silk. Since its release it has been awarded second place against books from 27 countries for the best cookbook cover in the World at the 2007 Gourmand World Cookbook Awards and was highly commended by judges in the category for Best Recipe Book over $36 at the Australian Food Media Awards in 2008. Her most recent addition is Maggie’s Kitchen, a collection of favourite recipes as well as the everyday basics Maggie believes form the foundations of a good food life.
It was a natural extension, with her passion for food and food writing, that Maggie should find herself in front of the camera in her own television series. Currently screening on the ABC, The Cook and The Chef shows Maggie introducing Executive Chef Simon Bryant to her home region and the people who supply her with the produce she has used to create her culinary reputation. Her success on the show was cemented at the 2008 Australian Food Media Awards where Maggie won the inaugural Lifestyle Food Channel’s People’s Choice Award and The Cook and The Chef won the Sizzler Bernard King Award for Best Television Food Segment.
Bennett, Shannon
Maurice Chevalier famously said, “I never eat when I can dine”, words taken to heart by chef Shannon Bennett. Shannon’s restaurant Vue de monde in Melbourne, Australia is testament to the belief that restaurant food can be a wondrous, unforgettable experience. Without compromise, in his principles or ingredients, Shannon has fashioned his own innovative way of cooking, matching the efforts of acknowledged masters worldwide.
Reviews and word of mouth have resulted in notoriety achieved largely through Shannon's obsession for classical cuisine which has seen him reinterpret the cuisine of creators such as Carême, Dugléré and Escoffier and develop an exciting, cutting edge cuisine of his own. Shannon’s dedication and pride have established him as one of Australia’s most exciting chefs.
Vue de monde was awarded Restaurant of the Year, three hats and an unprecedented 19/20 in the Age Good Food Guide 2007. Vue de monde was awarded Restaurant of the Year by Australian Gourmet Traveller for 2006 and again in 2007 - the first time in the award’s history that it has been won two years in a row by the same restaurant. Vue de monde also won the national awards for Restaurant of the Year and Fine Dining Restaurant of the year in the 2005 Restaurant and Catering Awards for Excellence and again in the 2007 awards. Recently, Vue de monde has maintained its position securing three hats in the Age Good Food Guide, three stars for the Australian Gourmet Traveller awards and Restaurant of the Year and Best Fine dining for Restaurant and Catering Victoria.
Shannon's philosophy at Vue de monde is to provide a dining experience that is theatrical and cannot be replicated in the home environment. Shannon achieves this through his dedication to the dining experience as a whole; from the sourcing of rare ingredients, to his uncompromising approach to classical technique and his commitment to the very best of restaurant service including crockery, cutlery and glassware.
Having firmly established Vue de monde, Café Vue and Bistro Vue followed in 2006 offering additional dining options at the same city location. In 2008, whilst still firmly at the helm of his three venues in Melbourne, Shannon’s sights were drawn to international markets with an exciting project in Oman coming to fruition. Vue by Shannon Bennett opened at Al Bustan Palace Intercontinental Hotel in Muscat, Oman in November 2008. 2009 has seen the opening of a second Café Vue at 401 St Kilda Road and the securing of the tender to operate the Café and Events at the iconic Heide Museum of Modern Art.
In developing international exposure for Vue de monde, Shannon was invited to be the first Australian member of the exclusive Jeunes Restaurateurs D’Europe. Shannon was also invited to be part of the Star Chefs Congress, September 2007 in New York, securing his position of a leading chef on the global stage. In May 2009 Shannon was the first chef invited to speak at the prestigious AG Ideas Design Conference to an audience of 2,500 people.
Also an accomplished author, Shannon’s first two books My Vue and My French Vue are both in their second editions and his Guide to Paris was released in December 2009.
Biuso, Julie
Julie is well known through her radio and television broadcasts and her award-winning food writing. She has been Food Editor of several prominent food magazines and newspapers in New Zealand during her successful 35-year career. Julie has written 14 books which have won a Montana book award, a Goodman Fielder Wattie book award, a Booksellers’ Choice award and seven Gourmand World Cookbook awards. She was the recipient of the University of Canterbury (NZ) Food Journalism Award in 2001, the Montana Food & Wine Writer of the Year in 1997, took home a Gold Ladle at the World Food Media Awards in 2005 and in 2007 she was given a Special Award of the Jury at the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards. Her focus is on fresh seasonal food, and her commitment is to provide well-tested recipes which are easy to prepare and cook with the aim of keeping families cooking and eating together.
Blake, Arlyn
Formerly an executive at Harper's Bazaar magazine, and after a long stint in sports promotion (the Mohammed Ali fights), Arlyn returned after 14 years in Europe to where her heart belongs, the culinary world. She has recently resigned from the James Beard Publications after 15 years, where she won the affectionate title of 'Den Mother' in the industry and is well known for networking for her 'kids'.
Always interested in food and wine, Arlyn taught cooking classes and is the author of THE I LOVE TO COOK BOOK (Simon & Shuster), which was nominated for Best Cookbook of the Year and THE I LOVE TO BAKE BOOK. Just before returning from Europe, Arlyn began writing a column for the James Beard Foundation, which landed her a permanent position when she returned to the States and two: began her food/wine writing career which has taken her to such diverse places as Timbuktu, Nunavut (above the Arctic Circle), Italy, France, South Africa, China, Australia, Romania, Korea, Venezuela, Iceland, Croatia, Singapore... from bagels to blubber to bibimbap!
Arlyn is often called upon as a judge for wine and foods (mustard, mushrooms, salamis, olive oils, tofu), and has been a judge for Le Cordon Bleu World Food Media Awards at Tasting Australia for the past three biennial festivals. In Cannes in January, she was the American judge for the International Gourmet-Voice World Media Awards, and coming up is Gastronomic Forum, Girona, Spain in June 2010.
She also manages PR for wine and food personalities, and has experience in both consumer oriented and foodservice hospitality.
To pay back to the industry, Arlyn is an officer or active member in industry organizations such as IACP, Chefs Collaborative, Slow Food, Women Chefs and Restaurateurs, Culinary Historians, Dessert Professionals, National Association of Professional Women, and Women for WineSense.
Broadfield, Rob
Rob Broadfield is a restaurant critic, magazine editor and columnist with the West Australian Newspaper. He is currently editor of Inside Cover for the West Australian newspaper and the paper's restaurant reviewer.
Rob has previously been a broadcaster with the ABC and on radio in Brisbane, Perth and Melbourne. He is in demand as a political and current affairs commentator on television and radio.
He is a trained chef and a cook book author.
Bryant, Simon
“The great proportion of our food comes in one way or another from the dirt that we stand on. One of the greatest things you can do is share this food and respect how and where it came from by making informed responsible choices.”
“More importantly, food should be as natural as when it came from the dirt, with as little harm and interference in its growing and preparation as possible but, with a maximum of care.”
Simon Bryant is a face well known to regional and urban Australia as he and South Australian food icon Maggie Beer are beamed into thousands of lounge rooms and kitchens via the ABC program The Cook & the Chef. The show aired more than 150 episodes over four years, attracting more than 600,000 viewers nationally each week.
Originally a motor mechanic by trade, Simon returned to study and while working in the university kitchen to earn some extra cash and studying Economics at Melbourne University, Simon realised he’d rather wear a chef’s hat than a business suit. He began his career in several Thai & Indian Restaurants in Melbourne, before moving to Adelaide in 1995.
Simon was with Hilton Adelaide for more than 10 years, commencing as a Commis Chef, followed by 18 months as a Chef de Partie in ‘The Grange’ with Cheong Liew and rapidly working his way up to Senior Sous Chef of ‘The Brasserie’. It was in ‘The Brasserie’ where Simon emerged as one of South Australia’s hottest young chefs and was promoted to Executive Chef overseeing 33 staff, 2 of the state’s leading restaurants, a quick service deli, and as South Australia’s largest hotel, the largest catering and room service operations in the state. Simon is equally proud of his personal achievement in providing ‘real local food’ within the normally restrictive environment of a large scale commercial kitchen by using an ‘in the field’ approach , visiting the state’s producers, forming personal relationships and sourcing the finest product ‘first hand’.
