Vegetables receive a standing ovation from Alice Zaslavsky

Alice Zaslavsky’s mum is appalled with her borscht. You put potato in borscht! Beetroot, carrot, cabbage, onion and potato! This 2o12 MasterChef contestant, who is now a resident of the Mornington Peninsula and loves to reinvent heritage recipes, laughs. With real grunt. Growing up watching her grandfather pluck harvest from his vegetable plot in the backyard and her parents cook according to their Eastern European tradition, Alice likes to do things differently, much to her mother’s chagrin. Her passion for “eating with health and hedonism” comes from deep within.

Energised and vegie-centric, this young chef is determined to revolutionise the way we eat. Firmly believing you are what you consume, Alice takes the not-so-humble veg and turns it on its soil-soaked head. With multiple stems growing from her food-enthused core, Alice teaches good eating to anyone who will listen. As a host of high-profile culinary events and children’s shows Kitchen Whiz and Crunch Time, the author of two books, food editor for The Weekly Review and the culinary correspondent for ABC News Breakfast and ABC Radio, she doesn’t hold back. MasterChef may have happened by accident, but there’s no mistaking where this former history teacher and Cape Schanck resident is headed. Going by her self-proclaimed moniker Alice in Frames, she explains:

“I was at William Angliss Institute when MasterChef happened. It was like going back to school, but more stressful. I mean, cooking for chefs like Rick Stein and against Jamie Oliver was challenging. It was an amazing experience, but you don’t need to win MasterChef. You just need to have a clear view of where you are going.” Having migrated from the eastern end of the Black Sea when she was six years old to land in Sydney and then Melbourne, Alice sure does. Moving to Cape Schanck with her husband Nick Fallu and their toddler Hazel, where birdwatching and hosting smorgasbords and barbecues for family and friends has become a thing, Alice has taken to her new life like a seagull to salt water. The surrounding fresh produce dictates her dishes where vegetables always take centre stage.

She continues: “I wrote In Praise of Veg because people always seem to view vegetables as a side dish, but I think they are worthy of being the mains. It’s filled with child-friendly recipes, as is my first book, Alice’s Food A-Z. There are so many different things you can do with them, and there’s a farmgate around every corner on the Peninsula where you can buy fresh strawberries, potatoes, mushrooms, eggs or olive oil. We try to eat seasonally, and with the region’s fabulous microclimate it’s easy to find great produce, and I love learning about the local producers. I’m trying to lure the best of Melbourne foodies here now because this region is a dream for chefs and food lovers.

“We’ve been doing a lot of entertaining on our deck and people are falling in love with Cape Schanck. I cook with the local fresh produce and Nick brews his coffee. Friends bring what they can from Melbourne. My husband is a surfer and golfer and that’s originally why we moved, but I love it here now. We wanted a more community and nature-driven life, and because Nick and I both work from home, it made sense. I spend as much time as I can watching black cockatoos and spiny-cheeked honeyeaters in the yard, and we have started our own vegetable plot. It’s peaceful and serene.”

Life moves slow on the southernmost tip of the Mornington Peninsula, where the wild waters of Bass Strait churn up against the calm wandering waters of Western Port. Although with a third book, more television shows, multiple projects and a toddler on the go, there’ll be plenty of action for this Georgian-born girl with a vision as big as the funked-up frames she is so well known for. Vegetables never looked so good. Especially those grown on home turf. Follow Alice on Instagram @aliceinframes to see what she’s up to. She’s made Mum proud, potato borscht and all. LIZ ROGERS