COLUMN // Diversity in food writing
Writing in colour Why Australian food writing won’t change until the players do. WORDS Melissa Leong AS A KID growing up in predominantly
by all food writers and is just an innate
that can only be a good thing, whether
in introducing friends to my Chinese-
spell it out so literally? Chef Joel Valvasori
we’re evolving,” she says.
white suburban Sydney, I delighted
Singaporean culture, especially when it
came to food. I loved being the one who
brought ‘weird’ lunches to school, in a time where sticky rice parcels and bento boxes would elicit a full playground audience. I loved seeing the sense of achievement
cross someone’s face when they tried — and liked — something new.
The joy of encouraging people to eat
outside their comfort zone is one shared 14 | Hospitality
part of the job, so we do really need to
of Perth’s Lulu La Delizia isn’t convinced.
that’s a function of media or just how
“As an eater, no amount of someone telling
Speaking of evolution, it’s fair to say there’s
mind,” he says. “As a restaurateur, a media
when it comes to the current media state of
me I should eat something will change my article might attract a couple of people,
but I don’t think it really changes people’s behaviour.”
Palisa Anderson of Chat Thai and
Boon Luck Farm is a bit more diplomatic. “People are becoming more curious, and
a general dissatisfaction across the board
play. Does it explain the amount of published pieces irately forwarded to me from chefs
and restaurateurs, or why I sometimes feel a
sense of cringe when I read a piece about the food I grew up with written by a writer who doesn’t quite seem to get it? Is it the overly
