Compost https://compost.sydney/ A food writing space Thu, 12 Nov 2026 00:29:30 +0000 en-AU hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.1.4 Soy sauce fish bottles and pizza savers. Ending the use of single-use plastic. https://compost.sydney/soy-sauce-fish-bottles-and-pizza-savers-ending-the-use-of-single-use-plastic/ Wed, 11 Nov 2026 20:24:41 +0000 https://compost.sydney/?p=5692 The table behind us was celebrating a 60th birthday. Like other birthday parties it had helium ballons bobbing up and down. One got loose and went floating away to who knows where.  It was accidental. Had it been intentional the […]

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]]> Unbelievably mouth-watering dishes. Indian cuisine in the Australian Women’s Weekly online Food page https://compost.sydney/unbelievably-mouth-watering-dishes-indian-cuisine-in-the-australian-womens-weekly-online-food-page/ Thu, 05 Nov 2026 20:05:33 +0000 https://compost.sydney/?p=5682 In September 1933 the new women’s magazine the Australian Women’s Weekly (the Weekly) published its first recipes for curry.[1] Curry Sauce 1 tablespoon flour, 1 tablespoon curry powder, 2 tablespoons melted butter, 2 cups of tomato juice or vegetable stock, […]

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]]> It’s a wrap. Chocolate bars, health, and ethical practice https://compost.sydney/its-a-wrap-chocolate-bars-health-and-ethical-practice/ Wed, 28 Oct 2026 19:53:09 +0000 https://compost.sydney/?p=5677   I bought a Kit Kat chocolate bar the other day. Its wrapper was crowded with information for the consumer. Read more.

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]]> Portable, powdered, effervescent. S(n)ippets of lemonade at the Australian table 1806 – 1906 https://compost.sydney/portable-powdered-effervescent-snippets-of-lemonade-at-the-australian-table-1806-1906/ Wed, 21 Oct 2026 20:09:40 +0000 https://compost.sydney/?p=5672 I’ve been a fan of lemonade as an icy pole, an aerated drink, and a mixer with beer as a shandy. With summer, the season of icy poles, coming up now seems a good time to have a look at […]

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]]> Know how to Cook a Plain Dinner. A review of advertisements for employment of men as household cooks1803 – 1853. https://compost.sydney/know-how-to-cook-a-plain-dinner-a-review-of-advertisements-for-employment-of-men-as-household-cooks1803-1853/ Wed, 14 Oct 2026 20:02:17 +0000 https://compost.sydney/?p=5663 It has never occurred to me that a household cook in Australian colonial days could have been a man. Well, I do now.  I came across an advertisement for one in 1807. Wanted, as Cook in a genteel family, a […]

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]]> Okra, bhujia and masala tea. South Indian food at the Petersham domestic table. https://compost.sydney/okra-bhujia-and-masala-tea-south-indian-food-at-the-petersham-domestic-table/ Wed, 07 Oct 2026 20:05:24 +0000 https://compost.sydney/?p=5656 When can we say that a cuisine is now a standard part of the Australian table? We can look at the growth of cuisine specific high-end restaurants. We can gauge it by when recipes for it appear in the Australian […]

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]]> Not an employee but protected. Fair working conditions for food delivery workers https://compost.sydney/not-an-employee-but-protected-fair-working-conditions-for-food-delivery-workers/ Wed, 30 Sep 2026 20:57:05 +0000 https://compost.sydney/?p=5648 In True to The Land. A History of food in Australia I wrote of the gig economy home delivery workers: Whether people working in the gig economy are employees or independent contractors is fundamental to determining their rights and obligations […]

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]]> Bliss, Ultraprocessed foods and me. A consumer’s conundrum. September 2026 https://compost.sydney/bliss-ultraprocessed-foods-and-me-a-consumers-conundrum-september-2026/ Wed, 23 Sep 2026 20:59:31 +0000 https://compost.sydney/?p=5641 Each bite of this Kit Kat I’m eating leaves me wanting more. My response to it is typical of responses to Ultraprocessed Foods (UPFs). I’ve recently come across the term in the context of health risks associated with them and […]

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]]> Aunty Beryl’s Cookbook https://compost.sydney/aunty-beryls-cookbook/ Wed, 16 Sep 2026 20:54:03 +0000 https://compost.sydney/?p=5629 Here I am, I’m a Gamilaroi woman, eighty-three years of age, and I have written a cookbook. That makes me feel really happy, I’m fulfilling a dream I have always had. Aunty Beryl’s Cookbook is the latest cookbook from an […]

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]]> Bidgee, fish paste and mutton stew. Food in Fiona Kelly McGregor’s novels Iris and The Trap https://compost.sydney/bidgee-fish-paste-and-mutton-stew-food-in-fiona-kelly-mcgregors-novels-iris-and-the-trap/ Tue, 08 Sep 2026 21:02:15 +0000 https://compost.sydney/?p=5623 I’m always on the lookout for Australian writers for whom food is an essential part of their narratives. Fiona Kelly McGregor is one such.  Two linked novels of theirs – Iris covering 1932 – 1937, and The Trap covering 1942 […]

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