It all started with focaccia. A crisp and glistening slice of fluffy bread bathed in olive oil and crusted in salt, lit by a perfect stream of golden sunlight. This was one of the simple pleasures of lockdown, salivating over the sumptuous food creations on an Instagram page, Ellie’s Table.

Behind this enigmatic account is Ellie Bouhadana, an amateur cook and self-taught event planner who draws on her Jewish heritage when concocting her delectable Italo-Mediterranean dishes. Ellie started gathering a cult following among Melbourne’s food community last year, when her infamous focaccia became a staple inclusion in her ‘Doorstep Deliveries’- a home dinner service she began during Melbourne’s lockdown.

Things just went up from there. Between planning budgets and inventing menus for her regular pop-up dinners, Ellie spends her time conducting ‘research’ at local food haunts, getting food tips from her grandma and art directing her dreamy Instagram – all from her home in Balaclava. What a life!

Take a seat at Ellie’s (very well curated) table, and enjoy the luscious spread.

Is it possible to go to the supermarket/grocery store/farmer’s market at the moment and not be tempted by the mounds of fragrant berries that have popped up overnight? Strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, and raspberries are at the peak of season (and flavour!),  and we can’t get enough of them.

Luckily, our trusty food columnist Julia Busuttil Nishimura knows what to do with an abundance of these juicy, zesty morsels. Read on for her delicious (and easy!) recipe combining delicate berries with heady tropical ingredients like coconut and lime to make a buttery, pillowy cloud of a cake. This crowd-pleasing loaf smells and tastes like holidays – and we could all use some of that right now!

Way back in 2013, Hetty McKinnon was making packed lunches from her home kitchen on Arthur Street in Surry Hills, Sydney, and hand delivering them to customers on her bicycle every morning. This was before her cult status cookbook Community had even been released! 

Fast forward seven years and Hetty is a household name renowned for her hearty, mostly vegetarian salads. You could probably credit her with the emergence of salad as a meal unto itself (Ottolenghi who….?)! With another two books under belt and the launch of food journal, Peddler, it’s safe to say Hetty is well and truly an established figure on the food publishing scene.

Today we bring you a peek at the next step in Hetty’s culinary empire – her new book, To Asia, With Love. Hetty is a Chinese woman born in Australia, but now based in New York with her young family, and the book is filled with recipes that explore her heritage through cuisine. The meals are rooted in the rich fragrant flavours traditional to Asia’s diverse cuisines, but with hints of Western influence. We’re talking creamy cacio e pepe with udon noodles or vegan fish sauce! 

Read on for an excerpt and a recipe for a killer pad thai!

Little did we know door-to-door delivery services were about to become a LOT more popular in 2020. But it’s a model Melbourne Food Hub have been trialing for a while. The urban farm based in Alphington launched in 2016, with the mission of creating a hyperlocal alternative food system to supermarkets, one which supports the community, environment and farmers.

This year, the Melbourne Food Hub launched Grow/Source/Eat: a weekly delivery service providing subscribers with sustainably sourced and locally grown fruit and veggie boxes from small-scale urban farmers. They also collaborate with businesses and hunger relief organisations to address immediate needs within the community. We are big fans of this project, so much so that they are shortlisted in the Sustainable Design or Initiative category of The Design Files + Laminex Design Awards!

We recently (pre-lockdown!) visited the hub’s Urban Farm in Alphington to learn more about this pioneering program.

If we’ve learnt anything about the Brussels sprouts over the years, it’s that they need a new PR manager (maybe the team behind banana bread is free?). The bitter, boiled versions consumed with the groans and pinched noses of childhood have given this rather fantastic vegetable a bad rap. Luckily for Brussels sprouts, Julia Busuttil Nishimura is giving them a rebrand!

In this almost-spring salad recipe, Julia’s Brussels sprouts are roasted to crispiness on the outside, and sweet tenderness on the inside. Combined with toasted hazelnuts, tart apple matchsticks, a honey lemon dressing and a scattering of herbs, we’re calling this simple nutrient-packed salad the ultimate working from home lunch!

Side note…Julia’s HOTLY anticipated second cookbook, A Year Of Simple Food, is out next week! While we might be slightly biased, we’re pretty sure it’s going to be THE cookbook of the year. You can pre-order it here!