Australia is a true melting pot of cultures and this is reflected in its cooking. As an island of indigenous peoples alongside a global panoply of immigrants with different culinary influences and traditions, its foodways are ripe for exploration. As well as the regional flora and fauna that make up bush tucker, there are dishes from all over the world that have been adopted and adapted to become Australia's own - making this recipe collection relevant to home cooks everywhere.

This book is about food, community and bringing people together around the table to eat and talk. It includes essays on food memories and the power of food from four of Australia's finest contemporary authors - Charlotte Wood, Markus Zusak, Liane Moriarty and Thomas Keneally - paintings by artist Zoe Young, and more than 60 recipes by leading Australian and international chefs for simple nutritious family meals and celebratory feasts. From an organic soup kitchen in Kings Cross, social enterprise Two Good has expanded to sell restaurant quality salads and soups designed by some of Australia's leading chefs, delivered in distinctive glass jars. With every meal sold another is donated to a woman in a safe house. Two Good also provides training and employment pathways for domestic violence survivors. Recipes by Neil Perry, Maggie Beer, Ben Shewry, Nigella Lawson, Peter Gilmore, Yotam Ottolenghi, Skye Gyngell, Greg Doyle, Colin Fassnidge, Kylie Kwong, Pasi Petanen, Jackie Middleton, Danielle Alvarez, Chris Manfield, Analiese Gregory, Sarah Wilson, George Calombaris, Mitch Orr, Mat Lindsay, Hetty McKinnon, Matt Wilkinson, Jacqui Challinor, Mike McEnearney, Hamish Ingham, O'Tama Carey, Jonathan Barthelmess, Matt Moran.

Acclaimed food writer Rita Erlich charts Melbourne's burgeoning restaurant scene during the 1980s through her fascinating collection of menus and recipes. With compelling essays spanning the decade, readers are afforded a behind-the-scenes look at some of the industry's triumphs and failures, and movers and shakers. Erlich's witty writing and expert knowledge of the restaurant scene brings the essays to life from a look at the hugely successful and prolific restaurateur Richard Frank, who founded the Restaurant and Catering Association, to a detailed account of long-running restaurant Rogalskys and the chefs and sommeliers that passed through its doors. With chapters devoted to Stephanie's (Stephanie Alexander's restaurant), Florentino (now Grossi Florentino) and Two Faces owner Hermann Schneider, this gourmet tome harks back to the city's golden era of cooking and early culinary innovation. It also includes chapters on Gowings, Onions, Clichy, Jacques Reymond, Fleurie and The Latin, as well as an interview with ex-Flower Drum owner Gilbert Lau that examines the history of Chinese restaurants in Melbourne.