February 11, 2004 — 11.00pm
Six faces of Sydney reveal their secret food passions.
Declaring hidden passions is part of the Valentine's Day tradition but in a variation on the usual theme, Good Living went looking for declarations of love for food. We wanted hearts worn on sleeves - public faces confessing to their private culinary affairs. As it turns out, rather than shielding their eyes and hissing "No comment!", our subjects were more than happy to expose their infatuation with the edible.
Jeremy Sims, actor, currently in Fireflies, ABC TV
Whether or not it was deliberate, the name of Sims's theatre company - Pork Chop Productions - is appropriate, as the actor/director is also an accomplished cook.
He traces his interest in food back to early childhood, when stints living in Athens and Vienna introduced his developing tastebuds to more adventurous fare than was usual in suburban Perth, his home town.
He recalls young friends coming over for "tea", as dinner was known then, who eyed the Sims family's meal suspiciously. "I'd say, 'It's stuffed aubergine and taramasalata'; they'd say, 'I'm not eating that shit, I'm going home'."
He was a precocious young chef. "From an early age, if I liked something and I didn't want to have what mum was cooking for dinner, I'd cook it myself." Spag bol was a favourite but over the years Sims's tastes have refined.
After finishing the early 1990s soap Chances, he moved to Palm Beach. With time on his hands, he started reading cooking magazines, had a dining table built to seat 18 and began a tradition of marathon dinner parties.
Sims is a great believer that good food stimulates the mind as well as the stomach. "All the best conversations I've ever had have been at a dinner party that's been really well cooked and prepared," he says. "People are genuinely happy and contented and are able to say what they really think on all sorts of subjects."
Liquid accompaniment is also important. "I'm quite fascist about the wines people bring. I don't let them in if they bring a cheap bottle of chardonnay, I send them back to the bottle shop. The ritual humiliation is far too much to bear, so most people come prepared."
Cooking, Sims acknowledges, is not unrelated to his profession. "It's a totally male thing - when I cook it's a performance. When women cook it's because they have to. When men cook, it's so everyone says 'Wow, that's really good'." So while the actor can whip up a feast for 60, as he did at a recent birthday party, he's rubbish at vacuuming. Sims defends his passion. "Everyone has a hobby. At least it's useful."
Valentine's Day is a marketing tool, according to Sims but that doesn't mean he's not a hopeless romantic. He recently proposed to his girlfriend, film director Sam Lang, at a restaurant in Denmark, south of Perth. He took his own fresh marron and had the chef cook it up as part of a seafood platter, accompanied by the best champagne. The question was popped during a walk afterwards. She said yes.
Foodie favourites
Cookery books The Cook's Companion by Stephanie Alexander; Larousse Gastronomique; Bistro Cooking by Patricia Wells
Food sources Terry Wright's Gourmet Meats, Randwick; Growers' Market at Fox Studios
Regular restaurant Jimbaran, Randwick (Indonesian)
Romantic restaurant Icebergs Dining Room & Bar, Bondi Beach.
Georgie Parker, actor, All Saints, Seven
"It's a life-long love affair," reveals Parker, whose obsession with food is very specific. "My first conscious memory is of loving chocolate."
As a child, nothing else came close (she thought vegetables were "the grossest thing you can put in your mouth"). As an adult, she has come to love food in general. Other cravings include tomatoes, pate and pesto but chocolate has remained the central focus. "I can build a whole meal around my dessert and I often do."
With adulthood has also come an awareness of her love object's darker side. "It takes on different connotations, because of weight and you think it affects your skin, you think it'll make you fat."
Yet she has refused to bend to social or dietary pressures. "I don't see it as an indulgence, or a weakness, or 'oooh, you're being naughty'. I see it as an essential part of my day and it makes me feel great."
Parker is a purist. Her preferences are Lindt, Italian chocolate and truffles, but unadulterated, without added alcohol or flavours. Nuts are OK, occasionally, "but the nut can't overwhelm the chocolate". The good gear must be eaten at room temperature. "I don't get people who freeze chocolate, then it's like cold fat."
When push comes to shove, however, she's not fussy. "If I was in a desert," she says, "and someone was waving a Cherry Ripe in front of me, I'd go that."
At home, her husband, Steve Worland, cooks for Parker and their three-year-old daughter Holly, specialising in simple, healthy food such as pasta, barbecues and salads. He doesn't fight his wife's addiction, often bringing home after-dinner treats.
For a Valentine's meal at home, Parker nominates "roast chook", with a special dessert to follow. A good chocolate mud cake, warm and melted, would do. "I don't even like ice-cream or cream with it."
For fellow chocaholics, Parker has some words of wisdom: denial doesn't work. "If you allow yourself to have it you won't go overboard. If you deny yourself, that's all you think about and then you resent it ... if you want to lose weight, exercise."
That's how Parker keeps her All Saints nursing uniform from bulging at the seams. "I'm certainly not going on a bloody diet. Life's too short."
Cookery books Jamie Oliver's books (used by husband Steve)
Food sources Ralph's Delicatessen, Balmain
Regular restaurants Circle Cafe, Balmain; Balmain Eating House
Romantic restaurant Rockpool.
Stuart MacGill, cricketer, Australian cricket team
There's a scene in the 1983 movie The Big Chill where the characters gather in the kitchen to cook and dance to Three Dog Night: "Jeremiah was a bullfrog ... " MacGill saw the film when he was about 16 and it's this scene, he says, that formed his attitude to cooking.
"From then, it was all about having a good time. And I still have a good time doing it. Often we have people come over for a quick meal, you turn the music on, have a glass of wine in your hand, jumping around and talking - that's what I enjoy."
In fact, he enjoys it more than almost anything else. "If I was to think of a good day, it's music, food and wine. And that's pretty much what my life revolves around." Right ... umm ... what about cricket? He laughs. "That just ruins things in between."
MacGill's early cooking forays began when his parents went out. "Standard boy favourites - spaghetti bolognaise - but really good ones, of course." An instinctive cook at first, in the past couple of years he has come to rely more on recipes while becoming more adventurous, serving marinated octopus for a dinner party recently, for example. "I just copied it straight out of the recipe book, I had no idea what I was doing but it tasted like it was supposed to."
The spin bowler insists he's not a show-off but admits he likes to surprise people with his lesser-known skill. "It's a different side to me that I'm proud of. If people come over for dinner and I've cooked a couple of courses and everyone is looking a little bit shell-shocked, that makes me feel pretty good."
Food is not his only passion. MacGill wasn't interested in alcohol until, at 20, he discovered wine. His love of a good drop has since become integral to his culinary style. "I think I'd seen [TV chef Keith] Floyd standing around with a glass of wine in his hand and every now and then he'd slosh some into the pasta, so I did that."
MacGill always has a couple of bottles of cooking wine on hand, but "every so often I'll open something that's good and while no one's looking just chuck it in, because I think it does make a difference."
A self-confessed "chef groupie", MacGill counts Luke Mangan, co-owner of Salt, Bistro Lulu and Moorish, as a mate and Donna Hay, though not a friend, made an impression when he met her.
"I don't think she knew who I was but she was just really nice to me so I thought 'gee, I like her', so I've bought all her cook books."
MacGill's ideal Valentine's Day dinner would be to stay at home with his wife, Rachel Friend. "It's probably a nice opportunity to spend some time alone given I've been away so long." He would make a meal with lots of fresh seafood in small portions "so we can taste lots of things".
As for going out, the best romantic meal he had was for his first wedding anniversary. "We booked a hotel room at the Kirketon and they brought a degustation menu up course-by-course to our room - we'd just ring down when we wanted the next course. That was nice."
Though cricket is his current day job, MacGill cherishes a foodie dream. "Maybe, one day, I'll have my own little bar/restaurant and do it professionally - jump around and keep people happy."
Cookery books Luke Mangan's books; Marie Claire series
Food sources Sam the Butcher, Bondi; Sydney Fish Market, Pyrmont
Regular restaurant Fratelli Paradiso, Potts Point
Romantic restaurant Est, city.
Tanya Plibersek, Federal ALP member for Sydney
In the past, Plibersek has often avoided appearing in what she considers "lifestyle" stories in newspapers and magazines but there was no question about this one.
"If you asked me to put on a feather boa, I wouldn't do it but food's different," she says. "It's something that's really important to me."
With Slovenian parents (both keen cooks) who came to Australia in the '50s, Plibersek had the classic cross-cultural childhood experiences. While other kids munched white bread Vegemite sandwiches, she had speck on rye.
At home, salad greens came from her parents' vegie patch and were eaten with a pumpkin oil, vinegar and garlic dressing.
She remembers the horror of "salad" at a friend's place. "It was the most disgusting thing anyone had put in front of me, iceberg lettuce with no dressing. I kept saying, 'I think there's something wrong with your lettuce'."
By the age of six, Plibersek would get up early and serve her parents an omelet in bed, accompanied by a "breakfast cocktail".
"I'd go to the liquor cabinet and pour things into a glass and put in ice-cream and orange juice and I always thought they drank it," she recalls. "I realise now that they were pouring them away but I felt very proud of myself for being so sophisticated."
Plibersek has given up alcoholic breakfast beverages but eating is still about adventure and discovery. She and husband Michael Coutts-Trotter (chief-of-staff to the NSW treasurer) often take their three-year-old daughter, Anna, on palate-expanding excursions - to Auburn for Turkish ice-cream, or Campsie for a Korean meal. "I really like that aspect of food, that it can transport you to a different place."
She also loves cooking for friends when her frantic job allows it. "When I have time off it's really nice to be at home and give something back to all the people who look after me emotionally."
Her signature dishes include a fail-safe cheese souffle (recipe provided by an ex-boyfriend's mother) and lots of variations on the roast. In Canberra, she is known for her stash of treats at the office. "Fruit, cheese and dried meat I couldn't really live without. I find it really comforting to have those sorts of things around to offer other people."
Her ideal Valentine's Day would include a swim at the Andrew (Boy) Charlton Pool in the Domain with her husband and daughter, and then a picnic together. Despite the couple's busy political schedule, Plibersek feels it's important to make time for romance. "In the work that I do, there are so many casualties. You see so many broken relationships that it's a real incentive to make sure that doesn't happen."
Cookery books The Cook's Companion by Stephanie Alexander; Bill Granger's books
Food source Cary E.G. Butcher (Ted the Butcher), Como
Regular restaurants Corinthian, Marrickville (Greek); Bar Reggio, Darlinghurst (Italian); Cafe Mint, Surry Hills (Turkish)
Romantic restaurant Pello, East Sydney.
George Gregan, rugby union footballer, Australian captain
The captain of Australia's Wallabies team has a weight problem many people dream of. "I need to worry about keeping weight on, so I eat what I want." But you won't find Gregan chowing down on junk food - inhaling burgers and scoffing greasy chips - just because it's the easy option. "I'll travel a distance to have good food, no problem at all."
The rugger player's foodie side is not so secret. In 1998, he and wife Erica opened a cafe in Sydney, the first of five they now own, but his culinary connection began much earlier.
Gregan's mum was the cook of the house (her son reckons there's still nothing like going home for a roast) but both parents worked long hours, so the Gregan kids - George and his brother and sister - took to the kitchen. "It was a matter of survival. You learned how to cook, you had your favourite dishes, you'd watch each other and you got a taste for it."
Erica is happy to leave the stove to her husband. "She pretends she can't cook but she can," he says. "Generally when we're together I'll be the one who cooks."
His repertoire is simple - pasta, stir-fries, meat on the barbie - and not particularly adventurous, he admits. "I know my limitations. If it's too much, I won't do it. I don't have time for it," he says. "I'll marinate meat from lunchtime to cook in the evening but that's as close to all-day cooking I'll come."
Recipes are not followed slavishly. "I'll have the page open but I'm not a person who goes two thirds a cup or half a teaspoon of oil. I'll just go by what I think or what looks good to me."
The life of a Wallaby involves lots of time on the road and Gregan has become adept at sniffing out the best food wherever he happens to be.
While training in Canberra, he satisfies his coffee cravings at Artespresso in Kingston and he still recalls the pleasure of finding an outstanding Italian restaurant in Pretoria, South Africa. His team-mates benefit from his quest for good food. "I'm often a source of knowledge in terms of where to eat."
But there's one thing he misses most of all when he's away. "I really struggle when I have long periods without a good yum cha."
Cookery books The Cook's Companion by Stephanie Alexander; Marie Claire series.
Food source Harris Farm, Mosman
Regular restaurants Napoli in Bocca, Haberfield and Cala Luna, Mosman; for yum cha, Sea Treasure, Crows Nest
Maxine McKew, journalist
After five years of encouraging the rich and powerful to spill the beans over a good meal, McKew has given up her lunchtime interviews for The Bulletin, but that doesn't mean she's stopped doing lunch. After we speak, she's heading out to try Tony Bilson's new restaurant at the Radisson Hotel in O'Connell Street.
Eating is not a peripheral pastime for McKew. "I'm half Italian on my mother's side, so that means I usually wake up thinking about food and go to bed thinking about food."
Raised in Queensland, McKew remembers with fondness her grandfather's spaghetti with meatballs but Brisbane was not foodie heaven. "An exciting meal in restaurants was surf and turf," she says with a shudder. "I knew it was pretty ordinary and there had to be something better."
Discovering avocados when she was about 18 was a start but when she began hosting dinner parties in her 20s, her fondness for a recipe called Prawn Siesta became a standing joke with her friends. "It was probably as thrilling as surf and turf but that was my little number."
Things gradually improved. "At some stage we started using things like coriander, so I suppose I was part of the food revolution of Australia, when suddenly these ingredients became available.
I thought, 'What have we been denied?' "
McKew no longer cooks Prawn Siesta, or anything much. Her long-term partner, Bob Hogg, former ALP national secretary, has invaded the kitchen. "Of course, like most men, now he's taken over he's completely authoritarian about it so I don't get a look-in."
McKew still does the food shopping and buys the cookery books. She's not one for supermarkets ("shopping can give me the shits") but loves produce markets, delis and specialty shops. She's off cheese at the moment to lose the post-Christmas "pudding belly", but she is excited about a recent find at the local cheese shop: plump green olives stuffed with anchovies. "That's my substitute for triple cream cheese."
Eating out, McKew is interested in acoustic quality as well as food quality. "I might like the look of the modern minimalist restaurants with tiles on the floor and all stainless steel but quite frankly it's inimical to good conversation."
Tables should be well spaced, with soft furnishings dampening the noise levels. This reflects her Italian heritage as much as her journalistic needs, says McKew. "You want to sit down, talk, eat, drink and walk out feeling relaxed. It's the whole experience."
Valentine's Day is not celebrated in the McKew-Hogg home. "It's not true to say we're not romantic but I have to say Bob has a deep, deep cultural resistance to the idea of this imported notion."
However, McKew has no trouble nominating a Valentine's dinner. She would ask Hogg to cook his most recent triumph, clipped and kept from Good Living - Il Baretto's signature dish of pappardelle with duck ragu. "It's fabulous," McKew enthuses. "It's a labour of love, he takes all day to do it."
Though she doesn't miss cooking much, McKew has noticed a very specific yearning as time goes by. "I have never been a great sweets person but the idea of turning out a nice tea-cake and having friends to an afternoon tea really appeals to me." It's something neither she nor her friends have time for, she regrets, but this is her secret fantasy - served on her mother's china and a white linen tablecloth. "I'm feeling the call of the bake."
Cookery books The Cook's Companion by Stephanie Alexander; Marie Claire series
Food sources Good Living Growers' Market, Pyrmont; The Cheese Shop, Mosman
Regular restaurant Tran's Restaurant, Mosman (Vietnamese)
Romantic restaurants Lucio's, Paddington; Beppi's, East Sydney.