On Digestion

Description

'In the kitchen, via the garden, I am often torn between theory and praxis, when surely the latter is all that matters here. Yet the largest bench, the one dividing the dining area from the kitchen itself, is never used for culinary preparation. It is this surface which many Australian kitchens, including mine, feel they need, the one piled with books and journals, notepaper and pens, the surface where we are reinventing ourselves, constructing a different, self-conscious culinary tradition. It is at this metaphorical bench that I think about food.' With her trademark elegance and erudition, Gay Bilson embarks on a lively journey through cooking, recipes and home, considering food developments both digestible and not; on chefs domestic and professional; on the substance of everyday life. An unmissable treat from the bestselling author of Plenty.

Gay Bilson was a restaurateur and cook for 25 years in Sydney. She has been writing about food and the culture of food for many years. Her first book, Plenty: Digressions on Food, won The 2005 Age Book of the Year Award and the 2005 Kibble Literary Award for Women Writers. Bilson now lives in the McLaren Vale district where she writes, gardens and cooks for friends.