Stephanie Alexander OAM.
Stephanie Alexander is a well-known former restaurateur, food writer and champion of the quality and diversity of Australian food. Stephanie was the owner-chef of the award-winning Stephanie’s Restaurant in the Melbourne suburb of Hawthorn from 1976-1997. A champion of the small producer, she established a new understanding of personal style in her restaurant and went on to write a number of books including the well-known and best selling The Cook’s Companion. Her thirteenth book The Kitchen Garden Companion was published in late 2009, reflecting her current interest in promoting the importance of fresh, seasonal food in our lives.
Stephanie has always believed that despite the surface attention given to “fancy food” and restaurants, we are raising children and young adults with little understanding of where food comes from and how to include fresh food in their daily lives. She believes that the earlier children learn about delicious fresh food through example and positive experiences, the better their food choices will be through life. This preoccupation led her to establish the not-for-profit Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation in 2004, dedicated to deliver pleasurable food education to as many Australian primary school students as possible. The pilot program at Melbourne’s Collingwood College is now in its tenth year.
Stephanie’s mix of practical skills, creative ability, and relentless energy has driven the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation forward from its Victorian beginnings to what is now a national program. The program is supported by both the Victorian government, the Australian government and a mix of philanthropic, corporate and community bodies. There are currently 138 kitchen garden schools across Australia with further grants to be announced in 2010 and in 2011.
Every selected school offers its students from Years 3 to 6 a minimum of 40 minutes a week in an extensive vegetable garden which they have helped design, build and maintain on their school grounds along with 90 minutes a week in a home style kitchen where they cook their harvested produce and sit together to enjoy what they have cooked..
Stephanie was awarded an Order of Australia in 1994 for her services to the hospitality industry and to tourism, and for encouraging young apprentices.
To find out more about the work of the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation, go to www.kitchengardenfoundation.org.au/
Visit Stephanie Alexander's website
Photo: Mark Chew
