RENOWNED Australian cook Maggie Beer – the second-longest Australian member of Slow Food – has been named one of the four Australians of the Year for 2010. Maggie was presented with the award, as senior Australian of the Year, by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd MP at a ceremony at Parliament House, Canberra, yesterday evening.
The award citation said that Maggie was Australian culinary leader whose passion for food had brought joy to many Australians. ‘Maggie’s focus is on using seasonal ingredients and educating people to make informed food choices,’ the citation said. ‘To this end she opened the famed Pheasant Farm Restaurant in 1979. Maggie and her husband (Colin) ran it for just short of 15 years, winning a host of prestigious awards, before moving on to focus on producing gourmet foods. In 1996, Maggie opened an export kitchen for the production of preservative-free gourmet foods for the national and international market, and in 1999 she returned to the original site of the Pheasant Farm and, having come full circle, re-opened Maggie Beer’s Farm Shop. She has written seven books, with Maggie’s Harvest winning the Australian Publishers’ Association’s Illustrated Book of the Year. She also co-hosted the ABC cooking program, The Cook and the Chef, and works with Stephanie Alexander to promote The Kitchen Garden Foundation. Maggie Beer hopes that through sharing her love of food she will inspire Australians to reconnect with food and appreciate what we eat.’
Slow Food was the subject of one of Maggie’s The Cook and the Chef programmes – co-hosted with Simon Bryant – in 2009, in which she encouraged people to join the Slow Food organisation. ‘It’s about forming networks between farmers and consumers,’ Maggie said during the programme, which was broadcast nationally, ‘learning about the land and its limitations, and preserving regional food practices. It has thousands of members in over one hundred countries, all linking the pleasure of food with a real commitment to the community and to the environment. Slow Food is very close to my heart, and I really encourage anyone who can to get involved.’
Slow Food and all Australian members congratulate Maggie Beer as the senior Australian of the Year 2010. Maggie, her husband Colin and daughter Saskia are members of Slow Food Adelaide & Barossa convivium.
The Australian Local Hero 2010 is Sydney’s Ronnie Kahn, the founder of OzHarvest, a service that collects and delivers surplus food to charities. She has saved almost 4.7 million meals since OzHarvest began.
Her award citation says that Ronnie originally ran an events business and was horrified by the amount of left over food that was thrown out. ‘She began driving it to a hostel rather than let it go to waste,’ the citation said. ‘But she knew there was much more that could be done, and in 2004, OzHarvest was born. Five years later OzHarvest has over 600 food donors and delivers more than 110,000 meals each month to 163 charities in Sydney, Canberra and Wollongong. Ronni plans to go national next year. Due to the perseverance of Ronni and others, the law has been changed in New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory, Queensland, South Australia (and soon will be in Western Australia) to ensure that food donors are safe from liability. OzHarvest has had a profound impact on the environment by saving thousands of tonnes of food from landfill, and on clients of charities who are able to eat quality, nutritious food.’
Slow Food in Australia also congratulates Ronnie Kahn as Australian Local Hero 2010.
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