Book launch: A Matter of Taste by Lauren Samuelsson – to be launched by Michelle Arrow (Gleebooks, Sydney)

Since its inception in 1933, The Australian Women’s Weekly has been Australia’s highest-selling women’s magazine, in large part due to its hugely popular cookery section and companion cookbooks. From birthday cakes to barbecues, mock meat to Chinese food, the Weekly taught generations of Australians what to eat and how to cook it at home. Yet despite this, the magazine and its influence on Australian cooking has been overlooked in histories of Australian food. A Matter of Taste restores the Weekly to its rightful place at the centre of Australia’s food culture.

Drawing on recipes, food editorials and readers’ memories, A Matter of Taste is a celebration of the Weekly’s vital role in the development of Australian food culture, debunking the myth that Australian food was ‘bland’ and ‘boring’ prior to postwar migration, and illuminating important relationships between food, culture and identity. It shows that the magazine encouraged its readers (mostly women) to be adventurous, to experiment in the kitchen, and to try new ingredients and flavours, stimulating an eclectic, Australian way of eating, which is still reflected on our tables today.

​Meticulously researched and beautifully presented, A Matter of Taste takes you on an entertaining, nostalgic and insightful culinary journey through Australian food, culture and history.

Dr Lauren Samuelsson holds a PhD in history from the University of Wollongong, Australia, where she is an Honorary Fellow. Lauren’s research interests include cultural history, the history of food and drink, the history of popular culture and gender history.

Her award-winning work has been published in History Australia and Australian Historical Studies. She has also published in The Conversation and is a regular guest on Australian radio, where she shares her love of food history with people nationwide.

Michelle Arrow is professor in modern history at Macquarie University. She is the author of several books, including The Seventies: The Personal, the Political and the Making of Modern Australia (2019), which was awarded the 2020 Ernest Scott Prize for history. She is currently working on a biography of the Australian writer and broadcaster Anne Deveson. Her most recent book is Personal Politics: Sexuality, Gender and the Remaking of Citizenship in Australia, co-authored with Leigh Boucher, Barbara Baird and Robert Reynolds (Monash University Publishing, 2024).