It’s a sad day for fans of Australian cooking, with the announcement that legendary foodie Margaret Fulton has passed away at the grand old age of 94.
FOR MORE ON MARGARET’S CAREER AND HER SAD PASSING, WATCH THE VIDEO BELOW
An iconic face of Aussie food, but also an iconic fixture on TV and radio, Margaret shot to major fame with her 1968 classic, The Margaret Fulton Cookbook – which sold 1.5 million copies – and was also a recipient of the Medal of the Order of Australia.
‘The family of Margaret Fulton are today mourning the loss of their loving, inspirational and treasured mother, grandmother and great-grandmother this morning,’ her family confirmed in a statement.
Margaret is credited with helping to revolutionise cooking in Australia in the sixties and seventies, introducing Aussies to many dishes that were then unknown in many homes, which had been in the grip of stodgy meat and three veg.
Of the success of her book, she recalls, ‘It was immediately an enormous success, which was really quite interesting…to have this first book go so well.’
Among dishes and influences she helped to popularise locally were tastes of Italian, French, Greek, Spanish, and Chinese origin.
‘I think Australians responded to this enormous excitement that I was feeling about food and they were feeling it too,’ she said.
‘I’ve been showing women how to bake a scone and keep a man; yes, that comes into it because it’s all part of life.’
Margaret always had a sense of humour about what she did, confessing, ‘ I often break the rules with cookery and I live to regret it.
‘Whatever you’re doing, you have to pay attention to the details and actually work on them. Don’t be fooled by getting lazy about assessing things. Just keep your mind on track all the time.’
Rest in peace Margret, you will be missed.