Every Bite

Laurie Woolever had a front-row seat to both triumph and disaster in the lives of two giants of the American food scene: Anthony Bourdain and Mario Batali. Celebrity chef Batali faced allegations of sexual harassment at the height of the #MeToo movement and, by 2019, had exited all of his restaurants. Bourdain was a very different character: a celebrated chef at several New York institutions, a best-selling author, and a fixture of culinary television; he took his own life in 2018. Laurie reflects on both the bitter and the sweet of working alongside Batali and Bourdain in her candid memoir, Care and Feeding.If you are feeling distressed, or need advice or support, you should consult your local medical professional. If you're in Australia, support is available via Lifeline on 13 11 14 and Beyond Blue.Guest:Laurie Woolever, writer, former assistant to Anthony Bourdain and Mario Batali, author of Care and Feeding: A MemoirGet in touch:We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] episode of Every Bite was produced on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation.

Given how often we hear about hospitality's slim margins, transient workforce, and the ever-changing tastes and habits of diners, how does a restaurant stay the course? Marios in Melbourne seems to have cracked the code: this year it marks 40 years in business. Today, we pull up a chair at Marios and meet both new and long-standing members of staff, a regular customer of note, and the eponymous Marios themselves.Guests: Mario Maccarone and Mario De Pasquale, founders and owners of MariosTony Birch, novelist, short story writer, poet and Marios regularAbbie Rowan, Sophia Bartlett, Luka Kovalskyi and Massimo Di Sora, Marios staff membersGet in touch:We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] episode of Every Bite was produced on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation.

Udon noodle making in Japan goes back 1,200 years, so when did Western Australia become one of its top suppliers of noodle wheat? Japanese udon noodles are serious business, with regional varieties of broth, toppings and preparation techniques inspiring fierce local pride. But wherever you are, there's a good chance the wheat comes from Australia. Today, we travel from the WA wheatbelt to the flour mills of Japan, meeting the farmers, scientists and chefs who maintain this long standing relationship.Guests: Kristy O'Brien, ABC Landline reporterLarisa Cato, general manager of education and training at Grains AustraliaTomokazu Kubo, noodle expert and sensory assessor for flour millers NIPPNTracy Lefroy, wheat farmer and chair of the GIWA Wheat CouncilDaisuke Hiramatsu, owner, and Ryo Hirose, sous chef, Hifumiya Udon Noodle House in PerthGet in touch:We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] episode of Every Bite was produced on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation.

For ten years now, one of the most consistently lauded small restaurants in Australia has been Anchovy. It bills itself as Vietnamese cuisine "naturalised in Australia". Chef and co-owner Thi Le was born to a Vietnamese family in a Malaysian refugee camp and grew up in Sydney's West. She shares her story — and recipes — in Viet Kieu: Recipes remembered from Vietnam.Guest: Thi Li, chef and co-owner of Anchovy and Ca Com, author of Viet Kieu: Recipes remembered from VietnamGet in touch:We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] episode of Every Bite was produced on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation.

When discussing dietary fibre, it's easy to stray into awkward conversations about 'the other end' of eating. Thankfully, we have communicators like Dr Joanna McMillan to normalise these conversations about our nutritional health. Her new book, The Fibre Factor, explores how fibre has faded from the modern diet, and how not eating enough can have implications beyond healthy digestion.Guest: Dr Joanna McMillan, nutrition scientist, dietitian and author of The Fibre Factor: A Science-backed Guide to a Healthier Gut, Stronger Heart and Sharper BrainGet in touch:We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] episode of Every Bite was produced on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation.

When chef and restaurateur Stephanie Alexander published her Cook's Companion in 1996, she could not have known that it would become Australia's kitchen bible. An A to Z guide to ingredients, from abalone to zucchini, the book includes detailed explanations of varieties and seasons, as well as selection and storage tips, alongside a glossary of techniques and tools — everything a curious cook could need. Now 85 years old, Stephanie Alexander says the new 30th anniversary edition of the book will be her final revision.Guest: Stephanie Alexander, chef and writerGet in touch:We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] episode of Every Bite was produced on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation.

What would a birthday or a wedding be without cake? Celebration cakes are a signifier of occasion, sometimes requiring superhuman effort to bake and decorate. We explore the surprisingly recent history of the celebration cake, uncovering the role of the British royal family, The Australian Women's Weekly Children's Birthday Cake Book, and our evolving relationship with time itself.Guests: Christopher Thé, founder of Black Star Pastry and Hearthe, author of Modern Australian BakingAlysa Levene, food historian and author of Cake: A Slice of HistoryPamela Clark, co-author of The Australian Women's Weekly Children's Birthday Cake BookKC Hysmith, food writer and historianThe interview with Pamela Clark was recorded by Tall Story Films.This episode was originally broadcast on June 7, 2025.Get in touch:We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] episode of Every Bite was produced on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation.

The chef behind Denmark's famous Noma restaurant is the latest hospitality figure to be accused of mistreating staff. It seems that many in the food industry too often face overwork, underpayment and intimidation in the workplace. It's a familiar story to Lucy Ridge, author of Fed Up: A Chef's Adventures in Food, Farming & Feminism. Burnt out, Lucy left the chef life behind and, with the help of women farmers and makers, forged a path towards a more meaningful relationship with food and feeding.Guests: Lucy Ridge, food writer, former chef, author of Fed Up: A Chef's Adventures in Food, Farming & FeminismSJ Pienaar, owner and head cheesemaker at Second Mouse Cheese CoGet in touch:We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] episode of Every Bite was produced on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation.

For Waleed Aly, refraining from food and drink from sunrise to sunset during Ramadan brings about not only a physical transformation but a spiritual one as well. Fasting is a feature of many different religions, and according to some experts, these and other religious practices can be determinants of health — both physical and mental.Guests:Waleed Aly, author, academic and presenter of Radio National's The MinefieldDoug Oman, professor at the University of California, Berkeley and editor of Why Religion and Spirituality Matter for Public HealthGet in touch:We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] episode of Every Bite was produced on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation.

Who doesn't love a passionfruit sponge, jam roly-poly or nice fluffy scone? Many of these classic recipes have been shared via community cookbooks, compiled by community groups and sold to raise funds for different causes and organisations. These books can become time capsules, revealing much about the social and political fabric of a community at a particular point in time.Guests:Liz Harfull, author of Tried, Tested and True: Treasured recipes and untold stories from Australia's community CookbooksSheralee Menz & Marieka Ashmore, 'Those Barossa Girls', authors of Rolling Up Their Sleeves: The Recipes and the Women Behind the Barossa Cookery BookThis episode was originally broadcast on July 19, 2025.Get in touch:We'd love to hear from you! Email us at [email protected] episode of Every Bite was produced on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation.

Do you remember the healthy food pyramid? In the 1980s and 90s, the diagram was used to show which foods to eat most and which to eat least. It was replaced in Australia and the United States by a plate in the 2010s, but now — spurred by RFK Jr and the MAHA (Make America Healthy Again) movement — the pyramid is back. Sort of: it's now upside down. For the first time, the guidelines acknowledge the harm caused by ultra-processed foods. So why are some dietitians critical of the new pyramid? And what can Australians expect from our own updated guidelines, due later this year?

As a trained cellist, food writer and cook Gurdeep Loyal relies on music theory to amplify flavour. While he spends more time in the kitchen than in the string section these days, Gurdeep's first two cookbooks lean heavily on musical ideas, such as the flavour chords and triads that underpin all his recipes. Building on those concepts, his new cookbook, Flavour Heroes, takes fifteen underutilised pantry items and builds a repertoire of meals, snacks and sweets around each one.

While tasselled lanterns, weaving dragons, dancing lions and firecrackers are a familiar spectacle in Chinatowns right across Australia during Lunar New Year, the season is celebrated by more than just the Chinese community. In this episode, we explore the roots of Chinese New Year festivities in Australia, give the stove god some time off for Tết, Vietnamese New Year, and become older and wiser with a bowl of tteokguk, an essential dish during Seollal, Korean New Year.

The fresh air, clear waters and rich soil of regional Australia are encouraging some of the world's top chefs to trade in their chef whites for overalls and swap grand banquet halls for intimate dining rooms — including Analiese Gregory. She trained in Michelin-starred restaurants in Europe and now calls southern Tasmania home, where she'll soon be opening a 10-seat eatery on her property. But is her homegrown, hyper-local approach a reaction against her formal training or a product of it?

A chant heard at Sydney's first Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras was "out of the bars, into the streets!" But bars were not the community's only gathering places: Even revolutionaries have to eat. We don't hear much about queer restaurants and cafes, but often they pre-date the famous nightspots that are now synonymous with queer pride.

After coming to prominence as a finalist on the Great British Bake Off, Ruby Tandoh is now a celebrated food writer, known for astute observations on how we eat and why. Her new book, All Consuming: Why We Eat the Way We Eat Now, is a deep-dive into the food culture of today — an era defined by novelty, abundance, and, paradoxically, scarcity: manufactured queues for trending foodstuffs. For those willing to queue, the prize may be a new taste sensation or simply online bragging rights. So, who benefits from this hyperactive zeitgeist of constantly evolving food preferences?

Doctors and scientists around the world are increasingly alarmed by the impact that industrial processing is having on the food we eat and by what that food does to our bodies. Ultra-processed foods may last longer and taste good, but our guests explain, many are designed for overindulgence, and they are linked to health problems like obesity and an increased risk of some cancers.This episode was originally broadcast on March 22, 2025.

The egg is an extraordinary thing. In the pantheon of miraculous food chemistry, it takes on a range of essential roles. From helping cakes and soufflés to rise, to bringing disparate ingredients and flavours into a unified whole. They can also take on a starring role, whether fried, scrambled or poached. Eggs frequently appear in art, literature, design, and philosophy, too, and they are at the heart of the age-old paradox: Which came first, the chicken or the egg?This episode was originally broadcast on May 10, 2025.

Many of us imagine that an athlete's diet consists of sports supplements providing carefully calibrated doses of carbohydrates, protein and electrolytes, but for ancient Olympians, a diet of cheese or figs was seemingly enough. In truth, whole foods are still the most important part of an athlete's diet today, as we discover on our culinary tour of the sporting world.This episode was originally broadcast on May 17, 2025.

Salad is at the core of Hetty Lui McKinnon's culinary being. For many, salad is something at the margins of our food lives — an adornment, if not something to be avoided. What might that attitude deprive us of? Since launching her career in Sydney as a cook and the author of the bestseller Community, Hetty has since moved to the United States and is now a regular contributor to the New York Times. Her new book is called Linger.This episode was originally broadcast on September 20, 2025.

While some might rely on a sachet of quick oats for their daily porridge fix, there are oat aficionados who will happily steam, roll, cut or grind their own. There's a world of flavour and texture to explore, and for the most accomplished out there, Scotland hosts an annual World Porridge Making Championship — The Golden Spurtle. This episode was originally broadcast on August 9, 2025.

Our Christmas food traditions are richly varied, with history behind every dish. While some mainstays of the Christmas spread have endured for hundreds of years, other icons of the feast are far more recent additions. Tracing the history of Christmas eating tells a story of changing foodways across Australia and the world.

Perhaps the skill that best serves a professional chef is knowing how to make a great meal with what's at hand. Stocking a pantry and fridge with dependable and adaptable ingredients is at the heart of two new cookbooks: The latest from Alison Roman, Something from Nothing, and Masterchef-winner Nat Thaipun's debut, Thai: Anywhere and Everywhere.

We all have a shelf in our fridge or pantry of neglected condiments that we're unsure of what to do with — or whether we even like them. In this episode, help is at hand. Claire Dinhut, aka Condiment Claire, is a solutions-oriented flavour fiend, and in her quest for new taste sensations, she is not afraid to think outside the box.

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that we all eat. Whether we’re considering the menus of last week or last century, food helps us to understand ourselves, our neighbours — and even our most treasured literary characters. When we read the novels of Jane Austen with an eye for the culinary, what might we discover?

The sound accompanying your mealtimes could be affecting the flavour of your food. Several scientific studies have shown a link between what we hear and what we taste. Sound can even influence what we choose to eat. If you find that hard to believe, grab a snack and have a listen — we have an experiment you can try at home.

A home garden typically conjures a sense of comfort and of self-sufficiency, but what if that garden were in Palestine? The celebrated Palestinian-British chef and author Sami Tamimi has written a new book, Boustany, inspired by the food of home. It champions the food of all our homes — the food we can grow in a garden or forage nearby — but also the food of his homeland, which is becoming disconnected from its rich culinary culture under the shadow of war.

Longtime Ottolenghi associate Helen Goh fell into a career in cooking after first studying psychology. She draws on both aspects of her training in her first solo cookbook, Baking and the Meaning of Life. Helen argues that the inessential nature of sweet treats elevates the act of baking beyond quotidian cooking, and that sharing baked goods is a distillation of human generosity. We test her theory in the kitchen.

Guest presenter Alice Zaslavsky takes a close look at Australia's maturing cheese culture. Thanks to adventurous cheesemakers and entrepreneurs in the 1970s and 80s, Australia's penchant for mousetrap cheddar has evolved to embrace a wide variety of cheeses. But is our homegrown cheese market as ripe as it could be?

Fifty years ago, not all Australians had ready access to a wok. Today, it is an essential kitchen item. But perhaps you could be getting even more from what 'wok therapist' Grace Young calls 'the most indispensable culinary tool in the world.' We trace the wok's history, its many uses and get best-practice tips from two wok masters.

Before Tik Tok and Google Reviews, there was the Michelin Guide. First published 125 years ago, the guide encouraged drivers to wear out their tyres by visiting the best restaurants in France, as judged by the guide's mysterious inspectors. The inspectors' identities are still a closely guarded secret, but the new documentary series Knife Edge: Chasing Michelin Stars offers rare insight into their process and access to the kitchens of top chefs gunning for those elusive stars.

Whether it is Nigella, Stephanie or Yotam on your shelf, there is a good chance that you and I are cooking from the same book. The two best-selling books in Australia in 2024 were both cookbooks — and they were both written by Nagi Maehashi, the founder of the website RecipeTin Eats. Her two books — Dinner and Tonight — have together sold one million copies worldwide. So, what is it about the floury, greasy pages of a cookbook that unite us and shape our conceptions of food?

The books of childhood take us on adventures far from our own backyard, where we often encounter culinary delights that arouse memory and spark imagination. But if there's a common thread that runs through much of children's literature, it's that the paths to our deepest desires are stalked by danger. We explore the deep symbolism behind our favourite foodie fantasies in children's books.

Salad is at the core of Hetty Lui McKinnon's culinary being. For many, salad is something at the margins of our food lives — an adornment, if not something to be avoided. What might that attitude deprive us of? Since launching her career in Sydney as a cook and the author of the bestseller Community, Hetty has since moved to the United States and is now a regular contributor to the New York Times. Her new book is called Linger.

How much money and effort do you invest in your coffee habit? Australian coffee drinkers today have a limitless variety of options available. From the type of bean and where it's grown, to how the bean is roasted and the coffee extracted, every taste can be catered for. So, if you're content with a stock-standard caffè latte, are you missing something?

Interest rates and inflation may be easing, but the hospitality industry is still doing it tough. Profit margins are slim and hospitality businesses face a higher rate of failure than any other sector. And yet, household spending at cafes and restaurants is generally up — so what is happening? We ask an industry stalwart and meet newcomers trying innovative business models.

What does the word masala mean to you? Masala generally refers to a blend of spices, but according to cook Sarina Kamini, masala is also about shape, weight, texture and feeling. 'It's a whole different way of experiencing food.' We join Sarina in the kitchen for a masala masterclass, exploring how changing our relationship with spice can change so much more than just flavour.

Cook and author Ixta Belfrage is a firm believer in the expressive potential of fusion cooking. Her cooking is rooted in a childhood in Italy and familial connections to Mexico and Brazil. After developing her craft at Yotam Ottolenghi's restaurant NOPI and the Ottolenghi Test Kitchen, Ixta's first solo cookbook, Mezcla, embraced the flavours of Mexico and Italy. Her new book, Fusão is inspired by the food of Brazil.

With so many dietary options on the menu, one can wonder whether the choices available relate to a genuine health concern or the latest fad. Perhaps the most visible and complex dietary options relate to gluten. For some, gluten-free living is a choice, while for others, gluten can do serious harm to their bodies. With health experts and a hungry coeliac, we separate fact from fiction — including whether gluten-free flour can ever truly replicate your favourite bakes.

While some might rely on a sachet of quick oats for their daily porridge fix, there are oat aficionados who will happily steam, roll, cut or grind their own. There's a world of flavour and texture to explore, and for the most accomplished out there, Scotland hosts an annual World Porridge Making Championship — The Golden Spurtle. 

Eating can be a simple pleasure, but for some it's a struggle. Food aversions manifest in many ways, from simple picky eating to outright disgust. Very few of us don't have at least one or two foods that we avoid. Sometimes it's about taste or texture, other times it's attached to a bad memory, such as a bout of food poisoning. Whatever the cause, is it possible to shift our aversions?

Digging for truffles is like digging for buried treasure: a good haul can earn you a pretty penny and the activity can attract a rogues' gallery of characters keen to keep the booty for themselves. Rather than relying on competitive (and sometimes dangerous) foraging, Australia is a world-leader in truffle farming. But growing these fickle fungi is a years-long endeavour, and harvesting them requires the assistance of a four-legged friend.

Who doesn't love a passionfruit sponge, jam roly-poly or nice fluffy scone? Many of these classic recipes have been shared via community cookbooks, compiled by community groups and sold to raise funds for different causes and organisations. These books can become time capsules, revealing much about the social and political fabric of a community at a particular point in time.

Cyclists at the Tour de France consume unfathomable amounts of food as they compete in the nearly 3,500-kilometre race over 21 days. Consistent eating can make the difference between securing the yellow jersey or suffering an early exit. But as they wend their way around France, can cyclists enjoy the regional cuisine? Or does the local fare remain tantalisingly out of reach?

Everyone's a critic, but there's an art to the well-considered, expert restaurant review. Besha Rodell is an award-winning writer and the chief restaurant critic for The Age. She's written for The New York Times, Food & Wine, Bon Appetit and many others. Now she's written a memoir, Hunger Like a Thirst, which is about her life, her love of food and how good criticism can become an integral part of a city's culinary life.

In episode two of our series on food in space, we're travelling beyond the exosphere to discover how we might feed ourselves during voyages into deep space and how that technology could change what we eat here on Earth. We learn about new farming techniques optimised for hostile environments, the Australian plants hitching a ride to the Moon in 2026, and a protein source that can be manufactured 'from thin air.'

Space: The final gastronomic frontier. For the brave souls who venture far above the world, when they get peckish, can they rely on more than a floating tin can of food? The first meal in space was beef and liver paste squeezed from a tube, but what do we find in the space kitchen of today? Food in space is our next culinary adventure.

What's on the menu this week? For many Australians, food is an adventure with limitless potential. A lamb roast on Sunday, a meat pie at the football, and perhaps a toastie with warrigal greens, kimchi and burrata at the local café. Our palate embraces everything from meat-and-three-veg simplicity to unique flavour combinations incorporating foods from all corners of the globe. How did we get here?

What would a birthday or a wedding be without cake? Celebration cakes are a signifier of occasion, sometimes requiring superhuman effort to bake and decorate. We explore the surprisingly recent history of the celebration cake, uncovering the role of the British royal family, The Australian Women's Weekly Children's Birthday Cake Book, and our evolving relationship with time itself.

You say tomato, I say… bleurgh. How is it that we can have such different experiences of the same foods? Taste and flavour: What are they and how do they work? We meet some of the top flavour scientists working today, including the researcher who discovered that there are 'supertasters' among us.