Annie Smithers' Birthday Message for Stephanie

1984 was an auspicious year in my life – I had a job interview with Stephanie Alexander. A few years earlier my parents had taken me to eat at Stephanie’s, I remember the wonder I had at the crockery, cutlery and glassware. The ox blood colour of the restaurant walls, and the tapestry that hung there. The sound of the restaurant, the hum of conversation, the clinking of glassware, and the music that silverware on fine China makes. And then there was the food .... Already interested in pursuing  a career in cooking, my dining experience there galvanised my desire to become a cook. So to be being interviewed by her, several years later, was both terrifying and brilliant. Even better, I got the job. 

Thirty-six years later that interview has proved to be one of the most important meetings in my life. As a woman that started out as my employer, Stephanie has become many things, travelling companion, mentor, friend and even at times ‘muse’. My early years in her kitchen shaped the way I cook and now live. A respect for good technique and the provenance of where food comes from.

The tiny kitchen garden that was out the side in Hawthorn has become my self-sustaining garden in my world, her support and respect for farmers still resonates with me and guides my practices today. The conversations we have had while travelling share the immense knowledge that Stephanie has of the history of restaurants and chefs and how our Australian hospitality industry has become the vibrant beast that it is today. 

And if it is was not enough to inspire generations of cooks like me, Stephanie has inspired and taught generations of home cooks through her wonderful writing, the pinnacle being the Cooks Companion. A book that showcases both her extraordinary knowledge about food but also her incredible organisational feats that come from her librarian-shaped mind. 

And then there is the Foundation. A visionary project that encompasses so much. Introducing children to the skills of both growing and cooking food. Educating them to make better food choices, choices that have an impact on obesity and mental health outcomes. Stimulating, useful life skills that seemed to have been forgotten by the general curriculum. I think we all know that many of us have good ideas that we would like to get out into the world, but Stephanie has not only had the vision, but executed an amazingly complex feat by getting the Kitchen Garden Program into so many schools nationally. It has been done with the will and tenacity that she has shown me these last thirty-six years.

Stephanie may be a force of nature, and an inspiration, but most importantly, I am incredibly proud to be able to call her my friend. Happiest of birthdays to you my wonderful friend, you live a life well lived and are an inspiration to us all.