Our Hosts

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  Lyndey Milan

  Lyndey is a well known face in print, radio and on TV. In December 2009 she was enticed back to the iconic Australian Women's Weekly as Contributing Food Director; formerly she was Food Director for nearly nine years. She spent the previous year as Associate Food Director and major contributor to BBC Australian Good Food magazine. Lyndey appears on Mornings with Kerri-Anne weekly on the Nine Network every Thursday and was previously co-host of Fresh on the same network for over eight years. This followed a media career encompassing all commercial TV networks, radios 2UE and 2GB, innumerable magazines and newspapers.

  In late 2009 Lyndey released her sixth book: The Best Collection, Fast, Fabulous Recipes (New Holland). She has a seventh book due out shortly, Just Add Spice (Penguin), co-authored with Ian 'Herbie' Hemphill. She has a strong following for her previous four best-selling cookbooks and many public appearances. A fifth book, Balance. Matching Food and Wine. What Works and Why, co-authored with Colin Corney won Fine Wine Partners Best Food and Wine Writing at the Vittoria Australian Food Media Awards in 2006.

  Her accolades also include winning the highly prestigious Food Media Club of Australia industry peer Award for Best Overall Contribution to the Food Media not only in 1999 by also in 2008, the only person to do so twice.

  Apart from media appearances she has a successful consultancy business which includes public speaking, emceeing, celebrity appearances and cooking demonstrations, cooking and wine appreciation classes, advising food and wine clients - in fact anything to do with food, wine, agriculture and lifestyle.

  A keen observer of trends and the changing needs of the everyday cook, her no-nonsense approach and easy ability to communicate have built a solid career on television, radio and the mainstream and wine and food print media following on from practical experience as a caterer and cafe proprietor.

  Lyndey's forte is presenting seemingly complicated ideas in an easy, straight-forward and entertaining manner. With an in depth knowledge of both food and wine, she has a special interest in regional producers, something she is able to develop in her role as Royal Agricultural Society of NSW Councillor and Board Member. She also works for many charities, especially as an Ambassador for, Eating Disorders Foundation and is a founder and Patron of Tasting Success, a mentoring program for female chefs.

  Lyndey Milan is recognised as a passionate and committed supporter of her community.

  
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  Kate McGhie

  Kate McGhie's recipes and food wisdom reach more than 1.5 million readers every week through her long-running and much-loved page in Melbourne's Herald Sun newspaper.

  Her aim is to inspire home cooks to explore food's magic.

  Her sell-out book, Cook, won the Food Media Club of Australia award for best Australian cookbook in 2006, just two years after Kate was named best culinary tourism writer by the Food Media Club. In 2008 Cook won best cookbook at the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards. She also wrote Australia's first children's cookbook, Kitchen Fun for Everyone, which became a text for 110,000 Australian schools.

  Kate completed chef and hotel-management studies in Switzerland, worked at the legendary Oriental Hotel in Bangkok and researched the Venetian influence of food throughout Italy and Europe. She also lived and cooked in Japan and Hong Kong and travels the world discovering and writing about food and its place in local cultures. Kate's restaurant attracted a huge and loyal following, introducing the fresh, lively tastes of Asian-inspired cuisine to Melbourne.

  Her international reputation as a chef, teacher and mentor was secured when she organised and trained Australia's first two teams for the Culinary Olympics in Frankfurt, Germany. Both teams won gold medals.

  She is Restaurant & Catering Association Victoria chair of judges, chair of the International Association of Culinary Professionals and a committee member for the Australian Association of Food Professionals. She is currently working on a project based on an American mentoring program she has participated in for many years in which youths in detention learn cooking skills.

  She was chief cookery judge for 11 years at all state Royal Agricultural Shows, is an accredited olive oil and cheese judge and a former board member and advisor to the Australian grape industry.

  Kate was a pioneer in championing Australian produce. Hers is an authentic, life-long connection with the land and its bounty: she grew up on a farm, soaking in the rituals of seasonal produce and food preparation at the kitchen table of a like-minded mother.

  
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  John Lethlean

  John Lethlean is a passionate traveller and renowned restaurant critic with international experience in food journalism and editing.

  He joined The Weekend Australian Magazine as food editor in April 2009 to co-edit a new five-page weekly food section, Food+Wine, with colleague Necia Wilden. The new section was launched on 18 April. Food+Wine is the only national weekend colour magazine section dedicated to food and wine. It features regular food columns and recipes, restaurant reviews, wine news, reviews and industry commentary. Lethlean has a truly national voice in Food+Wine. As the resident foods critic, he engages a national readership of restaurant-going Australians who can rely on his extensive knowledge, reviews and unique perspective on dining. He writes feature articles regularly, covering food trends, news, issues and ethics both locally and internationally, as well as a regular light-hearted column on his observations of life around food.

  Lethlean's career began at The Age where he was a cadet and graded journalist in the early 80s. Many subsequent journeys both in and out of journalism led to a five year stint in the food industry as a business owner before he took up a journalism and restaurant critic role with The Melbourne Weekly in the mid 1990s. Lethlean then returned to The Age, where he began a ten-year relationship with the newspaper as the highly respected restaurant critic, restaurant world gossip columnist and features writer.

  He has edited the previous three editions of The Age Good Food Guide and was the Melbourne editor of Australian Gourmet Traveller. He has also written regularly for The Australian Gourmet Traveller National Restaurant Guide, The (Melbourne) Magazine, BMW Magazine, Cuisine (NZ) and Gourmet (USA). Lethlean was voted Best Restaurant Critic at the World Food Media Awards in 2005, a biannual event with Tasting Australia.

  
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  Richard Cornish

  Richard Cornish is an award winning food writer whose love of the land lead him to explore the issues around food; where it comes from; how it gets to us; and why do some foods taste better than others. He is a senior features writer for The Age Epicure in Melbourne and has co-written two books on Spanish food with MoVida chef Frank Camorra namely Movida and Movida Rustica. He worked for some time as a comedy writer for breakfast radio and prime time television before moving across into his role as a television producer. He combined his loves of entertainment and food producing highly successful food events such as a one woman bio-stage show based on the life of Britain's most famous food writer. Called Elizabeth David: An Omelette and a Glass of Wine and Snagtastica! a show about sausage making, were hits for several years running at the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival. Richard is currently working on several books and TV concepts between travel and gardening. A constant and vocal commentator on food and food politics in Australia he lives in Melbourne with his partner fashion designer Tiffany Treloar, two daughters Ginger and Sunday, and a rambling, sometimes out of control, vegetable garden.

  
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  Jason Purdie

  Jason Purdie is editor of The Advocate, a daily newspaper circulating the north-west and west of Tasmania.

  His journalistic career started in 1989 and in the next ten years he worked in various roles in Rockhampton, Kalgoorlie and Geraldton. In 1999, he was appointed to his first editorship with The Observer in Gladstone, Queensland.

  He was subsequently appointed to the same post at the Daily Mercury (Mackay,Qld) and The Chronicle (Toowoomba, Qld). He has rightly or wrongly gained reputation for cultural change within newsrooms and community engagement between newspapers and the regions they serve.

  During his three years at The Advocate the paper has received significant awards for editorial campaigns 'Our patch, it's paradise!' and 'The Fit Club', a major initiative designed to increase activity levels in the community.

  Jason is married to Anna. His personal outlets include food, wine and the arts. He is a member of the special advisory group to Devonport Regional Art Gallery and board member of the Heart Foundation (Tasmania).