Peta Christine Mathias MNZM is a New Zealand food writer and television show presenter and owns a television production company that produces food and travel shows. [1] She is also known for leading gastronomic tours in the south of France, Morocco, Spain and India. [2]
Mathias was born in Auckland. She initially trained as a nurse and worked at Auckland Hospital for five years. She then moved to Canada, where she lived for six years in Montreal and Vancouver working as a toxicotherapist in drug and alcohol treatment centres. [3] Mathias then moved to London and to Paris and started working in restaurants, first as a dishwasher and later as a chef; eventually she bought a restaurant there, Rose Blues, and ran it for four years. [1] [2] [4]
In 1990, Mathias returned to New Zealand and began to work in food writing and broadcasting. In 2006 she set up a company organising and leading culinary tours, and in 2008 she set up a production company, Red Head Media, to make food and travel television shows based on her travels. [3]
In 1997, Mathias won Best Segment in a Food Program at the World Food Media Awards for her segment on TVNZ's series Taste NZ. In 2003, she won the Supreme Award at the New Zealand Guild of Food Writers Culinary Quill Awards. [1] In the 2012 Queen's Birthday and Diamond Jubilee Honours Mathias was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services as an author and television presenter. [15]
Her book Burnt Barley won Best Literary Food Writing (in English) category at the World Cookbook Fair. [16] The book was released with an accompanying four-track CD of the same name (released on the Vintage label), on which Mathias sings Irish country songs.
In 2014, Hot Pink Spice Saga, which Mathias co-wrote with Julie Le Clerc, was shortlisted in the Best in the World for Indian Cookery category at the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards. [14]
Pavlova is a meringue-based dessert. Originating in either Australia or New Zealand in the early 20th century, it was named after the Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova. Taking the form of a cake-like circular block of baked meringue, pavlova has a crisp crust and soft, light inside. The confection is usually topped with fruit and whipped cream. The name is commonly pronounced pav-LOH-və or pahv-LOH-və, and occasionally closer to the name of the dancer, as PAHV-lə-və.
Scrambled eggs is a dish made from eggs stirred, whipped, or beaten together typically with salt, butter, oil, and sometimes other ingredients, and heated so that they form into curds.
Tandoori chicken is a dish made from chicken marinated in yogurt and spices and roasted in a tandoor, a cylindrical clay oven. The dish is now popular worldwide. The modern form of the dish was popularized by the Moti Mahal restaurant in New Delhi, India in the late 1940s.
The cuisine of New Zealand is largely driven by local ingredients and seasonal variations. As an island nation with a primarily agricultural economy, New Zealand yields produce from land and sea. Similar to the cuisine of Australia, the cuisine of New Zealand is a diverse British-based cuisine, with Mediterranean and Pacific Rim influences as the country has become more cosmopolitan.
Lebanese cuisine is the culinary traditions and practices originating from Lebanon. It includes an abundance of whole grains, fruits, vegetables, fresh fish and seafood. Poultry is eaten more often than red meat, and when red meat is eaten, it is usually lamb and goat meat. Dishes include copious amounts of garlic and olive oil, and dishes are often seasoned with lemon juice. Chickpeas and parsley are also staples of the Lebanese diet.
Cinnamon sugar is a mixture of ground cinnamon and granulated sugar used as a spice to flavor foods such as Belgian waffles, Snickerdoodle cookies, tortillas, coffee cake, French toast, and churros. It is also used to flavor apples, cereals, and other fruits. As McCormick describes cinnamon sugar, "it’s the comforting scent of Sunday morning cinnamon toast and mid-summer’s peach cobbler...the aroma of the holidays, with cinnamon cookies and spice cake."
British cuisine is the specific set of cooking traditions and practices associated with the United Kingdom, including the cuisines of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. According to food writer Colin Spencer, historically, British cuisine meant "unfussy dishes made with quality local ingredients, matched with simple sauces to accentuate flavour, rather than disguise it".
Sharon K. Herbst was an American cookbook and culinary books author.
Susan Spicer is a New Orleans-based chef, who owns several restaurants in that city, including a take-out food market which doubles as a bakery. She has received several awards, and appeared in the 2009 finale of the Bravo television program Top Chef. Currently she has a partnership with Regina Keever, and together they opened Bayona in 1990, a four star restaurant.
Annabel Rose Langbein is a New Zealand celebrity cook, food writer and publisher. She has published over 30 cookbooks, and co-produced three seasons of her award-winning television series, Annabel Langbein The Free Range Cook, which launched on the TV One network in New Zealand and has since screened in more than 90 countries.
Annabelle White is a New Zealand food writer and author of eleven cookbooks. She was a long time food columnist for the Sunday Star-Times and also wrote the Food Detective column. She is the former food editor for NZ House & Garden and in October 2011 joined the New Zealand Woman's Weekly as Food Editor. She also runs cooking classes and is a public speaker.
Sabrina Ghayour is a British-Iranian chef, food writer and author. She is the host of the supper club ‘Sabrina's Kitchen’ and released her first cookbook, Persiana, in May 2014.
Thomas Dawson was an English author of cookery and housekeeping books.
The Good Huswifes Jewell is an English cookery book by the cookery and housekeeping writer Thomas Dawson, first published in 1585. It includes recipes for medicines as well as food. To the spices found in Medieval English cooking, the book adds herbs, especially parsley and thyme. Sugar is used in many of the dishes, along with ingredients that are uncommon in modern cooking like violets and rosewater.
Helen May Leach is a New Zealand academic specialising in food anthropology. She is currently a professor emerita at the University of Otago.
Julie Le Clerc is a New Zealand food writer, chef, caterer, restaurateur and a presenter on TV food shows.
Lois Dorothy Daish is a New Zealand restaurateur, food writer and cookbook author.
Nicky Pellegrino is a novelist. She is an English-born New Zealander of Italian descent and lives and writes in Auckland, New Zealand. Her novels have been translated into 12 languages.