Cooked - Australian Style Trivia Quiz

Answer:

Adriano Zumbo, the Australian "Willy Wonka" of pastries, turned the dessert into the dramatic and sweets into spectacles. From his gravity-defying croquembouche (that terrorized contestants on "MasterChef Australia" from 2009) to his zany Zumbarons (Zumbo macarons), he inspired Australians to become daring with treats and audacious and complex with flavours, such as his gin and tonic or kalamata olive macarons.

Analiese Gregory was a rising star, first in Paris' Le Meurice and then Sydney's iconic Quay, when she threw it all in and made a residence for herself at the bottom end of Australia, in Tasmania's Huon Valley. Here she taught herself to fish, forage, hunt, and to live seasonally and documented this in her book "How Wild Things Are" (2021) and the SBS series "A Girl's Guide to Hunting, Fishing, and Wild Cooking" (2021).

Born in Sri Lanka in 1930, Charmaine Solomon moved to Australia at the age of 29, where she is credited with introducing Asian foods into Australian households. Such is her influence and reputation that Sydney Morning Herald listed her in the "holy trinity of cookbook authors". Her "Complete Asian Cookbook" (1976) has been reissued more than two dozen times, has sold over a million copies and is seen as the foundation textbook for home cooks.

Curtis Stone began his cooking career in Melbourne restaurants before shifting to London where he was under the tutelage Marco Pierre White at the Café Royal and Mirabelle before becoming his head chef at Quo Vadis. Commencing with "Surfing the Menu", an ABC (Australia) programme that aired between 2003 and 2006, Curtis has made numerous television appearances, including "Good Food Live" (2001-07) in the UK and hosting "Take Home Chef", which commenced in US in 2006. He has opened the Michelin starred restaurants Maude and Gwen in the United States.

English born Gary Mehigan found fame in Australia as one of the three original judges on "MasterChef Australia" for 11 seasons from 2009. He opened the award-winning restaurant Fenix on the banks of the Yarra River in Richmond, Victoria as well as the laid-back Maribyrnong Boathouse in Moonee Ponds. An ambassador for both Healthy Food and the Baker's Institute, he has hosted SBS's "Far Flung" (2018) and "Good Chef Bad Chef" between 2006 and 2007.

Luke Nguyen was born in a Thai refugee camp and raised in the Sydney suburb of Cabramatta. Inspired by the street food he'd found in Saigon he opened the Red Lantern restaurant in Surry Hills (Sydney), purported to be the world's most awarded Vietnamese restaurant. An author of at least five best selling books, he also made a name for himself on the SBS series "Luke Nguyen's Vietnam" (2010), which led to the follow up series "Luke Nguyen's London" (2015).

Maeve O'Meara is more of a culinary tour operator than a cook and her journey from TV journalist to hosting food programmes such as "Food Safari" (2006-13) and, prior to that, "Food Lovers' Guide to Australia" (1996) has seen Australians tempted by Lao papaya seeds, profiling Somali spice blends, and perfecting the quintessential paella. Her "Gourmet Safari" tours are built around around creating unique food experiences for people, taking them to places such baklava factories, yum-cha trolleys, and halal butcher shops. Her belief is that "Australia's greatest food asset is its incredible diversity and openness to exploring it."

Nestled in the heart of one of Australia's leading wine regions, the Barossa Valley in South Australia, is the Pheasant Farm Restaurant, opened in the 1970s by the lady dubbed the "Verjuice Queen", Maggie Beer. It is here that she championed regional products and then made them stars in her wide range of farm products and cookbooks. She continues to promote wholesome cooking and the TV show that she hosted with Simon Bryant, "The Cook & the Chef" (2006-09), helped turn good old country hospitality into a national standard.

Margaret Fulton is the doyen of Australian home cooking. "The best things in life", she says, "are chopping and stirring". She was our influencer, decades before influencers became an accepted occupation, publishing the "Margaret Fulton Cookbook" in 1968, and introducing the nation's home cooks, raised on the standard of "meat and three vege", to such delights as garlic, soy sauce, and risotto. She has gone on to write over two dozen cookbooks and, in 1983, was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for her services to good food.

Known as the "Black Olive", Mark Olive is a Bundjalung man who has been championing cultural food sovereignty and pathways for indigenous culinary futures for years. As a star of the SBS series "The Outback Café" (2006), he managed to showcase and introduce a vast range of Australian native bush foods into the nation's kitchens. Among these are delights such as wattle-seeds, quandongs, and saltbush.

Raised on a dairy farm, Matt Moran developed an affinity for the produce of the land and this is reflected in his "paddock to plate" philosophy, which emphasizes absolute freshness, seasonality, and minimal intervention. Owner of several award winning restaurants such as Aria, Chiswick and the Barangaroo House, he also took the time to revive the fortunes of the local pub in the country town of Rocklea, to stress the importance of the role of a pub in a small community. He has hosted the Lifestyle programme "Paddock to Plate" (2013-14), been a judge on the third season of "MasterChef Australia" (2011), and co-hosted the second season of "The Great Australian Bake Off" with Maggie Beer in 2015.

The strongest threads in Peter Kuruvita's life are family and heritage, and this is reflected in his cooking. Learning to cook under his grandmother's watchful eye, he initially apprenticed to Greg Doyle in his seafood orientated Rogue restaurant before working in Michelin star establishments in London and Philadelphia. He would brighten up Australian taste buds with spice-rich South Asian flavoured seafood, first at his Flying Fish restaurant and then on the acclaimed SBS television shows "My Sri Lanka" (2011) and "Coastal Kitchen" (2016). In 2026 he served as a judge on "MasterChef Sri Lanka".

Australia first fell in love with Poh Ling Yeow's smile, then her personality and love of cooking. The runner-up to the first season of "MasterChef Australia" (2009) was then signed to the ABC for the series "Poh's Kitchen" (2010-2012) and a two book deal. She also runs Jamface at the Adelaide markets, selling her delicious pastries and then appeared as a co-host of "Snackmasters" (2021) on the Nine Network. In 2025 she was nominated for the Gold Logie, Australia's highest television award.

Peter Russell-Clarke was one of Australia's first celebrity chefs, best known for hosting over 900 episodes of the cooking show "Come and Get It" between 1983 and 1992. With his catchy "G'days" he championed healthy eating, explained the history of food and encouraged Australians to explore new tastes and be adventurous with their food. He published over 35 books throughout his career.

When "MasterChef Australia" began in 2009, one of the best decisions the creators made was to employ the cravat clad food critic Matt Preston as one of its original judges. Remaining with the programme for eleven seasons, Preston turned the show into a classroom for avid viewer cooks, instructing and translating terms such as texture and acid lifts. The show made Preston a star but, before that, he'd already been a three time winner of the Australian Food Media Journalist of the Year award. He continues to publish cookbooks and, in 2020, joined chefs Gary Mehigan and Manu Feildel in a programme for the Seven Network called "Plate of Origin".