Attica Digest

It has been off the menu for a while now. People still ask about it.

Ben Shewry became the first chef to address the National Press Club of Australia in its 60-year history. This is his reflection on why hospitality workers struggle to claim seats at tables of power—and why they must.

Winter in Melbourne is the season we cook the most, read the most, and think the most about why we do what we do. These are the films and shows that have stayed with us. Most of them will make you hungry. Some of them will make you want to quit everything and travel to far away places in search of perfection. Some will make you want to gather your nearest and dearest and show them how you feel through food. A few will do all of the above.

Not a bookshop with a cooking section. A place built entirely around the idea that food is worth taking seriously on the page as much as on the plate.

This recipe comes from a period when the visual identity of foods was of peak importance- Covid times. Flavour ALWAYS matters (if you want repeat customers), but without waiters at the table bringing dishes to life, the way a dish looks could be the difference between going broke and staying in business.

Three sommeliers. Nine bottles. One for every kind of winter night.

When was the last time you invited people into your home for a meal?