 | | The cover of the 50th anniversary edition of "The Margaret Fulton Cookbook" Hardie Grant Books | |
| The Australia Letter is a weekly newsletter from our Australia bureau. Sign up to get it by email. |
| This week's issue is written by Tacey Rychter, an audience editor and writer based in Sydney. |
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| When news broke Wednesday that Margaret Fulton, the best-selling Australian cookbook author, died at 94, many people posted photos of their copies of her books in tribute, the pages crusted and spattered with generations of food debris. Is there a greater compliment? |
| An Australian Julia Child of sorts and a brilliant communicator, she propelled nearly an entire generation, mainly of Anglo women, toward a more adventurous and open-minded family table. |
| "There's no doubt that she's a pivotal and very important figure in our culinary and cookbook history," said Tim White, the co-owner of the Melbourne bookstore, Books for Cooks. |
| Her record for the number of cookbooks sold in Australia "will probably never be beaten again." |
| A Fulton in nearly every home |
| It's hard to overstate her commercial and cultural power. Her first book, "The Margaret Fulton Cookbook," published in 1968, had a first print run of 100,000 copies — an extraordinary achievement at the time — and went on to sell more than 1.5 million copies. |
| By some estimates, there was a time when one in five Australian homes, if not more, had a Margaret Fulton book. |
| For those who didn't grow up with Margaret Fulton, it might be hard to see why she was as impactful on Australia's cooking culture as she was. The retro, moody food photography is kitsch now, and the illustrated, step-by-step guide to eating spaghetti might seem a little silly to a modern audience. |
| But her starter guides to international cuisines like Chinese and Italian, which patiently explained new ingredients like soy sauce, were a first touch point for many seeking bolder flavors. |
| When torturing vegetables was a national pastime |
| "There really was quite a poor food culture before Margaret Fulton," said Richard Glover, the ABC radio presenter and author of "The Land Before Avocado," which tours the weirdness 1960s and '70s Australian culture. |
| Chops and potatoes were standard, he said. Vegetables were routinely cooked into a "state of disintegration." |
| [What do you remember of home cooking in the '60s and '70s? Tell us at nytaustralia@nytimes.com.] |
| It's important to acknowledge that while Fulton has often been documented as the woman who "taught Australia how to cook," using such an all-encompassing phrase overlooks the thousands of non-Anglo Australians who were already cooking vindaloos, borscht, dolmades or stir fries every night. |
| Besha Rodell, our Australian food columnist, agrees that home cooking pre-Fulton, particularly by those of British descent, was pretty grim. |
| "As much as any cookbook author, we can thank Greek, Italian and, later, Vietnamese neighbors for passing olives, garlic, lemons and chilies over the back fence," she said. |
| A lot changed in 50 years (we can all eat spaghetti now, and more!) |
| Fulton wasn't the first to encourage a more international palate, but she hit on a potent cultural moment in Australia — a confluence of new wealth, postwar immigration, the first supermarkets and the accessibility of international air travel. |
| Australia, an island nation not yet free of the White Australia Policy, was opening up to the world, and one way it happened was in our kitchens. |
| "We started with such a basic food culture, yet when shown the opportunity we have embraced it incredibly quickly," said Richard Glover, the radio presenter. |
| A meat pie hasn't been a typical Australian meal for a long time, he said. A more common family meal, he guessed, is probably a noodle dish cooked in a wok, with bok choy and coriander. |
| "The wonderful thing about the Australian story is the way we've gone from such a frightened, inward-looking monoculture to such a global-embracing, cosmopolitan place in such a short period of time. Fulton is part of that escalator." |
| We'd love to hear from you. Share your memories of home cooking in the '60s and '70s, or your favorite Margaret Fulton recipes at nytaustralia@nytimes.com. You can also join us in the NYT Australia Facebook group. |
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| Australia and New Zealand |
An offshore migrant detention center used by Australia on Los Negros Island, Manus Province, Papua New Guinea.
Ashley Gilbertson for The New York Times |
| • Trump's Immigration Approach Isn't New: Europe and Australia Went First: President Trump's "zero tolerance" approach to border enforcement follows a model pioneered by Australia — but the lessons may not be so straightforward. |
| • Australia Calls on China to Release Detained Writer: Australia strongly rebuked Beijing for detaining one of its citizens, a writer who has called for liberalization in China, expressing concern over his welfare and calling for his release. |
| • New Zealand Plans New Round of Gun Restrictions, Including Registry: Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced the changes will include a mandatory gun registry and a ban on gun purchases by foreign visitors. |
| • Sun Yang and Swimming Descend Into a Battle Over Doping: On Sunday, the Australian swimmer Mack Horton refused to join the six-time Olympic medalist, Sun Yang of China, on the medals podium. Here's why. |
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| Around the Times |
Happy snaps taken by the Apollo 11 crew in 1969. |
| • Opinion | Boris Johnson Is How Britain Ends: "Boris Johnson, to whom lying comes as easily as breathing ... " This widely read op-ed by British journalist James Butler pulls no punches about the new Prime Minister. |
| • Apollo 11: As They Shot It: This extraordinary visual interactive, which took months to make, is made up of the Apollo 11 astronauts' real dialogue and photographs as they took their first steps on the moon. |
| • The Economic Roots of Hong Kong's Protests: Rents higher than New York or London, for apartments half the size. Nearly 1 in 5 people living in poverty. Hong Kong may be the world's most unequal place to live. |
| • Is Huawei a Security Threat? Vietnam Isn't Taking Any Chances: As the world splits along U.S.-China fault lines, telecom companies in Vietnam appear to be quietly avoiding the Chinese tech giant in their 5G plans. |
| • A Peculiarly Dutch Summer Rite: Children Let Loose in the Night Woods: Have you ever fantasized about leaving your kids in the woods? (I mean, just for a bit). The Dutch actually do it! It's called "dropping." |
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| For more Australia coverage and discussion, start your day with your local Morning Briefing and join us in our NYT Australia Facebook group. |
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