There have been many full-circle moments in Alice Zaslavsky’s life. Recently, the lauded Melbourne cookbook author was on Play School, where she made zucchini fritters and granola while singing and dancing to her own songs. It’s also the show that helped her first learn English when she moved from Georgia to Australia in the early ’90s.
“The fact that I could film for Play School, knowing that there are other little kids who have just arrived in Australia and are finding their sense of identity, makes me feel really emotional,” Zaslavsky tells Broadsheet. “I remember being that kid, and I’ll never forget being that kid.”
Hosting an event with Rick Stein at the 2016 Gourmet Escape in Margaret River – with just half an hour’s notice, as the scheduled presenter couldn’t make it – is another in a string of serendipitous moments. She used to watch the British celebrity chef (and Nigella Lawson, who she has also shared a stage with many times) on TV with her babushka (grandmother) who was afflicted with dementia at the time.
Like the cooking stars she’s had the privilege to work with, Zaslavsky has carved out her own name in the food media stratosphere over the past 13 years, both at home and internationally. And her resume speaks for itself. The James Beard Award finalist has three global best-selling cookbooks, with In Praise of Veg translated into seven languages in 14 countries. She’s also won an ABIA award in Australia and a Gourmand World Cookbook Award; been a regular on ABC News Breakfast; and writes for several major publications – just to name a few achievements.
But despite the many accolades, Zaslavsky says it’s the people she’s met and now calls her friends – including Yotam Ottolenghi, with whom she keeps up a daily Wordle streak on Whatsapp – that she counts as the true highlights.
People and connection form a common thread through the food expert’s work. It’s her special sauce when writing cookbooks, too. “Cooking should be a conversation, it’s not a monologue,” she says. “When I’m writing introductions or the instructions, I’m always thinking, ‘How can I write this to leave someone with a smile on their face, or make them laugh or surprise them?’ I’m really mindful of curating an experience with every cookbook.”
As a former middle-school teacher, learning is another natural ingredient of Zaslavsky’s books, each packed with plenty of tips, shortcuts, ideas for spin-offs and ways to use leftovers. As for her approach to developing accessible, veg-forward recipes, she follows a simple philosophy: “If I can’t be bothered doing it, then I’m not going to tell someone else to do it”. They’re also sustainability-driven, by instinct. “Growing up in the former Soviet Union, you couldn’t afford to waste anything, so that’s just a natural kind of mindset for me.”
Each cookbook aims to answers a problem identified over time. In Praise of Veg was a textbook for parents to help kids fall in love with vegetables. The Joy of Better Cooking was written to let “people know they don’t need to be a good cook; they can just be a better cook”. Now her freshly published fourth title, Salad for Days, helps unlock the potential of everyday veggies for warmer and cooler days.
More recently, Zaslavsky has been busy developing something like 135 recipes for her new ABC show, A Bite with Alice, airing late October. Each weekly episode will see the cookbook author make a meal with a different guest, from comedians to musicians.
With so much on her proverbial plate, it begs the question: does she ever lose her love for cooking? But the answer is a quick no. “I’ll come home from a 12-hour shoot day of cooking, and I’ll still want to cook dinner.” Her death row meal? Chicken soup with matzo balls – “it’s bae forever”.
This article first appeared in Domain Review, in partnership with Broadsheet.
For some of Zaslavsky’s top salad recipes, head here.
