Pull up a seat!

I first joined the HHT as a guide at Elizabeth Bay House and Vaucluse House – once home to rival colonial families – which between them boast sprawling cellars, a rare surviving colonial kitchen and service rooms. A decade later, I’m the Curator for Meroogal, Elizabeth Farm and Rouse Hill House & Farm, three remarkable properties with their own distinct stories and collections.
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I’m a gastronomer. My computer spellchecker tells me this is not a word (the Macquarie Dictionary, however, does!) – but as a philosopher takes their title from the pursuit of philosophy, I believe gastronomer follows the same logic from gastronomy.  By my family’s reckoning, however, I’m a gastronaut. I explore the world of food with an inquiring mind and a deep curiosity – not simply about the food itself, but about why it is a food. How did that item become acceptable as a food and how did it arrive at our tables? In fact, to me, gastronomy is about people – what people do to and with food to make it a part of their lives.
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