The Cook and the Curator blog invites you to discover our food heritage at Sydney Living Museums. You will enter our homes, raid our pantries, fire up our stoves, cook in our kitchens, try out our recipes and dine at our tables.

Do you feel far removed from the days when oyster loaf and syllabub were all the rage? Well, you might be surprised to learn that, every day, we eat our history. While some foods, recipes and techniques may have changed or even disappeared, others have barely altered over centuries.

SLM’s Gastronomer, Jacqui Newling (the Cook), and HHT Curator, Meroogal & Western Sydney Portfolio, Scott Hill (the Curator) both believe there’s no better way to explore our past than through food.

Each month The Cook and the Curator will explore one of SLM’s extraordinary properties, introducing you to its past residents and looking at what, where and how they ate. Together we will comb through old cookery books, decipher handwritten recipes, experiment with heirloom produce, rediscover lost culinary arts and reveal family stories. We will also show you how to blend exotic spices, whip up apple snow, make gelatine from calves’ feet (if you dare!) and lay the perfect Regency table. 

We invite you to Eat Your History with us.