BEVERLEY SUTHERLAND SMITH

Beverley Sutherland Smith has been involved in many aspects of the food industry in Australia for sixty years and is one of Australia’s most respected food writers. An enthusiastic and passionate cook from the moment she put a pan on the stove Beverley’s hobby of cooking and love of food quickly turned into a business – The Beverley Sutherland Smith Cooking School began in the days when cooking schools were a rarity and was originally run from her home in  Mount Waverley, Victoria.

Her husband’s family built and owned All Saints Winery, Rutherglen where the family lived until its sale to Brown Brothers.  Beverley has gained a vast knowledge of wine and with her late husband Ian and ran Wine Tasting evenings linked into the menu choices.

BOOKS

“A Taste of Seasons”; “A Taste of Class”; “A Taste in Time” – the latter one a “Gold Book Award Winner”; “A Taste of Summer”; “A Taste of Independence”; “The Best of Beverley; Bread and Beyond”; “Gourmet Gifts”; “Chocolate and Petit Fours”; “The Complete Beverley Sutherland Smith Cookbook”; “The Beverley Sutherland Smith Collection”; “Delicious Desserts”; “Oriental Cookbook”; “Simple Cuisine”; “Vegetables”; “Celebrating Chocolate” and “Decadent Desserts” have all been best sellers on the Australian market.  

Several of the above titles sold internationally in England and the United States with translations into Italian and Japanese.  

The last hardback book, “The Seasonal Kitchen“ presented not only food but information on Beverley’s complimentary business “An Edible Garden” which was opened to the public.  

Beverley held tours of the Edible Garden combined with tips on how to grow unusual edibles, followed by tour groups dining on meals created from its produce. 

The Edible Garden continued for approximately 20 years until Christmas 2015, when the property was sold. 

 

A series of soft-back books followed and covered a wide range of subjects and commenced with “Pasta and Risotto”; “Fingerfood and Antipasto”; “Muffins and Cakes”; “Thai and Malay”; “Salads and Barbecues”; “Chicken” and lastly “Festive Feasts”.

COOKING SCHOOL

Beverley opened the Beverley Sutherland Smith Cooking School in 1963 one of the first cooking schools in Melbourne.  

Beverley has attended and taught in cooking schools in Venice at the Gritti Palace and the Cipriani Hotel; Villa d’Este in Lake Como; La Varenne in Paris; Cordon Bleu in Paris; Cordon Bleu in London; Julie Dannenbaum in Philadelphia; the late James Beard in New York who became a good friend; with the late Julia Child in the United States; the late Simone Beck in Provence; Jacques Pepin in the United States; Michael Geurard in Eugenie les Bain in France and San Francisco; Madur Jaffrey in San Francisco; Anton Mossiman in London, and many more.    She was a close friend of the late Danny Kaye and cooked dinners with him at his home in Los Angeles for friends.

GARDEN

Beverley’s passion for fresh produce to use in her Cooking School, was the catalyst that saw her design and create the Edible Garden as a “potager garden” which was open to the public or to special groups.  The garden was largely devoted to edible flowers; herbs, heritage and unusual vegetables mingling with cottage plants and roses. 

 

The Edible Garden became part of the Australian Garden Scheme and on Open Day weekends throughout the year, approximately a thousand people visited.    This continued for approximately 20 years until 16 October 2015, when the property was sold. 

Beverley became a keynote speaker at many luncheons and dinners, her topic relating to her food background and the concept of the Edible Garden and joined Joan Sexton’s stable of guest speakers.

For 2 years, the garden was featured monthly in the “Herald Sun” with a story on planting and using seasonal food, which led to the idea of her book, “The Seasonal Kitchen”.

CATERING

Apart from creating menus for large companies for their special functions, many Wine and Food Societies used her Edible Garden and Cooking School to hold their dinners with an emphasis on wine and food matching.  Beverley catered and hosted at her Cooking School, Team Building Events for the corporate world based around the creation and preparation of the Team created menus.  

MAGAZINES / NEWSPAPERS

• Beverley began writing for the first issues of Gourmet Magazine, now “Gourmet Traveller”.  

• She later became a feature writer for “Epicurean Magazine” and for “Wine News”.  

• In 1977 Beverley began a regular weekly column in “The Age” which ran until 1996.  

  She was also a part of the restaurant critics team at this time.

• She was food writer for “Enjoy” Magazine and, for 5 years 

• “Weekly Times” Food writer

• For several years, Beverley developed lift out cooking mini-supplements for “New Idea Magazine”.

• Beverley had a weekly column in the new “Food and Drink” supplement in the “Herald Sun”, Australia’s largest circulating daily newspaper with a daily readership of 1.5 million.  

• For 5 years Beverley wrote a weekly half page in the “Brisbane News” magazine and, in a survey conducted at the time it was voted in the top three most popular regular features.  

• She was Food Writer with BYO Magazine, a glossy magazine focussing on wine and food matching which was distributed throughout Australia and New Zealand.  

• She was Food Writer for “Beyond 50” Magazine for 5 years. 

TRAVEL

Beverley has travelled extensively through the years to keep abreast of food and wine trends and has written and lectured on her travels.  She has met many famous people in the food world and eaten in the most interesting and well known restaurants of the world.  

Beverley has taken Gourmet Tours to different countries throughout the world such as France, Italy, United States, London, Scandinavia, Russia, Ireland, Portugal and Turkey, to visit restaurants imparting knowledge of food and countries throughout the tour.  Beverley used these tours to increase her knowledge of food and current food trends.  She visited Sicily; Lake Como, Venice and Florence travelling to some of the villages, tasting local foods both from markets and little family run restaurants.  Chefs give her recipes from their kitchens which are used in newspaper and magazine articles and in the Cooking School.  

The Gourmet Food Tours also concentrate on gardens, and where possible, ceramics which are a feature of each country, especially Italy.

Beverley was made Honorary Ambassador of the famous Villa d’Este in Lake Como for her work in promoting Italian cuisine with a champagne based drink created in her honour and named the “Beverley d’Este”.

RADIO / TV

For two years, Beverley was on ABC talk-back radio with a 30 minute educational food segment.  She is frequently requested to speak on various radio shows throughout the year to educate listeners on cooking and edible gardens.

Beverley frequently appeared on the Bert Newton Show with a cooking segment.

RESTAURANT CRITIQUE

• About 20 years ago Beverley wrote the first non-commercial restaurant guide of Australia, travelling around all the major cities from Tasmania to Darwin for months to source the required information. 

• She was for many years was a contributor for the Age Good Food Guide.  

• She also wrote the first Melbourne Dining Guide for the International Fodor’s Guide to the South Pacific.  

• Beverley participated each year as one of the cooks at the Hilton Hotel Critics Choice Dinner, a charity evening raising money for the homeless.  Food critics each cooked a course, served to restaurant owners and chef who in turn could critique the dishes.

AWARDS AND MEMBERSHIPS 

•  In 1996, Beverley was inducted as a “Legend” by the Melbourne Food and Wine   Festival. 

    • Beverley was a Foundation Member of The International  Wine and Food   Society (Ladies Branch). 

    • Bailli Regional of the of the Le Chaine des Rotisseurs, the first in the world to be affiliated with London, Victorian Chapter until retirement in 2015.  The Association also ran bi-annual competitions for chefs throughout Australia.  It attracted top chefs, vying for the prestige of Australian Winner, chosen by an elite group of chefs.  The winning chef was promoted, encouraged and supported by Le Chaine des Rotisseurs, Victorian members.  Beverley still supports the past winning chefs.

• The International  Association of Culinary Professionals – Member since its early conception.

• Council for Australian Opera (Victoria) – formerly on Council

• Variety Club Member

• Zonta Club of Waverley – Fundraiser  

• Melbourne Zoo Ambassador -  together with a number of television personalities such as Jennifer Keyte and Peter Hitchener.  

• Received“Good Life” Award from Ross Campbell, 3AW 

• Awarded the “Andre Simon Bronze Medal” by the International Wine and Food Society for her contribution to the Society.  

• Beverley was made Honorary Ambassador of the famous Villa d’Este in Lake Como for her work in promoting Italian cuisine with a champagne based drink created in her honour and named the “Beverley d’Este”.

CONSULTANCY

A large percentage of Beverley’s work has been consultancy based – working for companies such as the Décor Corporation; Bertolli; Reader’s Digest and in a creative capacity developing recipes for magazines.  Each Monday for 18 months, Beverley worked on a hotline for Bertolli providing a recipe service for their Australian customers in all states.

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

A spokesperson for Australia in the fight against Food Irradiation - the process to treat some fresh foods in Australia with Cobalt 60.  Beverley lobbied to prevent its introduction, travelling throughout Australia speaking against the process for several years.  The campaign was successful and resulted in the Government appointing a House of Representatives Standing Committee which recommended to the Government there be a moratorium.

HOBBIES

Beverley’s hobbies include painting and, she creates designs on ceramic plates; jugs; platters; cups, etc which are sold privately.  They have often been used to raise funds for charity through auction at Christies and Southeby’s.  These plates often feature in her cookbooks as they are designed especially for different foods.

Beverley taught cooking to Dame Phyllis Frost Prison inmates at Deer Park and also taught young girls considered at risk and in a waywood house how to create basic meals for their future life.