Pioneer chef dies
Joan Campbell, the influential chef and food editor, has died in a Sydney nursing home aged 96. As food editor of all three Australian Vogue titles, she more than anyone else defined the look of modern Australian food on the plate. Campbell was influential in putting Australian food on the world map. Working with Vogue’s photographers, she brought an entirely new sensibility to food photography. It revolutionised the way food was depicted: instead of contrived studio photography, her dishes emphasised fresh ingredients, minimally garnished, apparently shot in natural light. Through her work for Vogue Entertaining, Campbell drew international acknowledgment that what was happening in Australia was at the forefront of world food trends. It is all the more extraordinary that her career in food began when she was in her fifties. Moving to Sydney in the early 1960s, she took up cooking classes and began catering to the social set, including the Packer family. She came to the attention of Ita Buttrose, who recruited her as food editor of Cleo. Then followed a stint writing restaurant reviews for The Sunday Telegraph in 1978. The Australian, July 18.
