Stephanie Alexander Founder, Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation

Stephanie Alexander is one of Australia’s foremost food writers.  She is the best-selling author of twelve books, with The Cook’s Companion an Australian classic, having sold more than 400,000 copies.  The revised and expanded edition was released in October 2004.Her latest book The Kitchen Garden Companion will be published in September of this year. For 21 years her restaurant Stephanie’s, was regarded as an essential Melbourne experience. She conceived the ground-breaking café, fine cheese and food store Richmond Hill Cafe and Larder and was a founding partner for eight years. Through her writing and teaching, Stephanie continues to be an outspoken champion of the quality of Australian produce and the importance of good food in our lives.  She was awarded an Order of Australia in 1994 for her services to the hospitality industry and to tourism, and for encouraging young apprentices. Stephanie has long been concerned that despite the surface interest in “fancy food” and restaurants, we are raising children and young adults with little understanding of what to do with fresh food in their daily lives. She believes that the earlier children learn about food through example and positive experience, the better their food choices will be throughout life. Her interest in pleasurable food education led Stephanie to develop the innovative Kitchen Garden Program which was piloted at Collingwood College in Melbourne in 2001.  This hands-on Program teaches primary school children how to grow, harvest, prepare and share fresh, seasonal food in weekly classes at primary school.  From one pilot program in 2001 the movement has now grown to 93 projects Australia-wide and is planned to grow to over 200 in 2012. Today, through the not-for-profit Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation she founded in 2004, Stephanie is increasingly involved in supporting existing Kitchen gardens in schools and in working to expand the Kitchen Garden Program to many more Australian schools.