Sydney's early food story is remembered as one of inadequate rations and near starvation following dismal attempts to farm a hostile land - all the while surrounded by an abundance of native resources which had sustained Aboriginal peoples for thousands of years. But colonists' letters and journals offer a much richer and more nuanced picture of food in early settler life. Take a seat at the governor's table to share stories of feasts, famine and foraging from First Fleet diarists and chroniclers.
BIO
Jacqui Newling is a graduate of Le Cordon Bleu Masters in Gastronomy program and specialises in early colonial food ways in Australia. She is continuing post-graduate research in history with the University of Sydney on food in the founding years of New South Wales. As resident gastronomer at Sydney Living Museums, Jacqui curates their ‘Eat your history’ projects, including a series of colonial gastronomy workshops and historic dining events. She co-curated Eat your history: a shared table exhibition at Museum of Sydney (2013-14) and is 'the Cook' in The Cook and the Curator blog, which was short-listed for the 2013 NSW Premier's History Award, Media.
