Top Food Journalists in Australia (2025)

Christine Manfield is a culinary storyteller for Gourmet Traveller, focusing on sustainable practices and global flavors. Based in Australia’s Tweed region, her work bridges hyper-local produce and international cuisine.

Pitching Insights

• Focus Areas:
  • Sustainable Proteins: Advocates for underutilized meats like dairy capretto.
  • Spice Innovation: Collaborates with brands highlighting single-origin spices.
• Avoid: Mainstream celebrity chefs or processed food trends.

“Flavor is a journey—every ingredient has a story.”

With nine cookbooks and a 2024 Savour The Tweed curatorship, Manfield remains a pivotal voice in Australia’s culinary evolution.

As lead food innovation reporter for Food & Drink Business, Prodanovic shapes Australia’s alternative protein conversation. Her work centers on:

• Sustainable production: Fermentation tech, lipid engineering, supply chain solutions
• Commercial viability: Scaling challenges, consumer acceptance metrics
• Policy intersections: Food security, climate-smart manufacturing

Pitching Priorities

• Novel fermentation applications beyond meat alternatives
• Asia-Pacific focused sustainability case studies
• Cross-industry technology transfers (e.g., cosmetics to food)

“The future of food lies in marrying deep scientific understanding with market realities.”

As a senior reporter for Good Food, Emma Breheny documents Australia’s evolving relationship with local produce and culinary talent. Her work spans:

• Chef Career Transitions: Tracking moves from urban restaurants to regional food hubs
• Community Food Initiatives: Profiling businesses addressing food insecurity
• Seasonal Supply Chains: Analyzing farm-to-table logistics

Pitching Preferences

• ✅ Grassroots culinary innovations
• ✅ Data-rich food economy stories
• ❌ Celebrity chef publicity pieces

Recent accolades include the 2024 Taste Australia Award for her groundbreaking series on bushfood commercialization. Her reporting directly influenced NSW agricultural policy changes in 2023.

Fiona Donnelly specializes in upscale dining trends and sustainable hospitality practices for Gourmet Traveller. Her work focuses on:

• Culinary Innovation: Profiles chefs blending traditional techniques with modern sustainability practices
• Venue Design: Analyzes how restaurant spaces enhance dining experiences

Avoid pitches regarding fast-casual concepts or agricultural policy. Recent accolades include shortlisting for the 2023 Savour Australia Media Award.

As Deputy Food Editor at The Australian Women's Weekly Food, Fran Abdallaoui has shaped Australian home cooking through:

• Triple-Tested Recipes: 24-year track record of fail-safe dishes supporting the publication's "No Food Fails" guarantee
• Cultural Cuisine Bridges: Specializes in adapting Mediterranean and North African flavors for Australian kitchens
• Appliance Journalism: Leading reviewer of slow cookers and multi-function devices since 2016

Pitching Priorities

• Do Pitch: Budget meal kits, cultural fusion desserts, appliance-specific baking techniques
• Avoid: Fine dining trends, molecular gastronomy kits, single-use kitchen gadgets

"Our readers want beautiful results without chef-level skills – that's where our testing makes the difference."

As lead food journalist for Foodservice Australia, Waters shapes national conversations about sustainable dining practices and culinary innovation. Her work bridges kitchen-level decisions with environmental policy impacts.

Key Coverage Areas

• Sustainable Supply Chains: Tracks waste reduction from farm to plate
• Culinary Technology: Analyzes automation’s role in food quality
• Coastal Ecosystems: Reports on marine food sources’ climate resilience

Pitching Preferences

• Do: Lead with verified metrics from peer-reviewed studies
• Don’t: Pitch celebrity chef profiles without team context
• Unique Angle: Highlight Indigenous food knowledge partnerships

Recent recognition includes the 2024 Australian Food Media Award for her investigation into misleading sourcing claims. Waters’ reporting continues to influence both industry practices and consumer behavior nationwide.

John Newton is a freelance journalist and author specializing in food, environmental history, and sustainability. Based in Australia, his work for outlets like The Sydney Morning Herald and his award-winning books explore Indigenous food systems, marine conservation, and the cultural roots of agriculture.

Current Focus

• Indigenous Food Sovereignty: Newton collaborates with First Nations communities to document traditional practices, as seen in his book The Oldest Foods on Earth.
• Historical Environmentalism: His articles often trace how past industries, like whaling, shape current conservation efforts.

Avoid

• Culinary Tourism: Prefers grassroots food movements over luxury travel or dining trends.

Contact

For pitches, emphasize data-driven stories with historical context. His profile and recent work can be explored on his blog.

As Australia's foremost culinary documentarian, Kate Gibbs brings historical depth and geographic specificity to food journalism. Her work at delicious. magazine and The Sydney Morning Herald explores how landscapes shape diets, with particular focus on:

• Intergenerational knowledge transfer: Tracking cooking techniques across decades
• Microregional food systems: Mapping hyperlocal ingredient networks
• Culinary adaptation: Documenting immigrant food communities

Pitching Priorities

• Seek: Stories connecting agricultural practices to plate, heritage preservation projects, sustainable regional tourism models
• Avoid: Celebrity chef profiles, restaurant launches, processed food trends

Career Highlights

• 2024 Walkley Award for Food Journalism
• 3 cookbooks bridging memoir and recipe writing
• Digital archivist for National Library's culinary collections

Recent impactful work includes Recipe for Success, examining Australia's culinary identity through four generations of cooks. For PR teams, emphasize stories with historical context, regional specificity, and verifiable environmental impact.

As Australia’s pre-eminent food manufacturing journalist, Kim Berry illuminates the complex systems behind everyday sustenance. Her work at Food & Drink Business combines rigorous business analysis with technological foresight, particularly through:

• Weekly video analyses of industry trends
• Annual Top 100 Companies rankings
• Deep dives into sustainable production methods

Pitching Priorities

• Technical Innovations: Focus on measurable efficiency gains in processing/packaging
• Workforce Development: Stories about upskilling programs with verified retention metrics
• Circular Economy Solutions: Closed-loop systems with third-party verified impact

“The most compelling stories live where engineering meets entrepreneurship—those are the narratives that drive real sectoral change.”

With a quarter-century shaping Australian home cooking trends, Kim Coverdale specializes in creating recipes that solve real kitchen challenges. Her work at Taste.com.au and Delicious.com.au focuses on three pillars: time efficiency, budget consciousness, and family nutrition.

Pitching Priorities

• Modular Meal Systems Prefers ingredients that work across multiple dishes (e.g., roast chicken used in salads, soups, and wraps)
• Climate-Adaptive Cooking Seeks recipes maintaining quality in heat/humidity - perfect for outdoor events

Avoid

• Single-use kitchen gadgets
• Meals requiring simultaneous stove/oven use

"Great home cooking isn't about perfection - it's about making ingredients work harder so families can breathe easier."

As Beverage Director for Trader House Restaurants and a Halliday Wine Companion contributor, Leanne Altmann merges sommelier precision with editorial clarity. Her work illuminates Australia’s wine identity through three lenses:

Coverage Focus

• Regional Innovation: Profiles emerging wine regions like Tasmania’s coal River Valley.
• Cultural Context: Explores wine’s role in rituals, from Milanese aperitivo to Victorian cellar doors.

Achievements

• 2019 Sommelier of the Year (Gourmet Traveller)
• Advanced Sommelier Certification (Court of Master Sommeliers)

Pitching Preferences

• Do: Highlight sustainable viticulture or cross-industry collaborations.
• Avoid: Press releases lacking historical context or sensory detail.

Lee Tran Lam is an award-winning Australian food journalist and podcast host specializing in culinary heritage, sustainability, and diaspora narratives. Currently contributing to SBS Food and The Guardian, her work dissects how migration policies and environmental crises shape what we eat.

Pitching Insights

• Seek: Stories linking food to cultural preservation (e.g., family-run shops using ancestral techniques)
• Avoid: Product launches or chef scandals unless tied to systemic industry issues

Career Highlights

• Founded Diversity in Food Media, mentoring 150+ writers from marginalized communities
• Host of SBS’s Should You Really Eat That?, downloaded 2M+ times globally

As Broadsheet's Australia Editor, Nick Connellan documents the intersection of hospitality, design, and regional identity. His decade-long tenure has seen him evolve from venue cataloguer to leading the publication's national editorial strategy.

Key Coverage Areas

• Emerging Food Ecosystems: Tracks micro-trends in beverage culture and sustainable dining
• Design-Driven Hospitality: Analyzes how physical spaces shape culinary experiences
• Cultural Preservation: Chronicles endangered venues and culinary traditions

Pitching Insights

Connellan prioritizes stories that:

• Reveal unexpected connections between food and urban development
• Showcase innovation in regional Australia
• Incorporate verifiable data on industry trends

Career Highlights

• Launched Broadsheet's first podcast and print editions
• Edited award-winning culinary books
• Recognized by Australian Food Media Awards and Melbourne Design Awards

Sally Coates combines policy expertise with gastronomic passion as a senior journalist at The Daily Telegraph. Her work spans:

Core Coverage Areas

• Food Systems: Tracking labor practices and sustainability metrics across Australia’s hospitality sector
• Celebrity Culture: Profiling chefs and restaurateurs with emphasis on social impact initiatives

Pitching Preferences

• Data-Driven Stories: Prefers pitches with verifiable statistics (e.g., “70% of Sydney cafes now use compostable packaging”)
• Human-Centered Angles: Seeks narratives about industry workers, not just owners or celebrities

“The best stories sit at the intersection of policy and plate.” – Coates in 2024 interview

Silvia Colloca is an Italian Australian culinary storyteller, opera singer, and television personality. Based in Sydney, she champions accessible, family-oriented Italian cooking through her blog Silvia’s Cucina, cookbooks, and SBS Food programming. Her work emphasizes:

• Authenticity Over Trends: Recipes rooted in cucina povera (peasant cooking) traditions, avoiding processed ingredients.
• Cultural Preservation: Connecting dishes to regional histories, migration stories, and intergenerational knowledge.
• Inclusivity: Vegan and gluten-free adaptations of classics, as seen in her eggless shortbread and aquafaba-based desserts.

Pitching Insights

• Do: Highlight undiscovered Italian regions, sustainable food practices, or kitchen rituals that foster family bonds.
• Don’t: Pitch restaurant reviews, luxury dining trends, or topics divorced from cultural narrative.

Colloca’s accolades include a Logie nomination, ARIA chart-topping music, and cookbooks translated into five languages. For collaborations, focus on stories that marry food with heritage, music, or everyday joy.

Terry Durack is Australia’s preeminent restaurant critic, currently shaping culinary discourse through his work for the Sydney Morning Herald and Substack newsletter. With over two decades of experience across London and Sydney, he specializes in:

• Chef profiles examining how personal narratives influence menu design
• Trend analysis of Australia’s evolving dining culture
• Critiques that contextualize meals within broader social movements

Avoid pitches about chain restaurants or food delivery apps—Durack focuses on establishments pushing creative boundaries. His work has been honored by the World Food Media Awards and Glenfiddich Awards, reflecting his global impact on gastronomic journalism.