
- New book
Eat your history: the book
Sydney Living Museums and our resident gastronomer, Jacqui Newling, have published Eat your history: stories and recipes from Australian kitchens, a beautifully curated book to read and cook from.
Visually rich, and featuring over forty recipes and myriad stories, the book shares forgotten tastes, lost techniques, and delicious culinary treasures discovered through historic kitchens, collection items, cookbooks, menus and manuscripts, and the histories of Sydney Living Museums’ cherished houses and heritage places.
“There is a popular belief that Australia lacks a food culture or an identifiable national cuisine. Yet our history is replete with food stories, and our food and the way we eat are products of our past. What we eat and the tastes we accept are dictated by environmental and cultural – and therefore historical, political, economic and social – factors; it has been this way throughout history,” says Jacqui in her introduction to Eat Your history.
My role as curator and resident gastronomer at Sydney Living Museums has allowed me to explore our food heritage and to share some of the stories and recipes of those who helped to create our history. Gone are the days when history was dictated and dominated by wealthy white men. Influential characters such as John Macarthur and William Charles Wentworth have their places in this book, but so do their wives, their servants and their homes.
“ Jacqui picks through the chipped and broken crockery and fine silverware found in the kitchens and dining rooms of the houses that are cared for by Sydney Living Museums to tell the story of how we, as a nation, have eaten” says Barbara Sweeney, Sydneysider and food writer.
“[Jacqui] has brought a slice of history alive and her book promises many happy and engaged hours of reading. That you can read it as well as bake from it is a happy prospect .”
Eat your history is available online and in our museum shops for $49.99 (RRP)
[Jacqui] has brought a slice of history alive and her book promises many happy and engaged hours of reading. That you can read it as well as bake from it is a happy prospect.
Barbara Sweeney, Sydneysider and food writer
A fine piece of work – and intellectually nourishing
Radio National’s Phillip Adams on Late Night Live











'Mortar and middens', pp 34-35
'Mortar and middens', pp 34-35 in Eat your history: stories and recipes from Australian kitchens.

Kangaroo Steamer recipe, pp 60-61
Kangaroo Steamer recipe, pp 60-61 in Eat your history: stories and recipes from Australian kitchens.

'From gardens & fields', pp 67-68
'From gardens & fields', pp 67-68 in Eat your history: stories and recipes from Australian kitchens.

'Peachy keen', pp 80-81
'Peachy keen', pp 80-81 in Eat your history: stories and recipes from Australian kitchens.

Mrs Beeton's Christmas plum pudding recipe, pp 90-91
Mrs Beeton's Christmas plum pudding recipe, pp 90-91 in Eat your history: stories and recipes from Australian kitchens.

'The nineteenth century batterie de cuisine', pp 144-145
'The nineteenth century batterie de cuisine', pp144-145 in Eat your history: stories and recipes from Australian kitchens.

'Everlasting' Syllabub recipe, pp 162-163
'Everlasting' Syllabub recipe, pp 162-163 in Eat your history: stories and recipes from Australian kitchens.

Regency cheescakes recipe, pp 164-165
Regency cheesecakes recipe, pp 164-165 in Eat your history: stories and recipes from Australian kitchens.

'Not so sweet, not so pretty', pp 180-181
'Not so sweet, not so pretty', pp 180-181 in Eat your history: stories and recipes from Australian kitchens.

Shortbread biscuits recipe, pp 240-41
Kou-ra-piedes - Mrs Sarantides's shortbread biscuits recipe, pp240-241 in Eat your history: stories and recipes from Australian kitchens.
Online shop
Regency cheesecakesThursday 28 April 2016
Online shop
Mrs Sarantides’s shortbread biscuitsThursday 21 April 2016
Online shop
Meroogal spongeThursday 14 April 2016
Meroogal
‘Go women!’ Meroogal Women’s Art Prize 2020Wednesday 9 December 2020
Celebrating women’s lives, creativity and stories in the ‘women’s house’ of Meroogal, this year’s prize received a rich and diverse range of entries.
Vaucluse House
Conservation in action: The turret stone has arrived! Wednesday 2 December 2020
We were very excited to receive the beautiful new replacement stone for the turrets at Vaucluse House this week.
Donations
Support the Hyde Park Barracks learning precinctThursday 26 November 2020
With your help, Sydney Living Museums has an incredible opportunity to develop a dynamic learning precinct at the Hyde Park Barracks.