• Advertise
  • About us
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Contact us
Saturday, July 12, 2025
Australian Times News
  • News
    • Weather
    • Sport
    • Technology
    • Business & Finance
      • Currency Zone
    • Lotto Results
      • The Lott
  • Lifestyle
    • Entertainment
    • Horoscopes
    • Health & Wellness
    • Recipes
  • Travel
  • Expat Life
  • Move to Australia
No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Weather
    • Sport
    • Technology
    • Business & Finance
      • Currency Zone
    • Lotto Results
      • The Lott
  • Lifestyle
    • Entertainment
    • Horoscopes
    • Health & Wellness
    • Recipes
  • Travel
  • Expat Life
  • Move to Australia
No Result
View All Result
Australian Times News
No Result
View All Result
Home Lifestyle

The Aussies helping the Middle East conquer the West

Greg and Lucy Malouf tell Nathan Motton about their new book; why Australia is leading the way with Middle Eastern food and why the cuisine is much more than just kebabs.

Nathan Motton by Nathan Motton
14-12-2011 14:08
in Lifestyle
Greg and Lucy Malouf

Greg and Lucy Malouf
IT’S ironic that my London meeting with Australia’s foremost chef of Middle Eastern food, Greg Malouf, comes just days before he is honoured in his parent’s native Lebanon for his tireless work in taking the cuisine to the world.

“My brother’s coming with me, he’s probably more excited than me,” he tells me enthusiastically. The interview is an interesting and modest insight into a man who has redefined Middle Eastern food in Australia and well and truly brought it to the fore.

Greg’s ex-wife Lucy, who he co-wrote their new book Malouf: New Middle Eastern Food with, is in a unique position when speaking about her former husband. She is now a somewhat unbiased purveyor of Greg’s influence on Australia’s food culture.

“Every restaurant you go into in Australia there will be something on the menu that has a Middle Eastern ingredient. People’s awareness of Middle Eastern food is leaps and bounds ahead of London. A lot of it is to do with Greg, he was the very first person 15 years ago to try and make Westerners realise that Middle Eastern food is not all kebabs and tabbouleh, there is a whole lot more,” Lucy says with a smile.

Greg Malouf set out 15 years ago to introduce his love and passion for Middle Eastern food to Australia. And with his Lebanese background, he would try and eat traditional food day after day. But it was only when he decided to become a chef that he was faced with the challenges of a cuisine steeped in tradition.

“As I got older… I knew that I wanted to put it outside of its comfort zone. Middle Eastern food is (set) in stone, it’s in concrete, it hasn’t budged for that many thousands of years. Hummus is hummus no matter what you do to it. I wanted to give it a little more value, give it more values and (make it) a little more appealing to the western palette,” Greg said.

Greg now works as executive chef of Melbourne’s famous MoMo restaurant. But it’s the new book, the fifth he and Lucy have released, that “best represents what we do”.

AlsoRead...

Source: Pixabay

The Dating Wealth Gap Is Getting Wider: What You Should Know

11 July 2025
Premier-Leagues-Fifth-Champions-League-Janosch-Diggelmann-Unsplash

The Battle for the Premier League’s Fifth Champions League Spot: Who Will Prevail?

8 May 2025

A collection and compendium of some 340 recipes, the book’s layout is as stunning as so many of the recipes. It has been devised into chapters and features 25 new dishes. From golden mussel chowder, to imam bayildi (stuffed eggplant), to little pigeon bisteeya, to rhubarb-rosewater sherbets it’s unashamedly modern and most importantly accessible to the entire spectrum of home-cooks.

Sitting in the Hardie Grant offices in Covent Garden, Greg admits writing his cookbooks have helped him understand the “stories behind each dish”. But just as the books have allowed both Greg and Lucy to expand their love of food to a wider audience, they say, just as importantly have been the years of traveling to the very regions they seek to emulate through their recipes.

“For all the books that you read, all the television shows that you watch and all the googling, there is nothing to replace actually being in the country. Food is a universal language,” Lucy tells me with vigour.

Their first book Saha, was published in 1999 and the pair admit putting together their latest offering has been a rewarding experience.

“We spent quite a bit of time going back through the books and saying which recipes do we want? It’s like anything in life – as you move on you tend to forget what you’ve done and you move on to the next project. It was very gratifying to go back and look at what we did 12 years ago, and not feel, ‘oh gosh those dishes are so dated what were we thinking’,” Lucy laughs.

It seems the Middle East may just yet conquer the West and in culinary terms, Australia is at the forefront. All thanks to a softly speaking pair of food lovers from Melbourne. Shookran Maloufs!

Malouf: New Middle Eastern Food is available now via Hardie Grant.

Tags: Arts and LiteratureAustralian cultureculture
DMCA.com Protection Status

SUBSCRIBE to our NEWSLETTER

[mc4wp_form id=”2384248″]

Don't Miss

The Dating Wealth Gap Is Getting Wider: What You Should Know

by Fazila Olla-Logday
11 July 2025
Source: Pixabay
Lifestyle

The divide between wealth and romance is growing. As income inequality widens, financial status is playing a bigger role in...

Read more

The Broker who says ‘Yes’ when Banks say NO

by Pauline Torongo
8 July 2025
The Broker who says ‘Yes’ when Banks say NO
Business & Finance

When faced with constant loan rejection or last-minute withdrawals of support, Trelos Finance stands out as a solution.

Read more

Common Mistakes When Buying a Telescope — And How to Avoid Them

by Fazila Olla-Logday
1 July 2025
Common Mistakes When Buying a Telescope
Technology

You’ve spent hours scrolling through telescope specs online, dazzled by features and grand promises. The excitement builds—until your newly arrived...

Read more

From Portugal to Bali: Where Aussies Should Go for Your Next Coastal Holiday

by Fazila Olla-Logday
20 June 2025
Source: Flickr
Travel

Aussies, here is a guide to where you should go for your next coastal holiday.

Read more

Leading with Trust: Why Quality still wins in the AI Era

by Pauline Torongo
5 June 2025
Leading with Trust: Why Quality still wins in the AI Era
Business & Finance

If you're leading a software team today, you've likely noticed the shift: faster feature rollouts, routine automation, and AI taking...

Read more

How to Save on Airport Parking: Budget Tips Every Traveller Should Know

by Fazila Olla-Logday
3 June 2025
How to Save on Airport Parking
Travel

Saving money on airport parking can be a challenge,but here are some budget friendly tips to help you navigate.

Read more

Why Australian Investors are Betting on the Aviation Maverick Louis Belanger-Martin

by Pauline Torongo
28 May 2025
Why Australian Investors are Betting on the Aviation Maverick Louis Belanger-Martin
Business & Finance

Bélanger-Martin’s ambitions stretch beyond redefining inflight comfort—they’re rooted in resurrecting the romance of supersonic travel with a modern twist.

Read more
Load More

Copyright © Blue Sky Publications Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
australiantimes.co.uk is a division of Blue Sky Publications Ltd. Reproduction without permission prohibited. DMCA.com Protection Status

  • About us
  • Write for Us
  • Advertise
  • Contact us
  • T&Cs, Privacy and GDPR
No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Weather
    • Sport
    • Technology
    • Business & Finance
      • Currency Zone
    • Lotto Results
      • The Lott
  • Lifestyle
    • Entertainment
    • Horoscopes
    • Health & Wellness
    • Recipes
  • Travel
  • Expat Life
  • Move to Australia

Copyright © Blue Sky Publications Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
australiantimes.co.uk is a division of Blue Sky Publications Ltd. Reproduction without permission prohibited. DMCA.com Protection Status