WHO: AMANDA NIEHAUS
WHAT: ECOLOGIST, PHOTOGRAPHER & WRITER

FFF LOVES…  well, we just love Amanda. Strong, passionate and gorgeous, she is our No 1 Organic-FFF!

What are your staples?
I like experimenting with different flavours, but my basics are: extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil, flour (every kind you can imagine!), sea salt, cumin, lime, Barambah Organics milk, veggies and herbs from the garden, coconut milk, beans (of all sorts), passata and butter. Real, organic butter.

What are your indulgences?
I wish I could say I didn’t indulge every day … but life’s short, right? I love homemade mayo, sour cream, coffee, Green & Blacks chocolate, red wine, and Ivyhome Dairy organic ‘mud cream’ (FFF notes: Mud cream is cream so thick, it’s just one step away from butter!).

What can’t you live without?
Robbie. Wait, you mean food? Then, dairy. Specifically, sour cream. And I discovered in eastern Europe this year that there are whole cultures based around sour cream. Love it.

What is past its use-by-date?
I just found two wilty kale leaves this morning … poor little guys. Actually, I’m pretty good at using things up – I hate wasting food. A lot of my recipes use up those sad, lonely little ingredients.

What is your pantry craving?
Space. We live in a townhouse so I look at all those spacious country kitchens in magazines and drool. Sometimes I wonder … do we actually need a second bedroom? Nelle could sleep in a pantry, couldn’t she?

About Amanda (in her own words):
I’m an American ex-pat, living in Brisbane with my two favourite people in the world – Robbie (my partner) and Nelle (our 3 year old). And a really cute Jack Russell. And now, a garden. And I suppose you could say I live with my laptop, too – I’m on it so much.

After having breast cancer at age 32, I decided to eliminate as many chemical contaminants in my family’s life as possible – you know, the pesticides and herbicides and BPAs and funny unpronounceables … and Easy Peasy Organic was born.

My philosophy is that having a healthy, sustainable lifestyle can be easy, cheap, and practical. So my recipes are based around stuff you’re likely to have in your pantry (or, ahem, should have), and things you can create with a 3 year old pulling on your skirt.

My background is actually in ecology (I even have a PhD!), but cancer and motherhood have taken me down another path. Now I write about food, and living, and even science. I take lots of photos and spend a lot of time with my friends … and of course, my two favourite people.

WHO: LUKE MANGAN
WHAT: AUSTRALIAN CHEF AND RESTAURANTEUR
WHERE: SYDNEY, AUS
VISIT:

FFF LOVES… Luke’s new book The Making Of A Chef, a fascinating account of Lukes career and life as one of Australia’s most popular and internationally renowned chefs.

What are your staples?
Green tea, olive oil, sea salt, ginger, garlic and wasabi.

What are your indulgences?
Expensive wine — French Montrachet is a favourite. Great Australian cheese and Haigh’s chocolate.

What can’t you live without?
My Volvo and my Blackberry — I’d die without it.

What is past its use-by-date?
My wardrobe! Could do with a good shopping expedition…

What is your pantry craving?
At the moment some basic ingredients. I tend to shop as I need it. I also have a love for Wagon Wheels and ran out last week!

About Luke Mangan:
Luke Mangan is a multi-award winning and internationally recognised Australian chef and restaurateur, media personality and an active participant in food and industry events both within Australia and internationally. Luke’s career began at  15 under the tutelage of the great Herman Schneider at the famed Two Faces restaurant in Melbourne. After completing his apprenticeship, Luke moved to London to work under the guidance of the chef and owner of The Waterside Inn, a three star Michelin restaurant in Berkshire, England. It was here that his love affair with top quality produce and cuisine as well as a distinct soft spot for French classics began. Luke has owned and operated a number of award winning restaurants and bars. His current portfolio of restaurants includes Glass Brasserie at the Hilton Sydney, Salt Tokyo in Japan, and South Food + Wine in San Francisco, with more planned in the near future. Luke is also a consultant for Virgin Group, a role secured after Virgin’s owner Richard Branson invited him to be a celebrity guest chef on his private island. In 2004, Luke was invited by the Australian Embassy in Copenhagen to showcase a number of Australian menus during the week of the royal wedding of Crown Prince Frederik and Mary Donaldson. More recently he was invited by the Red Cross and Danish Embassy to cook for the royal couple at several events on their Royal Australian Tour in March 2007. Appearing on a number of food programs both in Australia and overseas, Luke is Channel Nine’s Today Show chef and has featured on NBC’s Today Show many times. Recently Luke filmed his first TV program in Asia, Appetising Adventures with Luke Mangan, which recently aired in the US and Australia. Luke is the author of three cookbooks, including BLD, co-authored by Sydney Morning Herald journalist Lisa Hudson, Luke Mangan Food, and more recently Luke Mangan Classics. He has also worked as a food editor, penning popular columns in the Good Living section of The Sydney Morning Herald and Epicure in The Age in Melbourne.

WHO: NATASHA LESTER
WHAT: AUTHOR - What is Left Over, After
WHERE: PERTH
VISIT: www.natashalester.com.au

FFF loves… this gorgeously written first novel. A must-read for all women.

What are your staples?
Every herbal tea you can imagine, tins of tomatoes and tins of tuna, dried fruit, pizza flour for homemade pizzas and baker’s flour for homemade bread, Vegemite and Bellamy’s organic apple snacks, rice cakes and porridge for the kids

What are your indulgences?
I love to drink tea — so delicious and exotic teas are a favourite indulgence.

What can’t you live without?
Books! In the case of my pantry, it’s recipe books. I have far too many of them especially considering that, being so busy at the moment, I basically have only a dozen or so recipes on high rotation. Of course, being creative, I just change the vegetable, give the dish a different name and no one in my family is any the wiser!

What is past its use-by-date?
Funny you should ask. I’ve just cleaned out my spice rack which contained jars of spice that had a use-by date of at least 5 years ago. Must remember not to buy a large jar of turmeric ever again.

What is your pantry craving?
My pantry is craving our move into our newly built house which has, not just a pantry, but a boudoir for food. Spacious, clean, comfortable, well-lit — in fact I might move myself in there instead of the food!

About Natasha Lester:
A few years ago Natasha Lester threw in her job as Marketing Manager for Maybelline cosmetics to go back to uni and study creative writing. Since then, she’s been lucky enough to win the 2008 TAG Hungerford Award for Fiction for her first novel, What is Left Over, After, which has just been published by Fremantle Press. She is currently writing a second book as well as teaching creative writing at Curtin University and being a mum to three children.

WHO: SKYE CRAIG
WHAT: MASTERCHEF & WILD SUGAR
WHERE: BRISBANE, AUS
VISIT:

FFF LOVES… Skye’s clever and imaginative use of the Australian native flavours and seriously good for you ingredients that make up her Wild Sugar range.

What are your staples?
Quinoa, rice in it’s many forms, Sol Breads pumpkin and rice bread, sage, oregano, chilli, basil, cumin, coriander, lemon myrtle, wattleseed, French green lentils, red lentils, extra virgin olive oil, rose water, honey, cashews, macadamias and coconut oil.

What are your indulgences?
70% dark Lindt chocolate and desserts galore that live in the fridge and freezer for my Wild Sugar dessert business – my Lime Tart with coconut cream and fresh finger lime and my Lemon Myrtle and raspberry semifreddo.

What can’t you live without?
Quinoa.

What is past its use-by-date?
Bay leaves – I have a Bay ree now.

What is your pantry craving?
More chocolate … always more chocolate required!

About Skye Craig
Skye Craig loves to make sweet treats that quite simply, make you smile.

Hailed for her unorthodox methods and decadent desserts on the second series of the ratings juggernaut MasterChef, Skye Craig fast became known in lounge rooms across Australia as the dessert queen. Her years working as a graphic designer paid off as Australia watched her create stunning sweets made with creativity and flair.

Her insatiable passion for desserts has propelled her into her new business Wild Sugar where she continues to inspire and delight Brisbane shoppers with her unique and decadent sweets.

From sumptuous chocolate dairy desserts to Lemon Myrtle and Raspberry semifreddo made on all organic, raw and healthy ingredients, you’ll find a sweet treat in the Wild Sugar range to put a smile on your face.

“I love to give people options when it comes to desserts.” I have a huge passion for dairy desserts as well as raw desserts. “The reason why you would lean towards using raw food in a dish is that the ingredients are alive – all of the nutritional content is retained and it hasn’t been cooked out. There’s a real vitality and freshness about that kind of food.”

Every time Skye creates one of her dishes, she feels closer to her sister Erin, who tragically died in 2002. Erin was devoted to the world of sustainable, organic and raw food movement, and her death inspired Skye to learn more about the style of cooking.

Skye has come along way since she learnt to make pikelets as a seven-year-old from a child’s cookbook that her mum gave her. Her six months of hard work in the MasterChef kitchen, her warmth, effervescence, infectious smile and desserts to die for have seen Skye become a much loved household name. The dessert queen is currently developing an incredible national line of Wild Sugar desserts, attending personal appearances, magazine shoots and considering writing her own Wild Sugar dessert book.

WHO: JEN ALTMAN
WHAT: PHOTOGRAPHER
WHERE: BROOKLYN, NY

FFF LOVES… Jen’s deliciously fabulous food photos.

What are your staples?
Sea salt, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, almonds, espresso, Demerara sugar, Nutella - and there is always at least five kinds of cheeses in the fridge.

What are your indulgences?
Chocolate gelato and my soul is from the South, so anything deep fried.

What can’t you live without?
JIF Peanut Butter and Hellman’s Mayonnaise - yes, seriously. And goat cheese.

What is past its use-by-date?
We just moved into our new apartment, so gladly nothing quite yet.

What is your pantry craving?
I crave double stuffed Oreos with a vengeance. So I only buy them a few times a year - they are wicked dangerous.

About Jen Altman:
Jen Altman is a Brooklyn, New York based Photographer specializing in food, travel, and children. She has spent time living as a salty sailor and has seen approximately half of the world; give or take a country or two. She loves italy, chocolate gelato, the south, pretty much anything that has been deep fried, french pop, old school heavy metal and thinks science is almost as fascinating as art. Her fine art photography is held in private collections across the globe & her photography can be seen in publications by Chronicle Books - most recently the hugely successful Super-Charged Smoothies book, Somerset Studio and Small Magazine. She is currently writing her first book, a Polaroid “how-to”, for Chronicle Books to be published in Spring 2012.

WHO: STUART MEMBERY
WHAT: INTERIOR & FURNITURE DESIGNER
AND ARTIST
WHERE: BALI
VISIT:www.stuartmemberyhome.com

What are your staples?
Bali is the home of “sunset drinks” I survive on Melba toast and nibbly-bits.

What are your indulgences?
I could live on crumbed chicken schnitzel, mashed potato and mushroom sauce.

What can’t you live without?
Carb’s sadly!!!

What is past its use-by-date?
My cook.

What is your pantry craving?
More space!

WHO: MEETA K
WHAT: FOOD BLOGGER
WHERE: GERMANY
VISIT: WWW.WHATSFORLUNCHHONEY.NET

FFF LOVES… Meeta’s discerning eye for the delicious things in life.

What are your staples?
Pistachios, saffron, couscous, bulgur, pasta, “good” olive oil, a variety of different flours like buckwheat, spelt and of course all-purpose, beans and lentils & canned tomatoes, lots of (too many) spices.

What are your indulgences?
Oh I have so many! But I’d have to say chocolate and cheese, not really together though. My perfect meal would be a lovely wooden cheese board spread out with cheeses from around the world, good bread, crackers and chutneys, chilled white wine and a good girlfriend to share it with while we giggle about the 80s and a lot of girltalk. As dessert it’ll have to be something decadently chocolatey!

What can’t you live without?
I think it’ll have to be my morning coffee. I drink two cups a day and the morning one gets me rolling for the day.

What is past its use-by-date?
It’s mostly yogurt. Living in Germany, where there is a huge variety of delicious fruit yogurts to choose from, I usually get very carried away and buy too much.

What is your pantry craving?
Fresh, luscious and sweet Norwegian strawberries tossed in quark and a drizzle of maple syrup.

About Meeta K:
Meeta’s award winning blog, What’s For Lunch, Honey? is inspired by her childhood as a hotelier’s daughter and a lifestyle which enabled her to travel the world, learn several languages and discover a multitude of different cultures.

Born in India, Meeta was brought up in and went on to train in some of the world’s finest hotels where food was always a huge part of her life. Meeta’s love for food photography stems from her obsession with food itself and she combines her two greatest passions on her multi-faceted, globally-oriented blog ‘What’s For Lunch, Honey?’ reflects her life and lifestyle and is a mix of research, discoveries and elaborate cooking experiments gone sometimes right and sometimes wrong. She documents her recipes with her powerful yet refreshing food photography and styling whilst sharing anecdotal stories about being a citizen of the world and raising a multi-cultural family.

As a freelance food photographer and writer, she currently lives in the culturally rich city of Weimar in Germany with her German husband and their 7-year-old son, where she enjoys cooking multi-cultural home cooked meals with fresh organic ingredients. When she is not styling, photographing or writing about food Meeta loves traveling around the world, exploring new cultures and capturing it all on camera.

WHO: KELLY & KRISTIN
WHAT: FOOD BLOGGERS
WHERE: US & IRELAND
VISIT: www.dinnerdujour.org

FFF LOVES… their life saving recipes with chic twist. Be sure to check out their 30 minute meals - we swear by the Linguine with Chilli, Crab and Watercress, and Eton Mess.

What are your staples?
We both keep a well-stocked pantry so that we always have the basics on hand if we need to whip up a quick pasta dinner or a cake, but some things you’ll never find us without are chickpeas, quinoa, coconut milk, pickles and extra-dry vermouth (a great substitute for white wine in most recipes).

What are your indulgences?
Truffle oil, artisan cheeses, Nutella and good-quality chocolate.

What can’t you live without?
Espresso (we each have a Baby Gaggia espresso machine) and Maldon sea salt.

What is past its use-by-date?
Some jam from Kelly’s grandma, herbal tea, a jar of curry paste and a dusty bottle of malt vinegar.

What is your pantry craving?
Kelly wants vanilla beans and Kristin hankers after canned chipotles in adobo sauce.

About Kelly & Kristin:
Kelly and Kristin write the blog dinnerdujour from their bases in the US and Ireland. Both are self-taught home cooks who believe in feeding their families well with fresh, seasonal and wholesome ingredients. They are both working moms, so even though they love to cook and bake, they also know what it’s like to have to get a tasty, nutritious dinner on the table in a hurry at the end of a long day.

Kelly is an attorney, practising in the areas of immigration and employment law. Her son (3) and daughter (1) keep her busy, balanced and constantly amused. Kristin is a freelance editor specialising in cookbooks and educational textbooks. She has a daughter (5) and son (2) who love to help out in the kitchen and garden.

WHO: SOMMER COLLIER
WHAT: BLOGGER & UNDERCOVER
COOKERY QUEEN
WHERE: ASHEVILLE, NC, US
VISIT: aspicyperspective.blogspot.com

FFF LOVES… Sommer’s deliciously addictive perspective on food.

What are your staples?
Olives, anchovy paste, honey, quinoa, dried fruit, almonds, olive oil and a wide array of vinegars.

What are your indulgences?
Good quality chocolate and ice cream.

What can’t you live without?
These don’t actually come out of my pantry… but I can’t live without creamy goat cheese, basil leaves and bacon. I’m always sneaking one of these in my dishes!

What is past its use-by-date?
Let’s see… I have a can of baby corn that has been in the pantry for who knows how long!

What is your pantry craving?
Someone told me of chocolate-balsamic vinegar… my pantry would REALLY enjoy that!

About Sommer (in her own words):
Wife, mommy, teacher, closet-writer, artist, constant volunteer, master of eBay…undercover cookery queen.

WHO: ANNA SPIRO
WHAT: INTERIOR DESIGNER & BLOGGER
WHERE: BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA
VISIT: absolutelybeautifulthings.blogspot.com

FFF LOVES… Anna’s innate knack of combining vintage with modern and her utter passion for anything truly beautiful.

What are your staples?
We seem to have lots of boxes of cereal! My seven year old loves cereal for breakfast so our pantry is always filled with an array of cereals for him to select from. We also seem to have lots of packets of noodles — great for those crazy nights when my husband and I get home from work and are too exhausted to even think about cooking dinner!

What are your indulgences?
Lollies! I love chicos. However, we can’t keep them in our pantry as I would just eat them all day long!

What can’t you live without?
Chicos!

What is past its use-by-date?
Lots of things. I am so disorganised when it comes to food in the house. My mother is an amazing cook.  Every time she comes to our house and looks in our pantry she just shakes her head! I wish I had her passion for cooking!

What is your pantry craving?
Our pantry is definitely craving ORGANISATION! I would love to have some of those gorgeous organised vintage-looking bottles which we could put our sugar, flour, coffee, biscuits, cereal, pasta etc in. I just can’t seem to find the time to get to the pantry to get it sorted!!

About Anna Spiro:
Anna Spiro is arguably Brisbane’s best interior designer and is the owner of New Farm interior design store Black and Spiro. Anna’s store has become an institution for lovers of the eclectic and has received international acclaim with clients spanning the globe.

Her new store features fully decorated rooms and nooks, allowing customers to see the latest trends and Anna’s colourful style in context.

People can expect to see a juxtaposition of 80s geometric shapes, big blowsy florals and eastern embroidered textiles mixed with European antiques and other vintage finds.