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Delicious: Stories of cooking, love and friendship
A new memoir celebrating food and friendship from one of Australia's most admired writers.
'Magnificent. I devoured it and then I licked the plate for another taste of every glorious tale. Food is life and life is food and Legge is a storytelling wonder.' Trent Dalton
'I enjoyed this journey into a more innocent world.' Stephanie Alexander AO
A new memoir celebrating food and friendship from one of Australia's most admired writers.
What is the alchemy of food and love? Award-winning journalist and author Kate Legge's evocative reflections take us to the heart of this mystery. The pull of a child to cook alongside their mother. The picnic produced on a first date that parades the possibilities of a romantic partner. The sugar-hit cake left on a porch to welcome you into a neighbourhood under siege.
These indelible meals and shared recipes—scribbled in biro on the back of a school sports carnival program (Janet's date loaf) or copied out in cursive script on lined paper (Deb's chicken pie)—are staples of Kate's kitchen table, tried and true, never-fail, simple fare. They have survived long years and all seasons, much as the friendships that underpin them have navigated arguments, distance and forgiveness. All forged on the hearth, stirred with love.
Delicious is a tribute to the girlfriends, mothers, sisters-in-law, colleagues, friends and family who nourished her soul, shared their culinary secrets and wound up trading other intimacies.
'Magnificent. I devoured it and then I licked the plate for another taste of every glorious tale. Food is life and life is food and Legge is a storytelling wonder.' Trent Dalton
'I enjoyed this journey into a more innocent world.' Stephanie Alexander AO
A new memoir celebrating food and friendship from one of Australia's most admired writers.
What is the alchemy of food and love? Award-winning journalist and author Kate Legge's evocative reflections take us to the heart of this mystery. The pull of a child to cook alongside their mother. The picnic produced on a first date that parades the possibilities of a romantic partner. The sugar-hit cake left on a porch to welcome you into a neighbourhood under siege.
These indelible meals and shared recipes—scribbled in biro on the back of a school sports carnival program (Janet's date loaf) or copied out in cursive script on lined paper (Deb's chicken pie)—are staples of Kate's kitchen table, tried and true, never-fail, simple fare. They have survived long years and all seasons, much as the friendships that underpin them have navigated arguments, distance and forgiveness. All forged on the hearth, stirred with love.
Delicious is a tribute to the girlfriends, mothers, sisters-in-law, colleagues, friends and family who nourished her soul, shared their culinary secrets and wound up trading other intimacies.
265 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 31, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Reviewed by Trish Palmer for Allen and Unwin and Bluewolf Reviews.
Pre-order is available.
Delicious: What a marvellous way to share your life story. Each segment of Kate Legge’s life is remembered and retold, with the food that was shared at that time featured. She was a very active young woman; an award-winning journalist and author, Kate’s love of food and cooking began as she learned her kitchen craft with her mother. She has, over time collected many recipes, most spattered and grimy. The many people and dear friends that she has made on her life journey have contributed to the stories in this book and had their recipes acknowledged.
Kate’s mother loved hosting dinner parties and sometimes the children could help by chopping the parsley. First lesson, Chop it finely, not too coarse! As a journalist, the author met a likeminded woman; one day they escaped work and went home to bake a pie. It was a chicken pie and not a crumb was left. The women were close friends and stayed forever in touch even though their lives took different paths. When Kate contacted Mary Lou and asked permission to publish her chicken pie recipe, she was sent a photo of the pie with a love heart.
Working as a journalist in Parliament House was a huge and challenging job. Here she once again met a woman who believed food was a way of caring for people. Kate’s work, friendship and exploration of Alex’s life revealed she had left Poland as a refugee with a harrowing story to tell. The author left “The Age’ and moved to “Times on Sunday.” The recipe at the end of this chapter is “Alexandra’s Homespun Honey Cake.
So many friendships, some lost but most in touch sporadically. The recollections here are fascinating as threads of a life story, true friendships, and cooking meld into a wonderful life story.
Pre-order is available.
Delicious: What a marvellous way to share your life story. Each segment of Kate Legge’s life is remembered and retold, with the food that was shared at that time featured. She was a very active young woman; an award-winning journalist and author, Kate’s love of food and cooking began as she learned her kitchen craft with her mother. She has, over time collected many recipes, most spattered and grimy. The many people and dear friends that she has made on her life journey have contributed to the stories in this book and had their recipes acknowledged.
Kate’s mother loved hosting dinner parties and sometimes the children could help by chopping the parsley. First lesson, Chop it finely, not too coarse! As a journalist, the author met a likeminded woman; one day they escaped work and went home to bake a pie. It was a chicken pie and not a crumb was left. The women were close friends and stayed forever in touch even though their lives took different paths. When Kate contacted Mary Lou and asked permission to publish her chicken pie recipe, she was sent a photo of the pie with a love heart.
Working as a journalist in Parliament House was a huge and challenging job. Here she once again met a woman who believed food was a way of caring for people. Kate’s work, friendship and exploration of Alex’s life revealed she had left Poland as a refugee with a harrowing story to tell. The author left “The Age’ and moved to “Times on Sunday.” The recipe at the end of this chapter is “Alexandra’s Homespun Honey Cake.
So many friendships, some lost but most in touch sporadically. The recollections here are fascinating as threads of a life story, true friendships, and cooking meld into a wonderful life story.
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April 29, 2026Read for work.
May 25, 2026
I enjoyed this book, a quick read, a story about food, friendships, family.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews