ABOUT EMMA DEAN
Emma Dean is an Australian cook,
forager and author, and the winner of the 2013 series of MasterChef Australia. Her first cookbook A Homegrown Table was published in December 2013.
Emma’s passion for food began in the paddocks and kitchen of her regional Victoria childhood home. Her parents instilled a love of growing and cooking farm-fresh produce in Emma and from her youngest years she was taught to knead bread, grow veggies, and collect freshly-laid eggs.
“One of my earliest memories was helping Dad plant pumpkin seeds in the dry, hot, central Victorian soil. Using my small hand as a template, I spaced the precious seeds 10 hands apart...needless to say, I loved pumpkins when I was little, mainly because I grew them myself.”
Emma’s beautiful cooking style is inspired by a combination of her regional upbringing and her enthusiasm for urban foraging, resulting in dishes that mix classic ingredients with the more unusual and adventurous.
Emma lives in the inner-city Melbourne suburb of Northcote.
