meet julia

What’s your earliest memory of cooking?

I have many memories of preparing food or being in the kitchen with my parents, making ricotta or chopping ingredients. I think the first thing I made from start to finish and presented to the table was just a simple tomato and basil bruschetta. I remember being really happy as I grilled the bread, rubbing each side with garlic. I was maybe eight or nine, and seeing my family enjoy the food gave me that instant sense of pride and feeling, like, ‘I did that—I made them happy with my food’.

Tell us a little about your heritage.

Both my parents are Maltese. My dad migrated to Australia in the ’60s and my mum’s parents just after the Second World War, in the ’40s. Maltese food, culture and language were always really prominent and, as kids, we all felt more Maltese than Australian. We would go to the Maltese club on the weekends, eat rabbit stew and celebrate special feast days. It felt really far removed from the kinds of things our friends at school were doing.

Who cooked when you were a kid, and what was on the menu?

I have a rather large extended family, and gatherings always centred around food. I can remember being around five and at my aunty’s house, watching her make ravjul, which are very similar to Italian ravioli. The cooks were always women, and it was sort of a sisterhood—trading recipes and sharing secrets. My mum did all of the cooking—she was really an amazing cook. In the ’70s she worked for Qantas and picked