Lumen Summer 2016 - Flipbook - Page 8
story by Genevieve Sanchez
The politics of cooking
Plenty of future plans have been cooked up over long lazy
lunches on the University of Adelaide’s Barr Smith Lawns and
for Annabel Crabb, those plans actually involved cooking.
H
ost of Australia’s first dedicated
political cooking show, ABC
TV’s Kitchen Cabinet, Annabel
is one of Australia’s most popular
political commentators.
She writes for ABC Online’s The Drum,
is a columnist for the Sunday Age, SunHerald and Canberra’s Sunday Times, and
has worked as a political correspondent
and sketch writer for various publications.
She’s also the author of The Wife
Drought and soon to be released
cookbook, Special Delivery – which she
has co-written with one of her oldest
friends and Kitchen Cabinet’s recipe
consultant, Wendy Sharpe – the plan
for which was formulated over university
lunches on the lawns.
For Annabel, it’s the cooking part that is
fulfilling her lifelong dream to incorporate
food into her career. To be able do this
in the kitchens of some of Australia’s
biggest names in politics combines food
with her other passion – asking the tough
questions of our country’s leaders.
‘Invading’ their homes armed with a retro
cake tin or basket filled with one of her
own dessert creations, Annabel’s informal
technique of interviewing over the cooktop
has seen her charm and disarm the likes
of Bronwyn Bishop, Kevin Rudd, Julie
Bishop, Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull.
Some surprising quirks and personalities
are revealed as well as the cooking expertise
of some more than capable cooks.
Annabel says her passion for cooking
came from being raised by great cooks
in her mother and grandmother. Growing
up on a sheep farm outside Two Wells in
regional South Australia, she also had a
lot of ‘shearing/baking experiences’.
Studying a double degree in arts and
law, Annabel has fond memories of her
days at university, not surprisingly many
of these revolve around food – eating
cheese triangles in the refectory and
“thousands of avocado and cream cheese
sandwiches” at the Art Gallery café.
She also spent a lot of time distracting
friends in the On Dit offices – friends
such as Samantha Maiden, David
Penberthy, Vanessa Almeida and Misha
Schubert – who have also gone on to
forge successful careers. Their names are
among the who’s who of Australian media
circles – often referred to as ‘the Adelaide
mafia’. Annabel also rubbed shoulders
with future federal politicians on the
university debating stage.
After graduating, Annabel sat for a
cadetship at The Advertiser, having
identified that a legal career wasn’t for her.
She jokes that her law degree is “like a
car that’s never left the garage, it doesn’t
have a scratch on it!”
“But I’ve never regretted doing a
law degree and I feel like I use it almost
every day,” she says.
“When I got to Canberra and was
reporting on federal politics, I found that I
wasn’t fazed by legislative language and
Left: Annabel with federal MP Clive Palmer
6 Lumen | Summer 2016
