Stephanie Alexander is our recipient of Outstanding Contribution to Hospitality

For 60 years, Gourmet Traveller has chronicled the evolution of Australian food, celebrated the chefs who changed the way we dine, the producers who transformed our pantries and the restaurants that redefined excellence. Throughout that remarkable journey, one name has appeared time and again in the magazine, not simply because of what she cooked, but because of the enduring influence she had on the way Australians think about food.

From the start, Stephanie Alexander championed an idea that feels almost revolutionary in its simplicity: that sharing good food, prepared with care and enjoyed together, has the power to enrich lives. It is a philosophy that has shaped restaurants, kitchens, classrooms and dinner tables across the country, making her one of the most influential figures in Australia’s food history.

An archival photo of Alexander at Stephanie’s Restaurant.

Alexander opened her first restaurant, Jamaica House, in 1966 on Melbourne’s Lygon Street. In 1976 she opened Stephanie’s Restaurant in Fitzroy, before relocating it to Hawthorn, which operated for 21 years and established her as one of our most respected culinary voices. Yet it’s perhaps as an author that her influence has reached its widest audience.

Published in 1996, The Cook’s Companion quickly became more than a cookbook. Comprehensive, practical and deeply reassuring, it gave generations of home cooks the confidence to tackle unfamiliar ingredients and ambitious recipes with enthusiasm. For many Australians it remains the first cookbook reached for when seeking both inspiration and certainty, earning a permanent place on kitchen benches across the country. The book, now in its third edition and a whopping 1282 pages, has sold more than 550,000 copies. Alexander’s greatest legacy, however, may lie beyond the kitchen.

Believing that children should learn about food by growing, cooking and sharing it, she founded the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation in 2004, based on the success of a pilot program at Collingwood College. What began as a single school project has grown into a nationwide movement, introducing hundreds of thousands of Australian children to fresh produce, practical cooking skills and the simple pleasure of sitting down together for a meal. In an era increasingly shaped by convenience and screens, the program has become a powerful reminder that food education is life education.

For more than six decades her voice has remained a steady one, reminding us that great cooking begins with respect for ingredients, producers, tradition and, above all, for the people gathered around the table.

Gourmet Traveller’s Outstanding Contribution to Hospitality award is presented by Wedgwood.

Past winners of the Outstanding Contribution to Hospitality award

2025: Tony Tan, Vic
2024: The Ayubi family, Parwana Afghan Kitchen, SA
2023: Sean Moran, Sean’s, NSW
2022: Dani Valent, Vic
2021: Amy Chanta, NSW
2020: Due to COVID-19, a Hospitality Honours List was introduced in lieu of Restaurant Awards
2019: Kylie Kwong, NSW
2018: Rootstock, NSW
2017: Ronni Kahn, OzHarvest, NSW
2016: Bruce Pascoe, Vic
2015: Joost Bakker, Vic
2014: Alla Wolf-Tasker, Lake House, Vic
2013: George Biron, Sunnybrae, Vic
2012: Janni Kyritsis, NSW
2011: The Hemmes family, Merivale, NSW
2010: Cheong Liew, SA
2009: Leo Schofield, NSW
2008: Donlevy Fitzpatrick, Vic

David Meagher

David Meagher is the editor of Gourmet Traveller. He was previously the managing editor of The Local Project, a design publishing company. He was the editor-in-chief of The Australian’s monthly luxury lifestyle magazine, WISH, for 15 years and before that was a senior staff writer and deputy editor on The Australian Financial Review Magazine. He has written for numerous publications including Belle, Vogue Australia, Vogue Living, The Sydney Morning Herald, Harper’s Bazaar and Qantas: The Australian Way. David is also the author of four non-fiction books including the 2023 bestselling memoir, Secrets and Lies, published by Penguin Random House Australia.