
Sally’s family has been in Australia since the early 1900s and she is a mix of Irish, English and just a little bit of German. But her cultural background has never played a significant part in the food she eats, or what she ate growing up.
Her Mum did most of the cooking, except for one year (around the time her Dad turned 40) when he suddenly decided to take up cooking Thai food. Sally has strong memories of being at the family dinner table eating beef, basil and chilli stir-fry and everyone needing a jug of water next to them to cope with the heat intensity of the food. Prior to this they had not had more than a mild chicken curry. It wasn’t long before her Mum took over cooking again, but nowadays the whole family loves spice. Sally is aware of some of her family history.
Her grandfather was the eldest of nine children and when his father passed her away at a young age, Sally’s grandfather quit school to take on a job as a street cleaner to help bring in money to feed the family. It was a great shame because at the time he was one of the brightest students at school. Later in life he went on to join the army and it was there he became a mechanical engineer – a career he loved and talked about with great fondness in his final days.
Sally is now a Mum to a two-year old girl and one of the traditions she would like to pass on to her daughter is cooking. Some of her favourite childhood memories are when her Mum would cook cakes, pikelets and other goodies with her. But she needs a lot more practice to make it taste as good as her Mum’s!
View more of Fast Ed’s photo series by clicking here.
Related Posts
-
4 reasons to introduce A Taste of Harmony to your workplace
-
Cristina – Playfair Visa and Migration Services
-
William Ross
-
Who makes the best desserts?
-
Joe – Yoghurt Digital
-
Kristin – Playfair Visa and Migration Services
-
A Taste of Harmony at Harding Martin
-
What makes Australian food culture so diverse?
-
Angel – Reach Out
-
ASF Audit’s first A Taste of Harmony celebration
-
What’s your favourite food?
-
Melissa Leong – Learning more about my cultural heritage
-
Australia Post – 10 year participant and major supporter
-
Tammy – Playfair Visa and Migration Services
-
Multiculturalism a key ingredient of Melbourne’s ‘happy cafe’
-
Mckenzie – Yoghurt Digital
-
Dave – Reach Out
-
Newmont
-
Tessa – Reach Out
-
Australian Taxation Office
-
How does your heritage affect what you eat?
-
Arq Group
-
Ayca – Yoghurt Digital
-
Flourish Australia leads by example, and wins a visit by Celebrity Chef, Fast Ed!
-
Krisztina – Reach Out
-
A workplace champion for harmony – Department of Human Services
-
How entrepreneurship enables economic independence for migrant women
-
What did you eat today?
-
Junnan – Yoghurt Digital
-
Gilad – Yoghurt Digital
-
Maxine – Reach Out
-
Caring about cultural diversity – AutoCare Services
-
Pride in Diversity for Major Hotel Group – Accor Hotels
-
Carly Day: Learning more about my cultural background
-
Samantha – Playfair Visa and Migration Services
-
Cultural cuisines you may never have tried (and should!)
-
Sukaina – Playfair Visa and Migration Services
-
What does food mean to you?
-
City of Whittlesea
-
Why your workplace should celebrate A Taste of Harmony
-
What’s in your pantry?
-
Department of Local Government, Racing and Multicultural Affairs, QLD
-
Fast Ed’s A Taste of Harmony Photo Series
-
Mitchell – Reach Out
-
A Taste of Harmony Registration Competition 2026
-
Chung Jae Lee: My Korean heritage
-
How a garden in a Brighton backyard is connecting cultures
-
Phoebe – Playfair Visa and Migration Services
-
How many cuisines have you eaten in your life?
-
Matthew – Yoghurt Digital
-
Centre for Multicultural Youth
-
A Taste of Harmony brings ‘Besties’ together – Best and Less
-
Dominique Rizzo: What I learnt about my cultural heritage
-
Emma – Blackbird PR
-
Petra – Playfair Visa and Migration Services
-
Metro South Health
-
Neha – Playfair Visa and Migration Services
-
What is Australian cuisine?
-
Why cultural diversity is an important workplace conversation



