This week M+K sits across the table with Tracey Spicer AM, Author and Broadcaster. ‘Sometimes things don’t work out. Other times – against all odds – they do,’ she says as she describes a life lesson learnt through cooking, and her sustainable food philosophy.
1. My cooking inspiration…
Is anything seasonal, or grown in the backyard. It’s cheaper, healthier and better for the planet to grow something at home, however small.
2. A meal that reminds me of home…
Is the cheesy tuna bake my beloved mum Marcia used to make when we were kids. I do a version now for our teenagers.
3. A life lesson cooking has taught me…
Is to be sanguine. Sometimes things don’t work out. Other times – against all odds – they do.
4. When I want to be creative I…
Go for a walk or paddleboard. There’s something immensely freeing about being in nature.
5. The most transformational book I’ve read is…
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. It taught me more about the structural inequities in society.
6. The routines that keep me grounded are…
Yoga or meditation every day.
7. I recently learnt…
That inexplicably, many of the veggies I grow look like genitalia and there are actually websites devoted to this phenomenon!
8. Favourite random act of kindness…
Recently was when Yumi Stynes sent us a jar of her home-made jam. It’s such a lovely surprise to receive something hand-made
9. To make a difference in my community I…
Volunteer weekly at One Meal, delivering food to people who are having a tough time at the moment.
10. Right now, I’m grateful for…
The grass between my toes, the love of family and friends, and the smell of freshly baked sourdough.
Tracey Spicer AM is a multiple Walkley Award winning author, journalist and broadcaster who has anchored national programs for ABC TV and radio, Network Ten and Sky News.
The inaugural national convenor of Women in Media, Tracey is one of the most sought-after keynote speakers and emcees in the region. In 2019 she was named the NSW Premier’s Woman of the Year, accepted the Sydney Peace Prize alongside Tarana Burke for the Me Too movement, and won the national award for Excellence in Women’s Leadership through Women & Leadership Australia.
In 2018, Tracey was chosen as one of the Australian Financial Review’s 100 Women of Influence, winning the Social Enterprise and Not-For-Profit category. She was also named Agenda Setter of the Year by the website Women’s Agenda. For her 30 years of media and charity work, Tracey has been awarded the Order of Australia.
Highlights of her outstanding career include writing, producing and presenting documentaries on women and girls in Bangladesh, Kenya, Uganda, Papua New Guinea and India. She is an Ambassador for ActionAid, World Vision, Cancer Council NSW, QUT’s Learning Potential Fund, SISTER2sister and Purple Our World, and Patron of the Pancreatic Cancer Alliance.
Her first book, The Good Girl Stripped Bare, became a bestseller within weeks of publication, while her TEDx Talk, The Lady Stripped Bare, has attracted more than six million views worldwide. Tracey’s essays have appeared in dozens of books including Women of Letters, She’s Having a Laugh, Father Figures, Unbreakable, and Bewitched & Bedevilled: Women Write the Gillard Years.
Recently, the ABC highlighted Tracey’s #metoo work in the three part documentary series Silent No More, which featured the stories of hidden survivors.
To connect visit:
Website: http://traceyspicer.com.au/
Facebook: The Real Tracey Spicer
Twitter: @TraceySpicer
Instagram: @Tracey Spicer
