He is the local chef and food author that gave Penrith two iconic dining spots, but now Ross Dobson has decided to start a new chapter in his career.
The founder of Café at Lewers, The Union Restaurant and Vincent Diner in Glenbrook, Mr Dobson recently made the decision to hang up his apron and pursue his real love – food writing and travelling.
“I’m 50 now so it’s a bit hard to be working in the kitchen,” he laughed.
“I’m proud to say that I founded them and they’re institutions now, but I left them about 18 months ago to really pursue this.”
With 15 books to his name, the Fired Up author has become known for culturally expanding readers’ tastebuds.
“Unlike the celebrity chefs where often it’s just their name on the book, I’m much more interested in a theme of food or a style of cooking,” he said.
“I do a lot of multicultural cuisine and cooking, because I kind of grew up with those influences.
“I grew up in South Penrith and we had neighbours from all over the world including Hong Kong and Greece, it was really interesting.”
His latest book to hit the shelves, The Food of Argentina, is no different with the four chapters exploring how South American’s lives revolve around their food.
“Rachel Tolosa Paz, who I did the book with, did a lot of travel photographs and so we paired them up with the recipes and it’s just a beautiful book, I’m really pleased with it,” Mr Dobson said.
Recently appearing alongside ‘MasterChef’ winner Adam Liaw at the annual Sydney Food Writers’ Festival, Food and Words, Mr Dobson is already underway with his next project, but this time the theme is a lot closer to home.
“An English publishing company, Phaidon, want me to do the Australian bible cookbook. It will be the biggest project that I have worked on,” he said.
“I’ve got to write about 350 to 400 recipes that will be out in about 18 months, so I’ve very excited about that.”
Lauren Suttie
Lauren Suttie is the Weekender's General & Community News journalist.