Food and Beverage Writing - Please Sir, I want some more.

Food appreciation in Australia reached fever pitch this year as Masterchef hit our screens. It seemed everybody, including a bunch of nobodies, wanted a slice of the action. What is interesting is that even the food writers got a cut of the kudos.

No longer the measured realm of gourmet magazines, online foodie sites and weekly newspaper editorials, the food buzz blurb has bubbled over into the lives and homes of mainstream Australia.

Matt Preston, esteemed food writer and internationally renowned critic, set our screens on fire with his personal largesse and his professional prowess. Looking like a character fresh out of an Oscar Wilde novel, he minced and munched his way from relative obscurity to prevalent personality.

Love him or hate him you gotta give him something for the way he effortlessly engineered his rise from food critic to foodie celebrity with all the aplomb of an Adriano Zumbo croquembouche. And he surely deserves recognition for insinuating old school terminology into the ordained drudgery of water cooler conversation. Cravats may be this years black.

You would not be alone if you wondered whether the obvious marketability of Julie’s cookbook had anything to do with her Masterchef win. Even Donna Hay professed to want a copy, which is a high accolade when bestowed by the Aussie cookbook queen herself.

In fact, this wide scale interest in food writing and cook books has been on the rise like a Jaques Reymond soufflé for a number of years now. It seems people in this country like watching, learning, practicing and reading about the many joys of food production and its myriad counterparts.

In line with this trend, Melbourne copywriting company Affect Media have been hard at work on the Schweppes Australia website which showcases an array of innovative drinking and dining establishments nationwide. So for those who want more reading, more eating and more incentives to do both, visit http://www.schweppes.com.au/