From nutrition to glamour: The Australian Women’s Weekly’s cookery editors, 1933–1970

This article explores the influence of The Australian Women’s Weekly’s ‘cookery experts’, or food editors, from the 1930s to 1970. Until the end of the Second World War, the magazine’s cookery editors were highly trained experts in the field of domestic science and they shared their extensive knowledge of nutrition, economy and cookery skills with their readers. After the war, the magazine’s focus shifted. The Weekly’s food editors became anonymous, and they started advising their readers how to cook increasingly glamorous, cosmopolitan, ‘modern’ cuisine. Despite acknowledgement that the Weekly influenced Australian domestic cuisine, the experiences and contributions of the Weekly’s food editors have received little scholarly attention. This article intends to recover the history of the Weekly’s cookery editors, exploring the way that their professional backgrounds, as well as societal trends towards modernity and consumerism, influenced the Australian palate