Sarah Glover
Sarah Glover is a chef who is taking the sterile out of contemporary dishes and turning food into an experience.
Words: Emma-Kate Wilson | Photography: Luisa Brimble
Sarah Glover’s Scallop Roe Butter with Native Bush Pepper. Photo - Luisa Brimble. Photo - Luisa Brimble.
Fried Fennel and Salad Rose Potatoes from Sarah Glover’s WILD: Adventure Cookbook. Photo - Luisa Brimble.
Sarah Glover uses the natural world around her to season her dishes — from not only the charcoal from the fire she's made on the beach but also the sand and salty, seawater. “I love cooking on beaches,” she laughs, “even though I get sand in my food!” The chef lives, and grew up in Tasmania, which first helped instil this love of the outdoors. But it was also the spontaneity of getting out of her comfort zone that inspired her to move from the sterile scene of the commercial kitchen.
After moving back to the island in her twenties, the chef began working at Franklin in Hobart while earning her pastry certification. It was here she first saw the method of cooking over fire in a new way, and it all ignited her love of this rustic method. “It was like all the parts of my life came together in that sense,” she reflects. “I love cooking. I love the outdoors. I like being creative. When I started working with fire, I found that it all fitted together really nicely.”
This year, Sarah is launching a children's cooking book, which is bringing this sense of adventure back to cooking. "I wanted to do something close to my heart,” Sarah reflects. “I'm one of eight kids, a lot of my fondest memories are being outside and going on adventures, and so I wanted to tap into that a little bit.”
Sarah Glover’s Crispy Greens and Eggs. Photo - Luisa Brimble.
“Cooking outside makes you think creatively, and I really like the challenge of that.”
“There was a scene [in the cook book] we did with young teenage boys, and we went up the river and caught some little fish. We skewered it onto pieces of bamboo and cooked it around the coals,” Sarah remembers. “They were so excited to see that they could cook something so simply — there's that adrenaline rush that you get from being around that excitement.”
Alongside this way of cooking is an emphasis on being sustainable and seasonal. “Time is something that you need to really put into the equation,” Sarah shares because it all comes down to making opportunities to go to the farmers market and the butcher. Here you can build a relationship with them and find out what's sustainable.
“We grew up in Tassie, so we’d always have an open fire. We’d cook food on it out camping or hiking or surfing.”
The chef doesn’t really have a favourite spot or dish to cook, as long as it's made outside and near the water, and of course, in Tassie (such as a secret spot on a friend’s headland reserve near Marion Bay with views over Maria Island!). “I'm inclined to cooking seafood, but that's because I'm a water baby,” she laughingly adds. “In Tasmania, we're surrounded by ocean and beautiful produce.”
Sarah is now in demand across the world, with career highlights including taking Martha Steward outside in a cooking experience and popping up on Gordan Ramsay’s TV show. But it was her book launch in New York that goes down at the most pitch-me moment. And alongside the new children’s cooking book coming out this year, the chef is also launching an outdoor cooking equipment range.“[It’s made up of products] I feel is missing from the marketplace that will help people's adventures.”
“I was lucky enough to be homeschooled. We’d finish our school work, and we’d all run outside and play in the bush or go fishing or diving.”
Picnic Tart from Sarah Glover’s WILD: Adventure Cookbook. Photo - Luisa Brimble.
All imagery from WILD: Adventure Cookbook © 2018 by Sarah Glover. Photography © 2018 by Luisa Brimble. Published by Prestel.