About

About Sophie Zalokar

I am a chef, author, food and tourism marketing professional.

Over the past 30 years I have been engaged across roles in the Food, Hospitality and Culinary Tourism, Agribusiness, Publishing and Media industries with positions across the domestic and international marketplace.

I am a creative thinker with practical hands, story-lover and adventure-traveler. My work is driven by the love of connecting people with a sense of place that considers community and honours ethical and sustainable sources.

Here’s my story.


Cooking

My career as a chef began with a 4 year apprenticeship at the Pheasant Farm Restaurant in the Barossa Valley, South Australia with Maggie Beer. This was during an evolutionary time in Australian culinary history with one of this country’s pioneers in the paddock to plate movement.

My early education in the kitchen was founded on the principles of seasonality and supporting local producers; learning to creatively adapt to nature’s inherent variables.

From the Barossa Valley, I traveled and worked as a chef in a variety of positions internationally including British Columbia, Canada, Alaska, USA the United Kingdom and Germany before arriving in Perth, Western Australia in 1990.

Perth was rapidly evolving out of traditional fine-dining into a casual European bistro, café and pub-based scene, focusing on artisanal coffee, beer and local wine. The Oriel Café was at the centre of this food cultural shift and where I worked as a Sous Chef for 18 months.

After returning to Visual Arts studies at Edith Cowan University I went back to the kitchen with Kate Lamont at her family’s Swan Valley winery restaurant and at their outpost food and wine store in the heart of Perth’s CBD.

Food Writing, Consulting & Recipe Development

While raising two small children, I began food writing for Homes & Living magazine with a quarterly feature and The West Australian newspaper with a weekly recipe published for 13 years.

From 2000 to 2004 I was the Food Consultant for the Fremantle Arts Centre, creating the menus, training the café staff and collaborating and presenting a series of food and wine matching events with wine educator Lexie Thompson.

My first book PicNic: Outdoor Feasts in the Australian Landscape was published by Fremantle Press in 2002. It was about how eating in the natural environment provides a connection between food, people and place.

My second book, Food of the Southern Forests (UWA Publishing) was published in 2014. Together with the support of the Southern Forests Food Council and photographer Craig Kinder, I wrote the stories of 40 local producers and developed recipes with their produce.

From 2006 I have been commissioned by several primary produce marketing organisations to develop recipes that educate and promote West Australian fresh produce including: Rural Industries Research & Development Corporation for the Kimberley Boab Grower Group, Fruit West Cooperative Ltd celebrating 40 years of Pink Lady Apples and showcasing the new Bravo™ Apple,  WA Potatoes to create a range of recipes offering creative, fresh ideas with this pantry staple and the Southern Forests Food Council as part of their 2019 Retail Marketing Campaign.

Regional Hospitality & Culinary Tourism

At the beginning of 2005, my then husband and I moved our family to a small property just out of Pemberton, in the heart of WA’s Southern Forests region. Over several years we built luxury chalet accommodation, planted a heritage vegetable garden and fruit orchard, raised a smallholding of farm animals and developed strong relationships with the local community.

In 2011 we opened Foragers Field Kitchen & Cooking School. Over an 8 year period I taught hands-on cooking workshops and demonstration cooking classes and offered weekly long-table dinner events focusing on the region’s fresh produce and the culinary heritage of the early settlers.

As a regional hospitality and tourism business operator I have been involved in the WA Tourism Famil Program, a member of several business and community focus groups to develop the Shire of Manjimup Tourism Strategy and Local Heritage Strategy and a WA State Tourism Conference Panel Speaker.

Agritourism

From early 2018 to late 2019 I was the Agritourism Coordinator for the Southern Forests Food Council, developing customised Food & Farm Tour experiences for various groups wishing to meet local growers. A highlight in this role was developing a Chef’s Food & Farm Tour program for established and emerging West Australian chefs.

Media & Public Speaking

Since 2016 I’ve been regularly in the ABC South West and ABC Perth radio studios to chat about seasonal food and over the years been invited to various state, national and international food and writers events: an Australian Delegate to Slow Food’s Terra Madre in Turin, Italy in 2008, a West Australian ambassador for Tourism Australia’s Restaurant Australia marketing campaign along with the early years of produce awards judging for the now Delicious Produce Awards.

I have been invited to speak at many food and tourism events including Perth Readers & Writers Festival, Tasting Australia, Gourmet Escape, Taste Great Southern, Critical Horizons Agricultural Conference, FACET Culinary Journeys Conference, Geraldton Big Sky Readers Writers Festival and the Truffle Kerfuffle.

Adventure Travel

Foragers sold at the end of 2019 and at the beginning of 2020 I left WA to travel solo around Australia on my BMW R 1200 GS motorcycle. Returning to Fremantle in September 2021. I have documented this journey in a series of travel writing posts on this site titled Motorcycle Diaries.

Currently: Lofoten Islands, Northern Norway

I am currently in a Marketing and Events role for Holmen Lofoten. A small, family run hotel and seasonal restaurant set above the Arctic Circle offering an event program called, Kitchen On The Edge Of The World. My work covers content creation for Social Media, Communications, Event Program Curation and projects.


Please note

I’m guessing if you’ve got this far down the page you’ll understand this already, but please be respectful. All content and photos on this site are protected by copyright and cannot be used without permission. If you would like to feature any of my recipes, photos or writing on or in any electronic or print publications, personal or commercial, please contact me for rates and permission.

Sophie Zalokar