Melbourne Cook Julia Busuttil Nishimura On Strengthening Culture & Memories Through Food

If you've ever wandered through a market stall in search of the perfect tomato or lingered over a jar of jam a little too long, you’ve glimpsed the world Julia Busuttil Nishimura inhabits. Over the past decade, the Melbourne-based food columnist and author has dropped four bestselling cookbooks — a dream for most who make weekly pilgrimages to the farmer's market and spend their weekends hosting dinner parties.

Julia's recipes are like little time capsules carrying stories of family, culture, and identity tucked into instructions for everyday cooking. Over her quartet of cookbooks, we're able to trace the ebbs and flows of her home life. Her autobiographical debut Ostro celebrated Mediterranean dishes from her childhood, while later cookbooks introduced Japanese recipes like a refreshing soba salad and pork and cabbage gyoza from her husband, Nori, as well as her kids' favourite pasta alla norcina.

"I grew up with a really strong sense of identity as a Maltese-Australian and now as an adult, I see that importance for my own children, to identify as Japanese-Maltese Australians with rich traditions and pride in who they are," she tells Refinery29 Australia.

Off the back of her recent partnership with Bonne Maman, we chatted to Julia about memories of her childhood kitchen, her go-to recipe when she's not developing new ones, and tips on how to turn a food obsession into a writing career.

Refinery29 Australia: You’re a well-loved food writer and cook. What do you love most about food and cooking?

Julia Busuttil Nishimura: Cooking has always brought me an immense amount of joy, and it’s something that has stayed with me throughout my adult life. It’s the simple things like new season spring garlic appearing at the market or sharing a plate of pasta with my family. Lots of small moments which build into something bigger. I love that cooking is always learning. It’s never a perfect or finished thing, always a work in progress, and always tweaking and changing.

R29: What were your experiences with food and cooking like growing up in your household?

JBN: All of my childhood memories really are around food and cooking. Whether that was at home with my mum, or at my cousin’s house or at the Maltese club. Cooking and food were a really integral part of life, and it's how my family showed love, through sharing and being hospitable. I grew up with a lot of traditional Maltese cooking, but also my mum liked to make recipes she picked up from her travels in the '70s when she worked for the airlines, so I feel like the kitchen was a really exciting place to be. She took a lot of pride in her cooking, and I can vividly remember her beautiful apple cinnamon tea cakes and warm scones with jam for afternoon tea, something I now do for my own children using Bonne Maman preserves. I always loved grocery shopping with her, picking out ingredients and discussing what we would cook. These experiences have really shaped me into the cook I am today. 

JBN: I think for me, the most meaningful recipes are ones that hold personal memories or stories, so there would be a lot of childhood Maltese recipes on this list. A fish soup called Aljotta that my grandmother would make, or a stuffed pasta called Ravjul, which just takes me back to being 5 years old again.

R29: How do you draw inspiration for your recipes? What is your creative process?

JBN: I draw a lot of inspiration from the seasons and produce, and it is usually where my creative process starts. Sometimes I have a strong idea of what I want to make, maybe inspired by a memory or a meal I’ve eaten.

But I’m constantly in awe of nature and in gratitude to farmers and producers who do what they do, which really fuels me creatively. It’s also no secret that I love a well-stocked pantry, and I turn to pantry staples every single day to draw inspiration. Whether that's a tin of beans or a jar of beautiful Bonne Maman jam, these things really combine with the fresh produce to create new recipes. My cooking is inherently really simple, so I rely on good quality produce – whether fresh or non-perishable, as there isn't much to hide behind. Choosing artisanal and well-made pantry staples is honestly one of the easiest ways to create magic in the kitchen!

R29: I love how there are recipes in Around The Table that blend your personal Mediterranean influences with Nori’s Japanese heritage. Why is it so important to weave cultural identity into your books?

JBN: Food and cooking are really such powerful ways to tell stories, and I think weaving that into my books is so important. I grew up with a really strong sense of identity as a Maltese-Australian and now as an adult, I see that importance for my own children, to identify as Japanese-Maltese Australians with rich traditions and pride in who they are. Being geographically far from both of our traditional homelands, food is a tangible and meaningful way Nori and I preserve and celebrate our cultures. I feel honoured to be able to share some of the Japanese family recipes we love to cook at home with my audience.

R29: I imagine developing recipes and everyday cooking blur together quite a bit. How do you balance the two? Does cooking for yourself or others ever feel like work?

JBN: The very nature of my work means that developing recipes and everyday cooking is blurred into one, almost purposefully. The recipes I share with my audience are all things I love to cook at home for friends and family, so there is a distinct crossover which always happens. Unless I am writing to a very specific brief, perhaps for a client, it is just how it naturally works for me. I think it does make it hard to “switch off” in a sense. Every meal can feel like an opportunity to create something new, and I am constantly scribbling shorthand recipes on scraps of paper, but I think that is just part of the job, and for me, it works.

I do love a bit of downtime too, moments where I can switch off and maybe create a recipe I know by heart. I might make a flaky pastry dough, which is so meditative, and slather it with Bonne Maman jam for a rustic galette. It's nostalgic and comforting, and a moment to really just be without it feeling like work. I have a lot of these back-pocket kind of receipts. Ones I return to, to feel a sense of calm and comfort in the kitchen, especially after working on a big project.

R29: You’ve released multiple cookbooks — has your audience changed over the years? Who did you write your first book for, compared to the most recent, and why?

JBN: It’s been nearly ten years since Ostro was released, and I really think that my audience has grown with me through this time. While I have many people who have picked up my books only later on, it does feel like I have this really lovely community who have been there from the beginning. I think the biggest thing that changes is actually myself.

When I wrote Ostro, I don’t think I knew who my audience was. Social media was still really young, and I almost felt like I was writing it for myself. It was a very personal project. My books are still always very personal and very much driven by what I love to cook and how, but now I have a clearer sense of who my audience is, which shapes how I write and what I choose to include.

R29: Were there ever any obstacles you encountered or doubts you faced in this industry? If so, what were they?

JBN: I am very lucky that I feel like I have always had very supportive people within the industry – in publishing, media, and the general food space, so I have always felt very uplifted, which I definitely don’t take for granted. But for sure, there have been doubts along the way, especially in the early days. I was still working as an Italian teacher in a school whilst publishing my first two cookbooks. I wasn’t really sure how I could make it work financially.

It’s been a lot of hard work and I am so grateful for the community I have built and continue to build during my career, who continue to support my work. Recently I’ve been doing more TV work, and I love it so much, but it’s easy to doubt yourself. I think as adults we don’t always try new things so easily, and it can be a really big moment to overcome those initial fears.

R29: What advice would you give to women who want to get into the food industry?

JBN: When I was younger, I really thought the only way to be in the food industry was to become a chef, which the thought of felt very intimidating. I think it’s changed so much now, and building your own community through your own voice is so powerful. For all its shortcomings, social media really has opened up a lot of doors for people, and there is so much space for diverse and interesting voices, which is just so wonderful.