Television chef, author and artist Peter Russell-Clarke has died, aged 89.
His family confirmed on Sunday afternoon he died on Thursday following complications from a stroke.
“He passed away peacefully in his sleep. In the end it was quite a release for the family that he wasn’t suffering anymore,” his son, Peter Russell-Clarke Jr, told the ABC.
Born in Ballarat in 1935, Russell-Clarke began his career at age 14, working as a junior artist at an advertising agency, before moving into freelance cartooning and working as a food consultant for popular magazines, including New Idea and Woman’s Day.
He went on to produce his own cookbooks before shooting to wider fame through his catchy “g’days” which featured in the theme song of his 1980s ABC cooking show Come and Get it.
The show ran from 1983 to 1992, with 900 episodes written and hosted by Russell-Clarke wearing his signature neckerchief.
His appearances on Come and Get It made him one of Australia’s pioneering TV celebrity chefs.
Peter Russell-Clarke seen on a segment of a 1988 cooking show. (Supplied: YouTube)
“I realised that the bloke in front of the camera got more applause than the person who wrote it,” he told the ABC in 2017.
“So I wrote myself into the series and I became known as a cook rather than a painter or a writer.”
For more than two decades starting in the mid 70s, he was also a popular spokesperson and TV and radio presenter for the Australian Dairy Corporation, as well as for companies such as the Australian Egg Board and Kraft Cheese.
Russell-Clarke was also the chef for the Prince of Wales’s Silver Jubilee dinner in 1977. He was also invited to cook for Australian prime ministers, Victorian premiers, and the Duke of Edinburgh.
He authored at least 35 cookbooks and was a United Nations food ambassador.
“He was a very big character,” Mr Russell-Clarke Jr said.
“He had strong opinions and liked to share them. In public, he loved to educate and inform, and food was a natural outlet for him to do that.
“He was passionate about natural ingredients and farming and so he would promote healthy eating and the use of natural Australian food, and he loved to talk about it in private just as much as he did in public.
Championing farm-to-table movement
As a teenager, displaced from his rural Victorian home after the separation of his parents, Russell-Clarke spent time in foster homes and, briefly, on the streets of Melbourne, a period which led to his appreciation of fine food and different cuisines.
Growing small, living better
“He would spend time getting scraps of food from Victoria Market and making up sandwiches and things that he would sell from the various scraps,” Mr Russell-Clarke Jr said.
“He went around looking at the food that was thrown out from restaurants and analysing how they would cook and do things, and then form his own criticism about food.
“It started off as a need, having to fend for himself and being able to cook for himself to survive, and that turned into a passion of being able to work and cook efficiently with ingredients that he could find readily.”
That concept of efficient cooking manifested into Come and Get It, a show which saw Russell-Clarke unpack healthy recipes and eating habits within just five minutes.
“It brought the idea of farm-to-table eating well before that was a thing. He talked about the ingredients and what would be the benefits of eating naturally and eating good, healthy farm food back in the 80s before chefs and influencers were doing that,” his son said.
“I think his legacy is introducing a whole new way of cooking to Australian households and allowing people to understand what healthy eating is and how it benefits your health and your body.”
An avid artist
Russell-Clarke started painting long before his interest in the culinary arts grew.
The National Portrait Gallery in Canberra requested a self-portrait of Peter Russell-Clarke for an exhibition in 2004. (Supplied: National Portrait Gallery)
He worked as a commercial artist for about 65 years, including for 10 years as the political cartoonist for The Herald newspaper in Melbourne.
In 2022, Russell-Clarke told the National Portrait Gallery about the similarities between his love for cooking and painting.
“[While painting,] you’re mucking around with colour, form, texture, shape. And with cooking, you’re doing the same thing,” he said.
“Cooking is only supplying heat to food. The same as painting. Painting is supplying paint to a surface, whether it’s a canvas or a piece of cardboard.”
His artworks have been featured in exhibitions in Australia and overseas, at private venues, auctioned at the Shepparton Art Museum and collected by the National Immigration Museum.
Russell-Clarke was even commissioned to produce several pieces for the federal government.
He is survived by his wife of 65 years, Jan, their two children Peter and Wendy, and three grandchildren.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.abc.net.au ’
