How has food shaped your life? Wendy Hargreaves, journalist and filmmaker, recounts how family dynamics, childhood memories, and work as a restaurant critic led her to comfort eating and yoyo dieting, and shares how she changed her relationship with food and achieved better health.

Growing up on a farm, Wendy learned to cook, to live off the land—and to see food as a reward. Her mother and grandmother baked treats, literally every day. Her dad came home with a chocolate bar tucked inside his evening paper.

Becoming a food writer, she made performative eating an art, dining in glamorous places even if she wasn’t hungry or enthusiastic. Food provided comfort and conflict, but rarely joy.

In her fifties she “flipped the switch,” changing her food story, not through shame or restriction, but with honesty and care. She began nourishing her body consciously, making connections between food and other choices.

Chasing the next hot story didn’t interest her anymore. Remembering that she “spoke country,” Wendy started a media company and radio show to spotlight the stories of everyday people at the sources of food in Australia.

We discuss the importance of owning who you are, and using your unique voice to tell the stories that matter to you. For Wendy, it’s in staying curious, asking questions, being present in relationships, and participating in community that we’ll find the answers and the opportunities.

She says: Get over having to be new. Acknowledge who you’ve learnt from and throw your hat in the ring.

TESS’S TAKEAWAYS:

• Childhood and family dynamics shape eating habits that are hard to break.
• A conscious relationship with food leads to better choices overall and more joy.
• Resist the cult of busy-ness, and take time to be present in your relationships.
• Embrace stillness to take stock of your priorities.
• Take an active part in nourishing, shaping, and celebrating community.
• Lean into curiosity. Keep asking questions to see new possibilities.
• Use your agency, authority, and superpowers to claim what you want.
• For energetic hygiene, choose people who elevate and celebrate you.

ABOUT WENDY

Seasoned food writer, journalist, radio presenter, and filmmaker, Wendy Hargreaves heads up Bread & Butter Media. She and her team at the agency celebrate makers and growers in regional Australia, and their stories, through radio shows, podcasts, print media, and documentaries.

In a career spanning four decades, Wendy has reported on people, places and events in Australia and abroad for some of the nation's biggest media companies. Co-hosting “On The Road Again” on 3AW radio, she showcases rural towns through the lens of roadtrip experiences.

Her work in journalism and media has won multiple awards, including three in the United States for her short films about extraordinary women in hospitality, such as Kate Reid, founder of Lune Croissanterie.

When she’s not in front of a camera or behind the mic, you’ll find Wendy at a pottery wheel making functional pieces for chefs and restaurateurs.

CONNECT WITH WENDY

Website: https://www.breadandbuttermedia.com.au/

Your Neck Of The Woods: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbB5HBAPdg0

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