Books for Cooks

Ella Mittas is a pop-up chef and emerging food writer who lives and works in Melbourne.

Her Greek heritage and a fascination with traditional foods and cooking styles led her to live and work in Turkey, Greece and Israel.

Ela! Ela! (meaning 'Come, come' in Greek) is Ella's first book (self-published) and a personal record of her travels and food experiences. Through her stories and recipes Ella explores her Anglo-Greek identity, and the myriad ways in which she makes connections to her culture and heritage through food.

Full of simple, honest and traditional Greek and Eastern Mediterranean food, Ela! Ela! is a very accesible and personal book .... In Ella's own words,

"If you take one thing from this book, it should be how vegetable-focused Greek and Turkish cuisine can be, I think a lot of people have misconceptions that they’re meat-heavy. Also that cooking well doesn’t need to be hard if you have good, seasonal flavour combinations; many of the dishes in the book are very simple. Actually, scratch that – if you take one thing from the book, I’d want it to be the joy of slow-braising vegetables in olive oil, I think that incorporates both of those ideas. "

We're looking forward to chatting to Ella about her travels, recipes, the importance of vegetables in Greek culture and the lessons she learnt about her own relationship with food.

Please join us on 22nd November for an intimate chat, some tastes from the book and a glass of wine or two

Tickets are limited.