Ian Parmenter

Perth, Australia

Ian Parmenter was born in London and survived nine years of British cooking before his parents moved to Belgium and, much to his relief, took him with them. In Brussels, the city famous for its sprouts, he began his love affair with food, the Belgian national dish of chips with mayonnaise being the first he learnt to cook, at the age of nine.

His adventures with continental cuisine were curtailed when he was sent back to England to further his education at the country's second oldest school - founded in 604 by Bishop Gundulf and refounded in 1542 by Henry VIII. Ian swears it had the original teachers and kitchen staff, who served such ancient British food as hot tinned pilchards on toast. He had to develop his cooking skills secretly in the fume cupboard of the chemistry laboratory.

On graduating, Ian began a career in journalism which took him to Fleet Street's better eating and drinking establishments, where he remained for 7 years - long enough to acquire the itch. Ian fled to Australia for adventure, arriving in the early seventies.

Joining the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in 1973, Ian soon moved into television production and has been responsible for directing and producing several hundred major multi-camera TV shows. In 1991 he was thrown screaming and kicking in front of the camera for the debut production run of Consuming Passions, a show which is now in its eighth series and screens in 15 countries. Ian has ten recipe books to his credit and writes and illustrates newspaper and magazine articles.

Ian is the driving force behind and Festival Director of the highly acclaimed food and wine event "Tasting Australia", held biennially in Adelaide, South Australia.

He divides his time between his home in Fremantle, recording Consuming Passions at ABC studios in Perth, Margaret River - where he grows Chardonnay grapes, and various airport lounges around the world - where he avoids eating the fare.