Renowned cook Peter Russell-Clarke, who became of one Australia’s first celebrity chefs in the 1980s, has died peacefully aged 89.
Chef, artist, writer, illustrator and author Peter Russell-Clarke is being remembered as a pioneer of television cooking after his death at age 89.
Russell-Clarke died on Friday – surrounded by his wife of 65 years, Jan, and his children Peter and Wendy and their families – from complications following a stroke.
Best known for his 1980s cooking show Come and Get It, Russell-Clarke was born in Ballarat in 1935.
Russell-Clarke worked as a creative director in an advertising agency in the 1970s and was a political cartoonist for The Melbourne Herald.
He appeared alongside journalist Derryn Hinch in the 1983 film At Last … Bullamakanka: the Motion Picture and ran an unnamed pop-up restaurant in Carlton decades before they became a thing.
The author of almost 40 recipe books, Russell-Clarke was also a food ambassador for the United Nations and cooked for dignitaries including the Duke of Edinburgh and the then-Charles, Prince of Wales.
His relaxed and informative five-minute cookery show on the ABC – peppered with “g’day”, “ripper” and “you beaut” – notched up 900 episodes and spawned his distinctive catch-cry “come and get it”.
He was also a familiar face on commercial television thanks to his “where’s the cheese?” advertisements for the Australian Dairy Corporation.
