We all deserve to eat tasty food

While I’m not a professional chef, it’s fair to say in my 25-plus years in food and hospitality, I’ve learnt a few things along the way and I have two big takeaways – recipes are ideas, not a set of instructions and we all deserve to eat tasty food.

photo of a lot of colourful fruit and vegetables laid out on a bench
photo of strands of pasta on a white bench

Meet the Free Ranging Foodie

Mandy Kennedy is the Free Ranging Foodie. She’s been a barista, bartender, cheesemonger, caterer, gin slinger, regularly cooked paella for 100 people and is a life-long hospo queen.

These days, you can hear Mandy on 774 ABC Radio as the Sunday Mornings ‘Free-Ranging Foodie’, spot her at Queen Victoria Market guiding tours, or read her work with City Larder, Harper and Blohm Cheese Shop, One Hour Our, Broadsheet, Festival 21 and more.

photo of a woman with dark hair wearing a coloufrul top and glasses

Recipes

You enjoy cooking – mostly – and take care about where you source your ingredients. You’re just as likely to buy artisan cheese at a farmer’s market as you are to pop into the local supermarket ‘cause it’s on the way home but now and then you lose their mojo.

You need inspiration for how to cobble together a meal from what’s in the pantry and, just occasionally, you fancy being one of those meal prep people. You want to be reassured by achievable, results-driven recipes and also be inspired to sometimes stretch your comfort zone a little further.

Welcome to the recipe section!

Fregola Summer Salad

Fregola Summer Salad

If this was just called pasta salad, I know I’d have lost most of you already. Meet fregola — a…

Savoury Cheese Custard for all Seasons

Savoury Cheese Custard for all Seasons

If a sauce can be ‘quiet luxury’, this is definitely it. Kept low and slow on the hob, cream, egg…

Oatmeal Parkin

Oatmeal Parkin

Not long ago, I inherited a couple of my late mother-in-law’s cookbooks. I’m particularly taken with Delia Smith’s Complete Cookery…

Listen to the Free Ranging Foodie on ABC Radio 774

I enjoy a recurring guest spot on ABC Radio 774 Melbourne on Sunday mornings with Lisa Leong talking about all things food.


Topics free-range all over the place. We’ve covered everything from Gravestone Recipes to What Makes a Great Sandwich as well as Christmas in July and shared our Best Kitchen Tips.

Topics free-range all over the place. We cover everything from Gravestone Recipes to What Makes a Great Sandwich as well as Christmas in July and Best Kitchen Tips.

Blog

Here be monsters! 

Here you will read thoughts on life, the universe and everything in between though mostly about food and travel.

Nigella, Delia, and Grease-Stained Pages

Nigella, Delia, and Grease-Stained Pages

I’m revisiting my own well-loved cookbooks — Nigella’s for pure comfort, and Delia Smith’s Complete Cookery Course for nostalgia. There’s…

Cabbage: The Humble Powerhouse of the Vegetable World

Cabbage: The Humble Powerhouse of the Vegetable World

Unfortunately, cabbage has a reputation problem. Too many people first meet it boiled beyond recognition, limp and overtly sulfurous. But…

A Reluctant Eater’s Guide to Surviving Breakfast

A Reluctant Eater’s Guide to Surviving Breakfast

I’ve always struggled with breakfast. Even now, as I sit down to write this, it’s 10:40am and the only reason…

FREE RANGING FOODIE

© Copyright Amanda Kennedy 2025