It was in her mother’s kitchen, at the tender age of eight, that cooking icon Donna Hay first dabbled in cooking. With a whisk and a mixing bowl in hand, the “magic” of the moment quickly became more than an interest – it unknowingly sparked the beginning of her career.
“It was the hands-on, creative magic of it [I loved],” Donna, 56, tells TV WEEK of the memory. “The magic that egg whites and sugar can create meringue!
“Cooking is such a great medium to work in and for kids – they often come to cooking through something sweet. That’s how I started and that magic has never left me – it’s just naturally evolved.”
Donna Hay on her legacy and career
For Australians who have followed her career, it feels like Donna has been a guest in our kitchens for much of our lives. As a former food editor at Marie Claire and creator of her own magazine who has put her name to 28 cookbooks and multiple cooking series, Donna is an icon of the industry and a national treasure, often touted as our own Martha Stewart – a label she laughs off with humility.
“If I’m even five per cent like Martha, I’ll take it as a compliment. Actually, I’m doing a podcast with her soon!” she says with a smile. “But I don’t really think about that side of my life. When people stop me in the street or grab my arm to say, ‘I love your recipes!’, I always jump back in surprise.
“I just love what I do, but there’s always more work to do or beautiful ideas to create.”
Donna’s decadent celebrations
In Donna Hay Coastal Celebrations these ideas shine bright. From a long lunch at home to a seaside garden party, the team pulls together everything viewers need to host a fun event – styling tips, tablescape tricks and, of course, mouth-watering recipes.
But Donna is also aware of cost-of-living pressures and wants to help by accommodating people’s needs.
“I go pretty deep,” Donna says of the process of bringing her ideas to life. “Is it what people want right now and is it achievable? I included the styling bits that people love but I don’t want them to go out and buy more stuff, so it’s thinking about what they might have in their cupboards or things they think Grandma gave them that they haven’t re-imagined yet – like a gravy boat.
“It’s grasping at various ideas so that something like an afternoon tea could be so much more. It could be anything.”
Donna on flavour and flair
Of course, there is some signature flair. Donna says she had a vision for a multi-layered cake and, while it took some convincing on her part for it to work, it ended up being the highlight of the entire series.
“I wanted a ginormous cake as a centrepiece – a sponge, light and moist with mascarpone cream and lemon curd,” she shares. “And [my vision] kept getting out of control as I added more to it. But walking out to put a two-metre cake on the table, it was a great moment of seeing an idea come to fruition.”
Donna Hay Coastal Celebrations is available April 1 on Disney+
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