TEXT BY ANNA MCCOOE
Magdalena sips
a fresh coconut,
honey and rum
cocktail she calls
The Cuban.W
hat does a
meteorologist know
about food, exactly?
Poring through
Happy & Whole, Magdalena
Roze’s lip-smackingly lovely debut
cookbook, it turns out quite a lot.
Although Roze never cut her
teeth in a professional kitchen, her
homegrown cuisine is founded in
the realities of her everyday life in
Byron Bay, as a working mother
to baby Archie. “Food is everything
in our family. It’s how we celebrate,
connect with each other and show
generosity,” she says, and that’s
the beauty of it.
Not that she’s a food industry
novice. Roze moonlights as a
restaurant reviewer and has a
live-in mentor in chef husband
Darren Robertson, co-owner
of Three Blue Ducks in Sydney
and at The Farm in Byron Bay.
The goodness of Roze’s
cooking is found in the way it plays
into an easy and balanced lifestyle.
“I try and keep it simple, prep
what I can in big batches and set
aside at least 20 minutes a day to
cook,” she says. “There’s nothing
better than a home-cooked meal.”