Guy Mirabella

Book: Hungry
Publisher: Plum/Pan Macmillan
Price: $49.99 (hardback)

Food for the eyes

The MasterChef Australia phenomenon has inspired amateur cooks of all ages to hit the kitchen in their droves enticed by the promise of a career path paved with dollar signs, lucrative book deals and celebrity. Melbourne chef, Guy Mirabella may not be a household name with a millionaire’s bank balance, but over a career spanning four decades this quiet achiever has collected a string of awards, published cookbooks (his latest Hungry has just hit the shelves), owned restaurants and learned one important lesson. Being a chef is bloody hard work and it isn’t as glamorous or well-paid as the network folks may have you believe.

Mirabella grew up in a bustling Sicilian household on the Mornington Peninsula watching his parents transform their home-grown produce into delicious tabletop feasts for family and friends. His passion for food was sparked as a teenage boy and so at the ripe old age of 15, he announced to his parents Diego and Pina he would like to be a chef. His parents weren’t too keen on the idea suggesting the crummy pay packet would not go far in supporting a wife and children down the track. They didn’t like the idea of him being a painter either (his other great love) but his father Diego gave the seal of approval to a career in graphic design. “My father didn’t really know what it was but thought I would have a better chance of making some money,” he says. “I didn’t”, he laughs, but that’s what I ended up doing.”

Mirabella worked for 25 years as a designer and carved a name for himself in the area of cookbook design, working with household names such as Stephanie Alexander and Christine Manfield. He took a sabbatical in the late 1980s to open a restaurant but when that didn’t work out he found himself back in the same industry, but with very different ideas. He decided it was time to push the boundaries and design his own cookbook. “Where does it say a designer can’t do his own cookbook?” he says. “I wanted to do big illustrated books and just lash out.  I thought I would just design this huge format pasta book (Pasta E Basta) and that’s what I did. I loved the reaction it got in the industry and because of its success I did a number of books very quickly after that. I then disappeared for quite a long time and came back with Eat Ate about three years ago.”

During this time, in his late forties, Mirabella decided it was now or never and he quit his job as a designer to have another go at the restaurant trade. “I just felt if I didn’t do it then, I never would,” he says. “I had done quite well with book designing and I left on a high. It just seemed like good timing but owning and operating a restaurant is incredibly hard work and I think if I knew that going in I would never have done it.” His Shop Ate Cafe & Store in Mt Eliza has been a favourite with locals since he opened the doors almost ten years ago. He admits what keeps him going is the good really does outweigh the bad. “Watching a platter or baking dish pass by with a beautiful dish it, gives me so much pleasure,” he says. “It’s more instant than books. It can take months before you see the end result of your writing but with this the pleasure is instant every day.”

Mirabella has never flirted with the idea of celebrity, preferring to fly under the radar. This presents a bit of a Catch-22 for the unassuming family man. “I know I’m good at what I do but I can’t seem to make any money out of it,” he says. This is my own doing though because there are invitations I won’t accept and things I won’t do in the media and that’s the way I want to be.” Mirabella counts the likes of local talents Skye Gyngel and Nigel Slater amongst those he admires and is particularly in awe of the work being done by Jamie Oliver to educate people around the world about food. “I wish I could do what he does,” he says almost wistfully. “I mean I admire him for what he’s doing. I think someone’s got to do it and I think Jamie’s the one to do it. I love him and I think he is great.”

Hungry is visually stunning and this is all down to Mirabella choosing to talk to people through the cinema of photography rather than with words.  In addition to the gorgeous, glossy pictures and delicious recipes the chapters are delightfully interrupted with personal anecdotes providing an insight into Mirabella’s life and his soul.  This is his sixth cookbook and despite the publishing industry feeling the effects of the digital age, Mirabella believes there will always be a demand for the real thing but hopes publishers will become more discerning about what they publish. “I think there will always be a market for beautiful books,” he says. In future I hope there’ll be less books published so they are treated in a more respectful way. New books end up in second-hand bookshops after a couple of weeks in the market and that’s heartbreaking.  You can see the effort that’s gone into creating them and there they are on the table with a sale price on them.”

It is difficult not to be taken with Mirabella within minutes of speaking with him. He is open, honest, warm and for a man so accomplished he is decidedly lacking in pretence or pomposity. He is someone you want to have at your dinner table, in your corner when life goes pear shaped, with you to celebrate joyful moments. So it is no surprise to discover Mirabella treats his staff and his patrons as family. He knows their stories and takes the time to talk with them. His approach is a bit left of centre and he confesses to favouring his heart over his head.

“Everything is done on an emotional level and it’s an emotional level that changes every five minutes.  I try and drag my staff with me and excite them and just really get them going.”

Mirabella is proud of Hungry and although he would make a few changes if he had his time again, he feels it represents where he is in his life right now and where the cafe is. He may not have the bank balance of Mr Oliver but he has acquired many riches. He is happy. He loves his family – his children and his wife. His contentment is evidenced in the pages of the book. “I’d like to think there are young couples with young kids and the urban-educated art crowd reading this book,” he says. “People who are like me, who love colour and texture, who love food and who think from the heart.”