KAREN WALKER • AL BROWN • BEN BAYLY • JENNY-MAY CLARKSON • MIMI GILMOUR • JOSH EMETT
KAREN WALKER
Fashion designer
1. First food memory, traumatic or otherwise
Karen: My grandmother’s shortbread – an ever-present comfort food throughout my childhood. Many years later when I learnt to make shortbread myself, it turned out it’s 90 percent butter and sugar, which explains why it always tastes so darn good.
2. Go-to easy comfort dinner that takes less than half an hour to make
Karen: A salad – as long as you have good, fresh greens, soft Italian cheese, tomatoes and bread you can be at the table within 10 minutes.
3. A food you dislike and won’t eat no matter who tries to make you
Karen: Meat.
4. A food you always have in your fridge/pantry that makes everything better
Karen: Chocolate – usually Whittaker’s – especially the Sea Salt and Caramel Brittle.
5. Pet table manners peeve, if you have one
Karen: Oh, so many! No phones, no one eats until everyone’s seated and the cook has taken their first bite, no one leaves the table until everyone’s finished, cloth napkins, multiple cutlery rules and much more. What can I say…? Blame my mother.
6. Fine-dining or casual bistro-style?
Karen: Casual bistro with fine-dining for special occasions.
7. The perfect number of people to have over for dinner
Karen: I can fit eight at my table and that always seems to work.
8. Dream list of invitees to your dinner party, living or dead
Karen: It would be wonderful to have my parents and grandparents (all long-dead but reanimated for this occasion) at my table along with my husband and daughter.
9. Dream dessert
Karen: Anything with chocolate.
10. Who inspired your
