#269 Tracey Lister | Brunswick Kitchen

Tracey Lister is a Melbourne-born chef with more than 30 years of experience in the hospitality industry, both in Australia and Vietnam. She is also the author of four cookbooks (KOTO: A Culinary Journey Through Vietnam (2008), Vietnamese Street Food (2011), Real Vietnamese Cooking (2014) and Made in Vietnam (2017)) and she is the owner of Brunswick Kitchen cookery school. When I went in to talk with Tracey, she was preparing for that evening's vegan cooking class. Tracey always loved working in restaurants, seeing the cool room full of produce and ready to go, the thrill of service and happy diners, but later in her career, she found new joy in teaching, sharing her knowledge and love of cooking with others. As well as teaching Vietnamese, Persian and South-east Asian cooking herself, Tracey also invites other chefs, such as Almay Jordaan and Daniel Wilson to come in and teach as well. Tracey also shares her love of her second home, Vietnam by leading bi-annual Northern Vietnam Food and Fabric Tours, with Future Traditions' owner, Cynthia Mann – an artisanal Vietnamese brand celebrating traditional ethnic minority crafts. The tour takes participants on an eight-day journey through Northern Vietnam, where they share insights into the region's culinary and textile traditions. It was such a pleasure to talk with Tracey and I can't wait to go back to Brunswick Kitchen for a Food from Hanoi cooking class.