It was the kind of meet-cute straight out of a rom-com. Eyes locked over mounds of the first stone fruit of the season and ribbons of fresh pasta at the Carlton Farmers’ Market.
Only it wasn’t romance that ripened for Julia Busuttil Nishimura that day in 2015. Rather it was an introduction to the person who would become her publisher and launch her career in food.
Five cookbooks later, including the recently released Simple Pleasures, that chance meeting is the reason she’s joining a line-up of some of the world’s most exciting chefs and heading to Western Australia for Pair’d Festival.
“I don’t know if it was chance or the timing of it but I reflect back on that moment a lot, I do feel like it was one of those really special and rare moments that’s really pivotal to where I am now,” Busuttil Nishimura says from Yamba after her book launch in Byron Bay, the ocean faint in the background.
“I felt back then the people who were writing cookbooks were Jamie Oliver, Steph Alexander, Nigella . . . it just didn’t feel like that was something that would ever happen to me.”
The publisher that day had recognised her, thick mane of hair and ready smile, from her blog Ostro where she shared the kind of simple and comforting yet sexy and moreish kind of meals she’s still known for today. Dishes that work as readily for a mid-week dinner as they might served family-style down the middle of a table for a weekend dinner party.
Food had always been at the centre of Busuttil Nishimura’s life. Growing up she was straining handmade ricotta on the kitchen bench, potting broad beans on the back step with her grandma and weekends were spent at the Maltese club with her family.
That love grew when she moved to Tuscany to work as a nanny. There she was introduced to regional dishes families sat down to share, and she began making notes and writing the recipes down.
In the years since, she and husband Nori have had three sons, Haruki, Yukito and Mikoto, each bringing another layer to the way she cooks and writes — and not just the extra pasta recipes born of pregnancy cravings.
Hand-kneaded pasta might give way to store-bought now, and more involved recipes have been pared back, but the heart and flavours of Ostro have never strayed.
“It’s always staying true to being seasonal, simple and local that’s underpinning all of my food,” Busuttil Nishimura shares. “Only now we definitely buy a lot more food, a lot more produce shopping, a lot of fruit . . . My 11-year-old kind of eats everything, my six-year-old is going through a little bit of a fussy phase, and then I’ve got the nine-month-old who’s just starting. We’re kind of at all different stages of cooking and feeding.”
Simple Pleasures is a time capsule of how far she’s come. There are one-pan dishes ideal for a growing family, a nod to the past in spaghetti with broad beans and basil pesto and, of course, seasonal recipes like nectarine, cucumber and feta salad made for assembling after a fossick at the farmers’ market.
And her work has also taken her beyond the kitchen, from presenting on TV show Postcards, to fronting a recent campaign for Tiffany & Co in Harper’s Bazaar.
Next on the itinerary is Pair’d Festival, the wine-led event that stretches across South West beaches, venues, caves and vineyards. Chefs are flying in from far and wide, including Singapore’s Dave Pynt of Burnt Ends and Hong Kong’s Matt Abergel of Yardbird, while Boo Seeka and Isabella Manfredi from The Preatures will provide a feast for the ears.
Busuttil Nishimura will cook an Italian feast alongside Masseria head chef Ben Jacob, the La Tavolata experience starting with an aperitivo hour on the sweeping lawn at sunset before a candlelit long-table dinner.
Nori’s first home in Australia was Fremantle when he arrived from Japan, but this will be her first time in Western Australia. She’s had a Zoom tour of Masseria and Cherubino Wines, and is keen to taste her way through the region, arriving with an open mind and empty stomach.
“I’m just so up for anything.”