From the Editor, Leigh O’Connor.
Warm kitchens, borrowed memories and the hum of shared heritage define Diaspora Dinners, where second-generation cooks reclaim tradition with their own brave flair. These meals are love letters - equal parts longing and discovery - crafted by children of migrants who grew up straddling two worlds.
At these tables, familiar aromas rise from unfamiliar forms: a grandmother’s stew reborn with local produce, spice blends adjusted to the rhythms of a new homeland, desserts stitched together from flavours once carried across oceans. Every plate tells a story of identity unwrapped - of trying to honour the past while forging something unmistakably present.
There’s a tenderness in watching these cooks navigate legacy, reshaping recipes not out of rebellion, but out of devotion. With each bite, diners taste both the ache of distance and the joy of belonging. Diaspora Dinners aren’t just meals; they are living narratives - vibrant, vulnerable and beautifully in motion.
Come with us this week as we explore cultures together…
There’s a particular kind of magic that happens when the scent of spices from one hemisphere meets the slow-simmered comfort of another. It’s not a clash, but a conversation - one spoken in cumin and coriander, in the smoke of charred bread, in the soft steam rising from a shared bowl.
Diaspora dinners are where stories come to dine; where belonging isn’t defined by geography, but by generosity.
At first glance, the table looks like any other - a scattering of plates, glasses catching the light, conversation humming beneath the clatter of serving spoons. Look closer and you’ll see it’s a map. A mosaic of migrations.
In many second-generation Australian kitchens, recipes aren’t written in books - they’re breathed into being through gestures, glances and half-measures. A flick of the wrist, a pinch that could mean anything from a dusting to a handful.
The act of learning to cook from one’s parents isn’t so much a lesson as it is a translation - from language, from culture, from memory. It’s a conversation that stirs more than saucepans.
Across suburbs and kitchen tables, this story repeats. The children of migrants - Italian, Vietnamese, Greek, Lebanese, Chinese, Indian, Filipino - each learn to cook by feeling their way through the fog of approximation.
There’s a shift happening in kitchens across Australia and beyond - a rising chorus of second-generation Chefs, home cooks, pop-up rebels and TikTok storytellers who are transforming the flavours of their heritage into something fiercely personal.
They aren’t simply preserving tradition; they’re expanding it, bending it, seasoning it with the wildness of identity and the courage of reinvention. Check out our rising stars who are shaping the new frontier of culinary heritage.
The clink of ceramic cups, the hiss of milk steaming, the soft hum of weekend chatter - this is the familiar heartbeat of Australian brunch. Lately, something new has been wafting through the café air: the scent of sesame oil, yuzu, miso caramel and pandan.
Across the country, the humble smashed avo and poached eggs are making room for a new wave of brunch dishes inspired by the flavours of Asia.
Think kimchi waffles crowned with crispy fried chicken, matcha hotcakes dripping with black sesame cream and silky congee topped with slow-cooked egg and fried shallots. This isn’t fusion for novelty’s sake; it’s an edible conversation between cultures.
Read on…
