Red Herrings For Breakfast Chefs Warehouse

This beautifully written story traces the history of brother and sister Annabet and Anders Ousback, who grew up living in the now iconic boatshed at Balmoral Beach in the 1950s. While it seemed idyllic, their lives were anything but. They were raised under the care of their overbearing, violent Swedish father and very strict, emotionally distant mother, who were both unsupportive of the children’s creativity and talents.

The story begins with the shock of Annabet’s brother Anders’ tragic suicide and traces his and Annabet’s careers while remaining close and supportive of one another. Anders became an internationally recognised chef and trained and influenced many of the well-known chefs of today: Neil Perry, Serge Dansereau and Matt Moran amongst others. He was known as the ‘Mr Fixit’ of many restaurants in Sydney. He was also a talented ceramist and had many shows that displayed his art. Annabet was an influence in the developing fashion scene in Sydney with her own clothing line and became a business woman in her own right.

Despite their success they struggled emotionally their whole lives; Anders because he was gay in an era which did not approve of or legally recognise homosexuality and Annabet because she was continuously criticised and undermined by her parents.

The memoir encompasses many areas of interest – the 1950s, iconic Balmoral Beach, being raised in a boatshed, the developing food culture, the struggle of being homosexual and regarded as socially unacceptable, a dysfunctional family, suicide, grief and poor relationship choices – this book touches on many areas of day-to day-struggles within familes that occurred then but were not discussed and which are, sadly, still occurring today.