Julie Jansen grew up on a stone-fruit orchard in country Victoria and began cooking at her mother's apron strings from a very young age. Her passion for cooking bought her to Melbourne to study as a Home Economist.

 

She began her professional career as a recipe writer for Channel 9's What's Cooking program and has since worked as a freelance recipe writer, food stylist, cook and caterer in Australia and abroad. Whilst living in London, working at Notting HIll's renowned 'Books for Cooks', Julie was fortunate to meet and work with such authors as Jamie Oliver, Donna Hay, Nigella Lawson and Peter Gordon.

 

Julie's first cafe venture, The Cook Book Kitchen, a cafe and cookbook store in Surrey Hills, offered food prepared from the cookbooks for sale in-store. Since then, Julie and her husband have created and operated Appetite Catering, a successful corporate catering business, and Appetite Foodstore, a café and foodstore in North Melbourne, which showcased Julie's vibrant café food. Julie's muffins and biscuits continue to serve food-loving locals in their more recent Padre Coffee cafe ventures.

 

Julie is currently a Melbourne based recipe writer, food stylist and mum to son Ethan, aged four.