Reviewer Profiles
Albert Comper
Albert is an eye candy junkie with a penchant for the graphically improbable. He takes nothing with a grain of salt, and even less with sugar. His idea uptake is matched only by his idea output: nothing will slow him down. While he tells it like it is, his work drives his audiences to reach for new worlds and is the brains and the brawn behind this very website. He is a perpetual motion machine who's publications, photographs and schemes will change the world. Yet somehow amidst his passionate professional fervor he entertains no respite from his toils at the coal face of the happiness of Laura and their two weird dogs Degi Ka and Critter.
Natalie Book
Natalie Book is a freelance arts, film and music writer who eats breakfast out at least twice a week. She is also the assistant editor of Metro and Screen Education magazines. In addition to this, she likes Pina Coladas and getting caught in the rain.
Clare Marshall
Clare is a Melbourne-based writer and editor originally from Wellington, New Zealand. She has written for Frankie magazine, The Coffee Guide and The New Zealand Edge, and is currently editing a book by one of Melbourne's leading street art collectives.
When breakfasting out, Clare likes strong lattes, seasonal food, friendly service and the weekend papers. She dislikes rubbery eggs, embarrassingly large portion sizes and people who steal the glossy supplements.
Ellie Parker
Ellie is is a freelance journalist who has written for The Age's Epicure section and for Poster magazine. Ellie has penned a short story, entitled "Ellie's Jellies" which is due to be published by Penguin in early 2009. Ellie's Jellies, which explores the topic of boob food (yes, boob food), will form part of a collection of stories by female writers including Maggie Alderson, Kathy Lette and Jools Oliver.
Ellie is committed to breakfast. In a selfless attempt to discover Melbourne’s greatest breakfast hangover cures, Ellie will often get herself drunk on a weeknight. Ellie is tireless in her search for the best eggs Benedict in town and is fearless when it comes to black pudding at 8am. Ellie has even been known to devour porridge, followed by huevos rancheros, followed by maple syrup hotcakes – all in one sitting.
Rowena Robertson
Rowena wears both the writer and editor caps, and chooses which one to emphasise depending on whom she's talking to. She has edited design/art/fashion magazine Poster since early 2006, and has written for publications including Empty, SummerWinter, Metro, Screen Education, Yen, Is Not and Metro.Pop (US).
As far as breakfast goes, she tends to go for the sweet, girly dishes, but is also very partial to a good old British-style fry up. And she will, of course, try anything in the name of research.
Nicola Shafer
Nicola is a writer and a book editor. Her book reviews and arts and music journalism have been published in The Big Issue, Sydney’s Drum Media, Melbourne’s Beat, and RealTime, and in a range of other strange places.
When she’s not at her day job, editing wonderful new works by other people, she’s feverishly thinking of ways to create her own work of genius. Much of this frantic thinking occurs in beautiful, atmospheric Melbourne cafes. The scenario usually ends with a delicious latte. And an empty head.
Gretchen Wilkins
Gretchen Wilkins is a lecturer in Architecture at RMIT University. She recently relocated to Melbourne from Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.
Claire Wiltshire
Claire began her writing life in the most purely creative way imaginable, contributing short stories and poetry to various publications during her high school years as a way to avoid the dreaded maths homework. She has since become a feature writer for magazines as diverse as Yen, Good Reading, Is Not, Poster, MiniInternational, Inpress and Links Life.
As far as breakfasts go, she likes them late, local and coffee-heavy. After many a tasty plate of eggs Florentine, she’s now on the look out for more adventurous breakkie dishes, and drags her friends along to rate the sausages and bacon.
Jan van Schaik
Jan van Schaik is a breakfast tragic hangover expert who will try anything twice, except recidivism, and is only ever distracted from the noble pursuit of hedonism by professional tendencies towards art, design and architecture. He was born in 1972 to two loving parents who should have known better, is predisposed to bananas, and anything else that comes to mind. He sucks oxygen out of the air with gusto and to this day pursues his life-long ambition to die young.
Francesca Fogarty
Francesca is a full time foodie who manages to juggle eating, cooking, thinking, talking and writing about food with her work as a lawyer. An obsession with good coffee, perfectly poached eggs, people watching and the glossy parts of the newspaper send Francesca all over town in search for the perfect lazy weekend morning (or afternoon depending on the night before). Francesca also has a passion for all things free range and "made from scratch" and hates a disappointing meal because she considers every eating opportunity an opportunity for greatness.
