Maggie Beer

In 1973, Maggie Beer and husband Colin settled in the Barossa Valley, with Colin’s vision to farm Pheasants. In 1978 Colin was awarded a Churchill Fellowship to study in both Europe and the States and that was the catalyst for their combined food journey that began with a simple Farmshop that morphed into the legendary Pheasant Farm Restaurant, long gone but part of the food history of South Australia as the restaurant became highly acclaimed and was, in 1991, awarded the Remy Martin Cognac – Australian Gourmet Traveller Restaurant of the Year award. With the closure of the restaurant in 1993, Maggie was free to pursue new directions, and in 1996 the Export Production Kitchen in Tanunda was opened. These days, her career spans farming, food production, as well as television presenting and food writing. It was Maggie’s appearance for four years with some 150 episodes on the hit ABC programme The Cook & The Chef that cemented her place as one of Australia’s most well known food personalities.

Of all the accolades given to Maggie, being chosen as Senior Australian of the Year in 2010, and then South Australian of the Year 2011, have been two enormous highlights of a truly busy life. In addition to these achievements, Maggie was thrilled to be appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) on Australia Day in 2012 and then promoted to Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in the 2022 Australia Day Honours.

Given Maggie left school at the age of 14, she is proud to hold three Honorary Doctorates. In 2013, Awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Business from Macquarie University. In 2016, Awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University of South Australia. In 2022, Awarded an Honorary Award of Doctor of the University (DUniv) from Flinders University.

Maggie had the fun of finding herself starring on a postage stamp in 2014 as one of the winners of the Australia Post Australian Legends Award. Australia Post initiated the award in 1997 to honour living Australians who have made a unique contribution to our way of life, inspired the community and influenced the way Australians think about themselves and their country.

In 2014, Maggie established the Maggie Beer Foundation, to set about raising the bar of food in Aged Care across Australia bringing together a Board of industry leaders, academics and health advisors to share knowledge and training in the sector. Whilst the three pillars of the Foundation were always Advocacy Training and Research it is the training for this complex arena that has been the guiding force.

Maggie has made it her personal mission to share her innate knowledge of what good food can do for everyone’s wellbeing no matter their age and is surrounded by an amazing yet very small team of passionate individuals.