EaPr Barbara Santich
Emerita Professor

Organisation unit

College of Creative Arts, Design and Humanities School of Humanities

Location

Adelaide University
Profile of EaPr Barbara Santich

About me

Professor Emeritus Barbara Santich is an internationally renowned food historian who developed the curriculum and core courses for the Graduate Program in Gastronomy at the University of Adelaide and was also Program Manager. This program, which represented a collaboration with Le Cordon Bleu, operated online and on-campus from 2002 to 2010. In 2012 it was replaced by the Graduate Program in Food Studies, for which she also designed the new curriculum. Barbara initiated and taught the first university course in food writing in Australia, the Graduate Certificate in Food Writing (2007-1015). 
Born and educated in NSW, she gained her first degree at the University of NSW (B.Sc. Hons I). Her fascination with languages and France developed into a sympathy with the ancient languages of Mediterranean France, which in turn led to a BA (University of Minnesota) and PhD (Flinders University of SA). Her thesis, Two Languages, Two Cultures, Two Cuisines investigated the foods and cuisine of Mediterranean France in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. She has continued her interest in the food history and culture of southern France in Eating in Eighteenth-Century Provence: The evolution of a tradition (London: Bloomsbury, 2023). 
Barbara has also researched Australian food history and culture. Her book Bold Palates: Australia's Gastronomic Heritage, explores the stories behind the foods, dishes, ways of cooking and ways of eating that are considered distinctively and characteristically Australian. Not only a gastronomic history, it is also a history of Australia and Australians. 
As a food writer Barbara has contributed extensively to Australian and international media including The Journal of Gastronomy, Gastronomica, Petits Propos Culinaires and the New York Times. She has been a frequent attendee at the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery and the International Conference on Food and Drink Studies at Tours, France.
Since retirement Barbara has joined the research sub-committee of ISFAR (Institute for the Study of French-Australian Relations) and is researching Franco-Australian exchanges in viticulture and winemaking. She is also a member of the Editorial Board of Petits Propos Culinaires.
Books by Barbara Santich include:
Eating in Eighteenth-Century Provence: The evolution of a tradition (2023)
The Original Mediterranean Cuisine: Medieval recipes for today (2018; first publ. 1995)
Wild Asparagus, Wild Strawberries: Two years in France (2018)
Bold Palates: Australia's Gastronomic Heritage (2012) 
Looking for Flavour (2009; first publ. 1996)
In the Land of the Magic Pudding: A gastronomic miscellany (2000)
McLaren Vale: Sea & Vines (1998)
What the Doctors Ordered: 150 years of dietary advice in Australia (1995) 
(as editor) Dining Alone: Stories from the Table for One (2013)
Professor Emeritus Barbara Santich is an internationally renowned food historian who developed the curriculum and core courses for the Graduate Program in Gastronomy at the University of Adelaide and was also Program Manager. This program, which represented a collaboration with Le Cordon Bleu, operated online and on-campus from 2002 to 2010. In 2012 it was replaced by the Graduate Program in Food Studies, for which she also designed the new curriculum. Barbara initiated and taught the first university course in food writing in Australia, the Graduate Certificate in Food Writing (2007-1015). Born and educated in NSW, she gained her first degree at the University of NSW (B.Sc. Hons I). Her fascination with languages and France developed into a sympathy with the ancient languages of Mediterranean France, which in turn led to a BA (University of Minnesota) and PhD (Flinders University of SA). Her thesis, Two Languages, Two Cultures, Two Cuisines investigated the foods and cuisine of Mediterranean France in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. She has continued her interest in the food history and culture of southern France in Eating in Eighteenth-Century Provence: The evolution of a tradition (London: Bloomsbury, 2023). Barbara has also researched Australian food history and culture. Her book Bold Palates: Australia's Gastronomic Heritage, explores the stories behind the foods, dishes, ways of cooking and ways of eating that are considered distinctively and characteristical...
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In 2005 Barbara was awarded both the inaugural Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Award for Teaching Excellence and the University's Stephen Cole The Elder Prize for Excellence in Teaching. In 2021 she was named in the Australian honours list with the award of AM.

 Barbara was the founding chair of the Scientific Commission for the Australian Ark of Taste (2003-2007)
Last updated on 07/08/2026 by Barbara Santich