Growing up in a Calabrese family where the connection to food and the land shaped her passion for food it was a natural progression for one former Bunbury cook to one-day share her culinary secrets.
With cooking in her genes and heart Liliana Battle recently released her third cookbook after finding success on Master Chef.
“I’m originally from Bunbury, most of my family still live there and I still have a lot of connections there,” she said.
“Cooking is in my blood, people would remember my mum and dad had an Italian food store in the centre of town.
“After getting married and cooking for my own family and having people over, people started to tell me it was something that I wasn’t bad at.
“So I decided to enter Master Chef and I did really well.
“I came off just before Top 10 and came home and then decided I needed to do something with this so I got a book publishing deal.”
The Sweet Life Home-baking and Sweet Treats Italian Style is Ms Battle’s third book, which showcases a diverse range of Italian baking and sweet treats.
“The Sweet Life had to come about because every time I wrote a book there was always so many sweet recipes that I to delete,” she said.
“There’s lots of family recipes, or ones I’ve interpretative from classics things that I’ve come across in the things that I’ve done and people who have inspired me.
“Cooking is what brings people together, to me there is nothing more than you can do for someone that says I love you, it’s nourishment.
“Food for me personally holds so many memories.
“Eating or making something can transport you back in time to remember a certain person or an occasion.
“I just think that is the beautiful thing about food is that it brings people together.”
When she’s not busy testing recipes for her latest cookbook Ms Battle writes a food blog called Liliana’s Kitchen and runs her own successful catering business.
The Sweet Life, Home-baking and sweet treats Italian style by Liliana Battle is available now at Collins Bookstore Bunbury and online.
