Vale Greg Malouf
Chef and author Greg Malouf has died, aged 64.
Born in Melbourne to Lebanese parents, Malouf worked to develop modern Middle Eastern cuisine in Australia. He built his reputation at two restaurants, O’Connell’s in South Melbourne and later at MoMo in the city’s CBD, for which he was awarded two hats at the Age Good Food Guide Awards.
Malouf and his ex-wife, food journalist Lucy Malouf, co-authored eight books with Hardie Grant, beginning with Arabesque: Modern Middle Eastern Food in 1999, which was the first cookbook to be published by the company. The book Suqar: Desserts & Sweets from the Modern Middle East (also Hardie Grant) won the 2019 James Beard Award for baking and desserts.
Hardie Grant managing director Julie Pinkham writes:
Greg and Lucy came to a meeting with Sandy [Grant], Tracy O’Shaughnessy (our first editorial staff member), Fran Berry (our first marketer and comms person) and me in 1998. We had just started Hardie Grant a few months before, and in fact, they were meeting with the entire staff of Hardie Grant Books at that stage.
They had an idea for a book that introduced and explained Middle Eastern ingredients and their uses in dishes that were inventive but typical of Greg’s Lebanese background. You must remember this was pre-Ottolenghi! As a chef, Greg was not a great writer, but luckily his wife, Lucy, was. In the end, we decided on Arabesque: Modern Middle Eastern Food.
As a publisher, we knew we wanted to start some food publishing. The inventive creativity and diversity shown in Australia by our vibrant restaurants and cafes, not to mention the book designers and food media, meant that we could see a way to attract a market both in Australia and internationally if we explored this area. Little did we know that this would be the first step that would anchor Hardie Grant’s reputation in food and cookery publishing. The first book, Arabesque, was modest in scope with only a few photographs, largely relying on the discovery of this robust food culture and the significant reputation Greg had built at O’Connell’s restaurant in South Melbourne.
The book was a success, and we embarked on what became a series of elaborate and beautiful books of great adventure and discovery—with Greg and Lucy travelling to Lebanon (Saha), Turkey (Turquoise), and Iran (Saraban) to document and take inspiration from the thriving food cultures of these places. These books were much more ambitious, and they also defined Hardie Grant’s international reputation for excellence in food publishing.
To date, we have published eight books with Greg and Lucy, and the books have been published and marketed by many staff at Hardie Grant over the 26 years we’ve collaborated. Greg loved coming to the Hardie Grant head office and was always ready for a robust meeting and a good chat with most people in the office!
For the last few years, Roxy [Ryan] and I have been the consistent and main contacts for Greg. We have enjoyed a really collaborative and creative time working on these projects and with Greg and Lucy. After his move to Dubai, Greg ventured back to visit family and friends in Melbourne each year, and we were always on his list for a casual, hilarious and heartwarming lunch catch-up.
Greg pursued his dream of a book about Tangier for several years, which was held up by Covid lockdowns, amongst other things. But recently, Simon Davis embarked on working on their ninth book, which incorporated Tangier but had a broader scope. Simon commented that, even though he had only worked with Greg a comparatively short time, it was clear he was a special person—that bears out my experience and I will miss him very much.
Category: Obituaries
