Margaret Fulton's 97th Birthday

In 1970s Australian kitchens, no other cookbooks were more common than those authored by beloved Scottish-born Australian food writer and journalist Margaret Fulton. Today’s Doodle celebrates Fulton’s 97th birthday and her legacy of spicing up the Australian palate with international cuisine.  

Born on this day in 1924 in Nairn, Scotland, Margaret Fulton emigrated to New South Wales at three years old. At 18, Fulton moved to Sydney in the hope of becoming a dress designer, but after hearing a prediction that the food industry would boom in post-war Australia, she instead pursued a career in cookery. In 1947, Fulton took a position as a cooking teacher for a utility company, where she found her passion for developing easy-to-follow recipes while teaching a class for visually impaired home cooks. 

Fulton refined her recipes in the decades that followed while working as a pressure cooker salesperson, advertising executive, and food journalist. In 1968, she published the first of 25 cookbooks titled “The Margaret Fulton Cookbook” which has sold over 1.5 million copies.    

Although international fare was already the standard in countless kitchens around the continent, the bulk of the Anglo-Australian populace had retained a relatively simple culinary tradition for decades. Thanks to innovators such as Fulton who were inspired by these cooking traditions, many Australian households broke convention to embrace new ways to feed their families—a powerful cultural phenomenon that contributed to the country’s modern status as a culinary melting pot. 

Happy birthday, Margaret Fulton—here’s to your gastronomical impact on the world of food!

Special thanks to the family of Margaret Fulton for their partnership on this project. Below, Margaret Fulton’s granddaughter Kate Gibbs shares her thoughts on her legacy.  

She was a woman who forged the way for other female cooks, stepping outside the stereotypes and what was expected of most young women at the time. She always had us laughing, but she could hold intelligent conversations with any person, from chefs in restaurant back kitchens (she would even disappear during a meal to go and chat with them) to academics, children, and her own family.

She showed us how to cook spaghetti Bolognese and paella, but also that the best food is about simple, in-season ingredients. She taught Australia how to cook, and in this way she was a culinary pioneer. We loved her. She is deeply missed. She inspired each of us. My sister Louise Keats, myself, and my mother Suzanne Gibbs have all gone into food because Margaret showed us that if you can cook, and teach people how to cook and eat well, you can make people happy and even change their lives. This is her legacy.  

 Kate Gibbs, Margaret Fulton’s granddaughter with Margaret

Photo courtesy of Margaret Fulton’s Family

Margaret Fulton and Louise Keats

Photo courtesy Margaret Fulton’s Family

Margaret Fulton with daughter Suzanne Gibbs 

Photo courtesy of Margaret Fulton’s Family 

Margaret Fulton at the cutting board

Photo courtesy of Margaret Fulton’s Family 

From left: Kate Gibbs; Margaret Fulton, Louise Keats

Photo courtesy of Margaret Fulton’s Family