Caroline Westmore
The saying “Fruit is just a vegetable with looks and money” (anon) fascinates Caroline Westmore because the company she established, Gusto Styling, has specialised in dressing up fruit and vegetables for years.
Caroline has broad food industry experience from early beginnings running the Australian Dairy Corporation test kitchen to almost 20 years in running her own business - covering radio and television appearances, live cooking shows, recipe development, product development and food styling. Today, major clients include McCormick foods, where Caroline is Culinary Manager and Australian Mushroom Growers where she is State Promotions Coordinator for Victoria. Providing freelance food styling services for many other food companies also means Caroline’s work probably greets you at every turn in the supermarket aisle.
“Wow…what a wonderful vegetable asparagus is,” says Caroline. “As a food stylist, it is of course so visually beautiful it is hard not to include it all the time in dishes, but as a cookery writer and of course an eater, it also has so many benefits. I love just thick steamed asparagus, simply with butter, a squeeze of lemon and cracked black pepper as my favourite. I also love asparagus, steamed green beans and toasted almonds - yum. A simple salad of asparagus, mushrooms, and a light soy dressing and sesame seeds is so easy, and I always have asparagus spears on a crudités plate.
On a recent trip to Spain I discovered white asparagus in everything - my favourite being a simple tuna and mixed olive salad with lots of fresh leaves. Asparagus crumbled with feta and good olive oil is also delicious, and it is so easy to wrap spears in foil with butter and herbs and steam them on the BBQ.”
You can find out more about Caroline at www.gustostyling.com.au
Try one of Caroline’s asparagus recipes:
Curry Beef, Asparagus and Greens