Hetty McKinnon | Food stories – What She Did Next

Sharing recipes that celebrate family and community

Hetty McKinnon is a New York-based cook and food writer from Sydney, who is perhaps best known for her much-loved recipe books, Community, Neighbourhood and Family, and her salad-making venture that started it all, Arthur Street Kitchen.

A career in food wasn’t on the cards for Hetty early on. She actually spent her 20s working in fashion and beauty PR, before deciding to make a change in her 30s to find work that would better fit the lifestyle and flexibility she wanted, as a mum to three young kids.

As the story now famously goes, Hetty started making salads in her tiny terrace kitchen in Sydney’s Surry Hills, packing them up on her bike and delivering them around the neighbourhood. Before long, her loyal customers were asking for the recipes and three cookbooks later – with a fourth on the way – her delicious vegetarian creations have gone global, adored by home cooks around the world.

In this episode, Hetty talks about her cross-cultural upbringing, making the leap from PR to salad maker and self-publishing her first cookbook, which went on to become a national bestseller, as well as what life and work looks like now since starting afresh in New York with her family.