For most Australians of a certain age, Peter Russell-Clarke will always be fondly remembered for his 1980s cooking program Come and Get It. These five-minute shows featured on the ABC for nine years, with more than 900 episodes airing in total. As well as sharing recipes and cooking techniques, the program also educated viewers about produce, food production and food history. The chef became renowned for his catchphrases like ‘G’day’, ‘See ya later’ and the classic, ‘Where’s the cheese?’, which came from his television advertisements for the Australian Dairy Corporation. 

Credit: Alex Coppel

But there was so much more to this gifted and accomplished man, who has been described as a ‘polymath’ (a person of great and varied learning, as per Macquarie Dictionary). Russell-Clarke began his career as an artist and cartoonist, before working as a food consultant for magazines and publishing dozens of cookbooks. He ran a pop-up restaurant in Melbourne long before they were a ‘thing’, featured in a film alongside Derryn Hinch and Angry Anderson, was appointed as a food ambassador to the United Nations and even cooked for royalty, including the Duke of Edinburgh and the former Prince of Wales, now King Charles III. 

Credit: Alex Coppel

Russell-Clarke continued to paint throughout his life, with his artworks featured in exhibitions both here and overseas. In 2024, he shared with the National Portrait Gallery his thoughts about how painting and cooking brought him similar joys:

“…with painting… you’re mucking around with colour, form, texture, shape. And with cooking, you’re doing the same thing… cooking is not following a recipe book. Cooking is your imagination, and painting is your imagination.”

Russell-Clarke is survived by his wife Jan, two children and three grandchildren. 

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