Speakers Profile - Karen Martini










Travels From:
Melbourne

Fee Range: E


Karen Martini is an award-winning chef, restaurateur, author and television presenter. Her food message is drawn from her professional cooking career, her Tunisian-Italian heritage, and from the challenges of feeding nutritious and stimulating food to her young family.

Karen was the founding chef at the critically acclaimed Melbourne Wine Room and Sydney's Icebergs Dining Room and Bar. As executive chef of both restaurants she held two chef's hats in Sydney and Melbourne, and won, with Icebergs, the 2004 Best New Restaurant Award from the Sydney Morning Herald. After fifteen years at The Melbourne Wine Room Karen and her partner, Michael Sapountsis sold in 2011 to pursue new projects. Karen and Michael still own and run St Kilda's much-loved pizzeria, Mr. Wolf, which they launched in 2004.

Karen was the food editor for The Age's Sunday Life Magazine for six years. She has contributed several articles to The Australian, and is the current food editor for The Age's Epicure lift out. Karen is the author of three cookbooks, Feasting, Cooking at Home, and Where the Heart Is, as well as regularly publishing recipes, opinions, videos and news at www.karenmartini.com.

For the last six years Karen has been the resident chef on Australia's longest running lifestyle television series, Better Homes and Gardens, along the way sharing in five consecutive Logie Awards. Karen appears as a regular judge on Seven's hit reality cooking program, My Kitchen Rules, and was the regular chef on Lifestyle Caf�, a 13 part series on The Lifestyle Channel.


Over the years, Karen has cooked for many charity functions, as well as demonstrating and presenting at events and festivals. Karen has been a key presenter at The Melbourne Food & Wine Festival and will again present in 2013. In October she will be a Showcase presenter at the 2012 Sydney International Food Festival and later this year will anchor a live auditorium show based on My Kitchen Rules.