Were the domestic lives of Aussie women of the 1950s and early 1960s more attuned to CWA scones and roasts or Cordon Bleu cuisine?

CQUniversity researcher and oral historian Jill Adams is keen to find out.

Researcher and oral historian Jill Adams and Professor Donna Lee Brien chat about the Dione Lucas Cookbook

For her PhD thesis, Ms Adams is keen to chat with women who attended cooking classes and/or demonstrations in the 1950s and early 1960s; in particular those who saw demonstrations by visiting American chef Mrs Dione Lucas.

"I am keen to talk to anyone who may have been to any of Dione Lucas' demonstrations and would ask people to contact me on 0431 038 810 if they have any memories of her."

"I am also interested in talking to women who ran homes in the 1950s and early 1960s to find out what cookbooks they used and how they used them ... and of course their memories of cooking during that time."

Ms Adams, whose PhD research is supervised by Professor Donna Lee Brien, says culinary nostalgia would have us believing that the 1950s in Australia was dominated by Country Women's Association jams and preserves, roast lamb and sponge cakes.

In fact, many Australian women had more exotic tastes and thousands of them flocked to Dione Lucas' cooking-as-art demonstrations in Melbourne and Sydney in 1956, 1958 and 1960.

"Mrs Lucas had a TV cooking show in America in the 1940s and Americans watched her deft-fingered cooking techniques on TV every day," Ms Adams says.

Researcher and oral historian Jill Adams with the Dione Lucas Cookbook

"Her demonstrations promised to give Australian housewives hints on careful shopping and transforming simple ingredients, such as rabbit, into culinary masterpieces.

"An estimated 4000 women saw her demonstrate at David Jones in Sydney either in person or on one of the 100 TV sets positioned around the store. At Myer Emporium in Melbourne a special demonstration kitchen was constructed and Dione's demonstrations could be seen at 24 locations around the store, including Myer's window."

Ms Adams says Dione Lucas was the perfect person to demonstrate cooking in Australia in the 1950s.

"She was born in Britain and spoke with an English accent studded with Americanisms. She trained at Cordon Bleu in Paris and she had a very popular TV cooking show in America, and ran a restaurant and cooking school in New York.

"She had cooked for British Royalty and American celebrities. She was slim, attractive with long brown hair tied in a bun and a very experienced teacher and cookery presenter."

Ms Adams does have an affinity with the story she is researching, as she also trained as a Cordon Bleu chef, including travelling to Paris in the late 1970s for an intensive course (her nickname was Kangourou). She worked in the UK as a 'cordon bleu cook' and even cooked for royalty at Kensington Palace.

Ms Adams ran a successful café and cooking school in Melbourne and later on, became the national barista trainer for Lavazza coffee, and set up a successful coffee training centre in Melbourne for William Angliss Institute. She has written a number of books including a cookbook.