Donna Hay On ‘Perfectly Imperfect’ Cooking

The Good Food podcast
This week on the Good Food Podcast, Sam sits down with Australian food icon Donna Hay to talk about her new book Sunshine, Lemons & Sea Salt, the stories behind her signature style, and why sharing food is always better than serving individual plates. From turning down a job offer from Martha Stewart to creating one of the world’s most successful food magazines, Donna reflects on the career-defining moments that shaped her approach to cooking, publishing and creativity.
She also shares the inspiration behind her Disney+ series Coastal Celebration, explains what makes a recipe truly TV-worthy, and reveals why she’s encouraging a new generation of cooks to put down TikTok and pick up a trusted cookbook. Along the way, there’s plenty of laughter, a passionate defence of pavlova, a disastrous barbecue that ended with the fire brigade kicking down her front door and an unexpected deep dive into the Australian love affair with Delta Goodrem. Plus, Donna takes on our quick-fire questions, reveals her favourite recipe from the new book, and explains why good food is really all about good memories.
Bonus episode
Listen to the bonus cook-along episode.
Listen to more podcast episodes, including our Cook Smart podcast and Tom Kerridge podcast.