Maggie Beer, sassy and successful at 70: ‘I want to show age has nothing to do with it’
MAGGIE Beer’s insatiable appetite for living is a feature on the hit series, The Great Australian Bake Off. She also is proof that age is irrelevant.
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WATCHING Maggie Beer devour a mouthful of cake on The Great Australian Bake Off this season should have come with its own classification within, what is otherwise, a very PG-rated show.
As so-called “food porn” goes, this was as good as it gets for those who like to watch others in the act of making, baking and then partaking in The Great Australian Bake Off’s diet-breaking delights.
Anyone who caught a single episode in the surprising hit for Foxtel’s LifeStyle FOOD channel this year will know what I’m talking about.
The woman who gave Australia its exotic taste for pheasant pate, quince jam and burnt fig ice cream clearly savoured every chance she got on the show to indulge in her passion for food, for life.
And much to her chagrin, the cameras dutifully lingered on Beer’s every bite, turning each blind tasting into an Eyes Wide Shut sensual experience.
Ask Beer about her tendency to inhale every fork full with such libidinous relish and the cheeky cook protests: “oh stop no, I’m too embarrassed to watch myself back on the show and I think the (episodes) I have watched I think, ‘those buggers are always showing me eating and not the other people. Let me tell you, Matt (Moran, her co-star) ate as much as I did,” she adds with a conspiratorial giggle.
The judging duo’s mutual naughtiness certainly spiced up the series, a sort of bakers-only version of MasterChef, which crowns its first winner next week.
The program has long been a ratings phenomenon in Britain, where co-hosts Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood are cult figures in the food TV world – building a reputation for their racy puns and double entendres as much as for the show’s spectacular cooking creations.
While, Beer and Moran, along with co-hosts Mel Buttle and Claire Hooper, didn’t over egg the pudding as much as their UK counterparts, the frivolity on set was obvious on air.
“(Matt) is cheeky and I love cheeky,” Beer told NewsCorp Australia. “It’s such fun to work and Mel and Claire, well, the four of us laughed the whole time. They cracked us up with their one-liners. You saw the ones which made the show, but there were an awful lot more which didn’t make the cut. It was such a positive environment. The crew were great, and the contestants so lovely too.”
Audiences clearly responded, with the program confirmed for a second season after drawing record local ratings for the subscription channel (averaging a cumulative weekly audience of 420,000 people nationally).
Beer is no small part in that success, her brand of accessible sophistication, warmth and experience shining through in each episode.
Moran, who boasts his own loyal following across nine current restaurants and a 31-year career, is the first to sing his co-star’s praises, in and out of the kitchen.
“She’s a bit naughtier than everybody thinks. She’s not that typical grandmother and when she said (on the show, innocently) ‘oh I don’t know what you’re talking about’… she knows exactly what you’re talking about,” he giggled.
“When she put that spotted dick (sausage) in her mouth and said it exploded with flavour in her mouth, she knew exactly what she was saying.”
Saucy titbits aside, Moran is serious when he added: “can I be honest with you? I think I am a better person in life for knowing Maggie Beer and the reason being is she cares. She cares about people. She cares about life. She gives a shit. She’s all for the better of the world and the better of everybody. She makes f*#king ice cream for everyone, for God’s sake. She’s just a bloody good woman.”
Taking over the mantle from cooking heroines like Margaret Fulton, Beer shared her vast knowledge with The Great Australian Bake Off competitors as readily as she soaked up new techniques and recipes from them.
In this week’s grand finale, she challenges the last-trio-standing to recreate her Cornucopia cake, a complicated, 10-layer recipe testing both technical ability and time management.
For Beer, it was a challenge for her as much as it was show-stopping proof of her own cooking credentials.
“If it challenges me, I figured it might challenge them. It’s all about the detail, you see and everything being luscious. It has to look good, of course, but it can’t just look good it has to be a beautiful mouthful. It has to excite you and no just be something that’s sweet. It has to have balance and that’s always my whole thing.”
That philosophy - an insatiable appetite for learning and living – is at the heart of Beer’s gourmet food empire, based in Adelaide’s Barossa Valley with a reach across Australia and beyond.
Honoured as the Australian senior of the year in 2010, Beer has lost none of her vim and vigour since that accolade, campaigning for better aged care services and against age discrimination.
“I think we have a real problem with ageism and I want to show age has nothing to do with it,” she said. “I’m 70 and I love my life. I’ve got as much energy as anyone else and that comes from doing what I love and being a positive person. I cannot bear for people to be thought of as old just because of the years. People who are certain years think they’re old, but they should just be enjoying life.”
Echoing the gender protest made by singer Tina Arena at this year’s ARIA music awards (calling out the radio industry for ignoring women over 40) and media mogul Oprah Winfrey’s recent reinforcement of her stand, stating “I only got going at 40,” Beer said the same age was also a turning point in her life.
“Absolutely 40 was (critical) for me. Before then I didn’t have confidence in my own ability. My husband (Colin) had confidence in me far before I ever did. You just always worried that people were making too much of you,” she said.
Growing up in western Sydney, she was married in 1970, before the young couple moved to South Australia in 1973 (establishing their renowned Pheasant Farm Shop and restaurant six years later).
By 40, Beer said: “there’s a maturity and an understanding you are your own person and you’re not trying to please everyone and you’re comfortable with that. I’m very comfortable in my own skin but it took me until 40.”
The Great Australian Bake Off finale airs 8.30pm, Tuesday on Foxtel’s LifeStyle FOOD
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