We are what we ate: inside the new exhibition celebrating the history of food in WA

Do you remember buying 1¢ and 2¢ lollies at the corner shop? Do you remember the 80s power-dressing sophistication and glamour that defined destinations such as Hilite33 and The Mediterranean in Subiaco?

What about the excitement surrounding the moment WA’s population broke the one-million mark (March 1971) – and were you lucky enough to score an invite to the state dinner to mark the occasion?

Do you remember what pie and baked goods doyenne Mrs Mac’s name was before she got married? (Hint: it was Bakewell Goods.)

Or how about when West Perth, circa the late 1960s, housed Italian institutions such as D’Orsogna and the Re Store, and how these institutions had to relocate when most of the suburb was bulldozed to make way for the Mitchell Freeway?

Remember when taking train journeys meant getting fed along the way? Or when Mounts Bay Road at the foot of King’s Park was planted to market gardens?

And do you remember, like the famous ad from homegrown fast food success Red Rooster goes, Aussie Sundays? When the chook, was worth the wait?

Put simply, do you remember the foods, restaurants and people – prior to the advent of smartphones, social media and viral TikTok trends – that helped feed, grow and, in many ways, define Western Australia?

A Recipe For Life: The Food That Shapes Us – a new State Library of Western Australia exhibition that opens this weekend – is a deep-dive into the diverse, surprising and, at times, unusual food history of Western Australia.

Compiled using materials retrieved from the library’s Aladdin’s Cave of menus, photos, books and other printed materials, it offers a snapshot of the past 60,000 years, as seen through the lens of how and what we eat.

“The State Library is incredibly proud of our rich and diverse collection,” says Catherine Clark, the library’s chief executive and state librarian.

“Food triggers strong memories and opinions and there are fascinating stories to be found in the exhibition.”

While the exhibition has its share of covetable, crowd-pleasing throwbacks – there’s a real Warhol-esque quality to the framed Chicken Treat lightbox photo, retro menus and print ads have been collated into wallpaper, and 80s fashion and poppy Technicolor photos feature prominently – A Recipe For Life is more than a celebration of the kitschy, aesthetics of yesteryear.

Rather, the exhibition’s raison d’être, according to guest curator and cultural journalist and author Julian Tompkin, is to use food to understand and appreciate the diverse history of WA and its people.

“It was never just a British story,” says Tompkin, who spent six months digging through the library’s archives to gather material for the exhibition.

“It includes the stories of the Chinese migrants that were here and those of the [Afghan] cameleers and how they weave into the flavours of Western Australia and how that influence is still apparent today.

“Food is one of the few things that connect us all and the library is home to all these extraordinary tales that really plot the discourse and history of Western Australia.”

As part of the exhibition, the library also recorded oral history videos from six prominent West Australian food figures including Nyoongar elder Dale Tilbrook of Dale Tilbrook Experiences and Maalinup Aboriginal Gallery; Blaze Young, the executive chef of Edward & Ida’s, Nieuw Ruin and Foxtrot Unicorn; and George Kailis, the Kailis Hospitality Group impresario behind Cottesloe’s two-hatted restaurant, Gibney.

Highlights from these histories have been compiled into a 25-minute video that will screen as part of the exhibition.

A Recipe For Life: The Food That Shapes Us is showing at the State Library of Western Australia from September 20 to March 22, 2026. Entry is free.

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