The Pop Culture That Inspires Chef Shannon Martinez

The executive chef and pioneer of plant-based dining is about to release a new cookbook, Vegan Italian Food. Here’s what Shannon Martinez does when she’s not in the kitchen.

Portrait of chef Shannon Martinez trying spaghetti pomodoro made from her cookbook Vegan Italian Food

The last movie I saw was…

The Exorcist: Believer, although it wasn’t as scary as the original 1973 one. I really enjoy watching horror movies – the scarier the better. I’m constantly tinkering away on a computer or writing down stuff about food or ideas for the restaurant and the deli [Martinez owns Smith & Daughters and Smith & Deli in Melbourne] so I don’t really just sit and watch something without another thing happening at the same time. I find that horror movies are pretty engaging so they drag me in and I can focus a bit more – it takes quite a bit to scare me but they’re the only thing that makes me pay attention.

My favourite book is...

It’s hard to pick a favourite because I have more than 800 cookbooks – it’s an addiction! The last one I bought was Mosquito Supper Club: Cajun Recipes from a Disappearing Bayou [by Melissa M. Martin]. It’s traditional Creole food that you normally don’t get in Australia. But this is stuff from the South and New Orleans so there are recipes for gumbo and lots of seafood.

The last TV show I binged was…

The Bear, obviously! I’ll sit down and binge a series in a weekend. I find restaurants are actually busier in real life. The people in hospitality who say they can’t watch it because it’s too stressful – I don’t think they own the business they work for! When you’re the owner, it’s far more stressful than what’s depicted on the show.

The people I follow on social media…

I love looking for fashion on social media. I enjoy the challenge of finding clothes through thrift and vintage places online. I think because I’ve got ADHD [Martinez was diagnosed in 2020], I get fixated on trying to find, like, a pair of archival McQueen pants from the 1990s or something and then it absorbs my life for a month until I find them. The one Instagram account I’m loving at the moment is a guy called Elliot Duprey and he’s all about thrifting designer pieces, which is right up my alley.