Charmaine Solomon facts for kids

Charmaine Maureen Solomon, born in 1930, is a famous Australian cook. She has written 31 cookbooks! She also created her own special spice mixes and marinades. Many people, including The Sydney Morning Herald, call her "the Queen of Asian cooking in Australia."

She is known for helping Australian families discover Asian food. Her book, The Complete Asian Cookbook, came out in 1976. It has sold over one million copies and is available in five languages. This book is considered one of Australia's most important cookbooks.

About Charmaine Solomon

Charmaine Maureen Poulier was born in Colombo, Ceylon. This country is now known as Sri Lanka. Her parents were from a group called the Burgher people. Her mother was originally from Burma.

When she was 18, Charmaine started working at the Ceylon Daily News. This was an English newspaper. She helped edit the women's pages. She interviewed many interesting people. These included royalty, movie stars, and authors. She also covered social events.

In 1956, she married Reuben Kelly Solomon. He was a musician from Rangoon. They had two daughters. In 1959, they moved to Australia. Later, they had two sons there.

Her Cooking Journey

Charmaine taught herself to cook. This helped her feel more comfortable in a new country. Her husband, Reuben, worked at night as a musician.

In 1964, she entered a cooking competition. It was called the Woman's Day Butter White Wings Bake Off. She came in second place! This caught the eye of another cookbook author, Margaret Fulton.

Margaret Fulton invited Charmaine to work at Woman's Day magazine. Charmaine worked there for 11 years. For three of those years, she was the food editor. After that, she became the cookery editor for Belle magazine.

She also wrote regularly for newspapers. These included The Sun-Herald and The Sydney Morning Herald. She was also the food editor for Family Circle magazine for three years.

Her Famous Cookbooks

Charmaine's first book was South East Asian Cookbook. It was published in 1972. Her most famous book, The Complete Asian Cookbook, came out in 1976. Over the next 30 years, she wrote 29 more books!

Awards and Recognition

Charmaine Solomon has received many awards for her work.

• In 2007, she received the Medal of the Order of Australia. This award was for her great service to food media. It especially recognized her Asian cookery books.
• Her book, Encyclopaedia of Asian Food, won a silver medal. This was at the 1996 Julia Child Cookbook Awards. It also won a silver ladle in 1997. This was at the World Food Media Best Food Book awards.
• Charmaine and Reuben created a line of spice pastes and marinades. These won a Jaguar Award for Excellence in 1998.
• In 2002, she won Best Vegetarian Book in English. This was for her book The Complete Vegetarian Cookbook. It was awarded at the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards.