Unique historical importance and modern appeal

So far this year, the Mediterranean diet has been touted as able to lower your cholesterol, reduce pain, increase your lifespan, ease depression and ‘cure’ ADHD. Whatever the real story might be, it’s clear that eating more fruit and vegetables, and less meat and processed foods, provides real benefit to health.

In Australia, this story begins with Philip E. Muskett, a colony-born physician with a calling to improve the health and wellbeing of new colonists who were struggling with the climate and lifestyle of the land Down Under.

Muskett’s seminal work was published in 1893. The Art of Living in Australia is an appeal to white Australians to embrace a southern European approach to food and climate.

Now, a new edition of The Art of Living in Australia, complete with index and original facsimiles, is available from Sydney University Press. This Australian classic offers a unique view on the daily lives of post-colonial Australians - and some anachronistic gems! - while also delivering over 300 Mediterranean-style recipes that predate the modern trend for healthy and natural eating by over 100 years.