Mietta O'Donnell (6 January 19504 January 2001)
/ref> was a Melbourne-based

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

restaurateur A restaurateur is a person who opens and runs restaurants professionally. Although over time the term has come to describe any person who owns a restaurant, traditionally it refers to a highly skilled professional who is proficient in all aspec ...

chef A chef is a trained professional cook and tradesman who is proficient in all aspects of food preparation, often focusing on a particular cuisine. The word "chef" is derived from the term ''chef de cuisine'' (), the director or head of a kitche ...

and food writer, described in her later years as Australia's leading culinary publisher and

critic A critic is a person who communicates an assessment and an opinion of various forms of creative works such as art, literature, music, cinema, theater, fashion, architecture, and food. Critics may also take as their subject social or governmen ...

. She was also a noted arts and music patron, and a song competition is named in her honour.

Career

O'Donnell's grandparents were Italian migrants, Teresa and Mario Vigano, who arrived in Melbourne from Milan in 1928 to establish 'Mario's' restaurant in Exhibition Street, Melbourne, which they ran for over thirty years. O'Donnell, with her partner Tony Knox, opened her restaurant 'Mietta's' in Brunswick Street,

North Fitzroy Fitzroy North is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Cites of Merri-bek and Yarra local government areas. Fitzroy North recorded a population of 12,7 ...

in June 1974. 'Mietta's' moved in 1985 to Alfred Place in central Melbourne, eventually closing in 1995. In February 1992, Jex Saarelaht and Kate Ceberano performed at the restaurant. They recorded and later released an album titled ''

Open the Door - Live at Mietta's Australian singer Kate Ceberano has released 18 studio albums, three compilation albums, five live albums, two soundtrack album, and 44 singles. Albums Studio albums Live albums Soundtrack albums Compilation albums Singles As lead a ...

''. She was killed in a car accident in Tasmania while traveling to speak at a food and wine seminar. Her funeral was attended by over 1,000 people from the arts, politics, and the culinary world.

Mietta Song Competition

'Mietta's' restaurant had also become a salon of the arts, including music. In 1995, along with her partner Tony Knox, Len Vorster, Michael Easton and

Lauris Elms Lauris Margaret Elms (born 20 October 1931) is an Australian retired contralto, renowned for her roles in opera and lieder and as a recording artist. Biography She was born in Springvale, Victoria, the elder daughter of Harry Britton Elms and ...

, O'Donnell co-founded an annual art song competition which she ran herself. In 1996, it was named the City of Melbourne Song Recital Award. After her death in 2001, the competition was revived in 2003, as the Mietta Song Recital Award. Since 2004 it has been held every two years. It is now known as the Mietta Song Competition.Mietta Song Competition
Retrieved 24 February 2014

Publications

Books authored by O'Donnell include: * 1996 – ''Mietta and Friends''. Wilkinson Books: Melbourne. * 1999 – ''Great Australian Chefs''. (With Tony Knox). Schwartz Publishing: Melbourne. * 2000 – ''Mietta's Italian Family Recipes''. Black Inc.: Melbourne.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:ODonnell, Mietta 1950 births 2001 deaths 20th-century Australian writers 20th-century Australian women writers Australian chefs Australian food writers Australian restaurateurs Women restaurateurs Australian people of Italian descent Australian women writers Australian patrons of music Women food writers Women cookbook writers Road incident deaths in Tasmania Women chefs 20th-century philanthropists