Tess Mallos

Tess Mallos (née Anastasia Calopades) (25 January 1933 – 31 July 2012) was an Australian food and cooking writer, journalist, author, and commentator. She wrote a number of books on Greek and Middle Eastern cuisine.

Her parents, both from the Greek island of Kythera, emigrated to Australia where she was born and raised in the country town of Casino, New South Wales. Her father, Andonis Calopades arrived in Australia at the turn of the 20th century as an 11-year-old, and worked in the famous Kominos cafe in the central business district of Sydney. In 1919, he moved to Casino, where he ran the Marble Bar Cafe. Her mother was Calliope Manolliaras.

Mallos began her writing career in cooking as a freelance food consultant in advertising, creating and writing recipes for a wide range of food as well as preparing food for photography. Her first book in 1976 was the Greek Cook Book, which featured familiar recipes from her Greek heritage. Many books followed featuring recipes gathered from cuisines in the Mediterranean, Middle East and North Africa.

Mallos worked as food consultant to the Australian Meat Board, where she wrote editorials on meat cooking for some 80 publications throughout Australia, and 20 overseas countries. She also demonstrated her recipes in cooking segments on a number of Australian television cooking shows.

Mallos had three children.