Thankfully the matriach of Australian cookery doesn't plan on hanging up her apron quite yet. Speaking at the National Library yesterday at a launch of the publication, Margaret Fulton: A Celebration, she said Australian food culture had changed significantly since she began writing cookbooks after the end of World War II, when new and unfamiliar foodstuffs began arriving on store shelves.

Her early recipes encouraged Australian housewives to vary the Australian staples of "meat and three vegetables" and to be creative with food.

"It is hard to get a good tomato or a nice fresh egg in the metropolitan cities these days. There is a lot more variety of produce around which is wonderful for cooking but the quality seems to be diminishing which is very disappointing.

"In this country you used to be able to get very high quality fruit and vegetables," she said.

Fulton was the first, and considered by many the greatest, of Australian celebrity cookery writers. More than four million of her cookbooks have sold worldwide over a career spanning more than 50 years.

Margaret Fulton: A Celebration is a volume of four essays, which includes recipes for some of Fulton's favourite dishes, and recognises her dedication to her profession and the impact of her work on generations of Australians.

Before she began influencing a broader audience, it was Fulton's family who were the test tasters of a variety of foreign cuisines.

"I remember at my daughter Suzanne's 10th birthday party she requested brains noisette and black butter sauce. Everyone was a little hesitant to try but they soon enough realised it was rather good."

Fulton has spent hundreds of hours in a test kitchen over the years, ironing the kinks out of recipes. She is coy when asked whether there is the occasional failure.

"Ah that's secret, you see. They never make it to publication."