 Aunty Phil |
New sub-fund to support second and third year apprentice chefs who might be disadvantaged through financial or family circumstances … Phyllis Budd (or Aunty Phil as she was affectionately known) came to Australia as a cook/nanny in July 1958 and soon took up a chef’s position at a suburban hotel in Melbourne’s west run by the Caneva family.
Phyllis had just turned 40 and had spent her life ‘in service’, as the English called it, working in the kitchens of all the big London houses, several with Royal connections, since the age of 13.
She was one of 11 children and the only one not to marry. She looked after her parents until they died and then decided to emigrate. She came to Australia for the sunshine, to swim in the sea and to escape the sleet and snowy slush of Southhampton winters.
In her suitcase were her trusty “Mrs. Beaton” cookbooks. She immediately became part of the family at the Strand Hotel run by Bert and Roma Caneva – Italians with a family history in the hotel/restaurant business.
The youngest son Jon was just 4 when Aunty Phil took over the hotel kitchen and the shared care of the children. Lina was just 13 months old.
“By the time Michele came along in 1961, Aunty Phil was assuredly our second mother. Mum, Roma treated her like a sister and we shared our lives together,” recalls Lina.
Phyllis called herself a ‘cook’ and as the years progressed she became well known by the hotel patrons for her ‘beer battered fish’, roasts with Yorkshire pudding, decorated pigs heads and wonderful pancakes along with an enviable work ethic.
She was very particular about her fresh produce and cuts of meat and traveled to the market gardens of Werribee on weekends with the ‘kids’ in her little blue Hillman Minx car, she called Hilary, to pick up dozens of fresh eggs for her kitchen.
Cooking was a mainstay in her life and cooking has always been part of the Caneva family. Grand father Giovanni Batista trained as a chef, as did Bert Caneva and then young Jon trained with one of Melbourne’s renowned ‘spaghetti mafia’ families; the Viganos.
Jon’s youngest son David then trained as a chef and his oldest son, Daniel is the licensee of the Post Office Hotel in Coburg, which was named The Age newspaper’s Pub of the Year for its food in 2010.
Since Aunty Phil’s passing, Jon, Lina and Michele have wanted to remember her life and love of cooking by encouraging 2nd and 3rd year apprentice chefs to stick with it.
“Many start first year but some struggle to keep going either due to work pressure or family and financial issues.
Aunty Phil would have loved to encourage them to keep going and not to give up. Hers was an organized kitchen that ran well even under the pressure of 300 lunches on a 40-degree day.
This Fund under the Melbourne Community Foundation hopes to assist apprentice chefs in financial hardship or other disadvantage, to remain in the course, providing them with much needed uniforms, tools of the trade including chefs’ knives and even a chance to travel overseas for work experience.
The restaurant trade has enthusiastically come together to help launch the Phyllis Budd Fund.
Lina’s godson, Daniel Rahilly currently works at the Richmond Enoteca and is in his fourth year as an apprentice chef, having worked for renowned chefs from Ezards and St Jude.
He and his mother Annie have joined the Caneva family on the advisory committee to help chose the funding recipients.
“When our mother passed away in 1977, Phyllis was on her first trip home to England. She rushed back to Australia to look after us, especially Michele who was just 16 years old,” said Lina.
“She comforted us with her cooking and her home remedies for just about everything, always encouraging us to do our best.”
“That’s why we want to keep her memory alive in young chefs in Australia; her adopted home.”
She passed away in July 2008 after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease.