SAN FRANCISCO – Bill Granger, the Australian chef, food writer and restaurant owner who brought Aussie-style food to international capitals from London to Seoul, has died. He was 54.

Granger’s family said on social media Tuesday that the chef died in a hospital in London on Christmas Day.

“A dedicated husband and father, Bill died peacefully in hospital with his wife Natalie Elliott and three daughters, Edie, Ins and Bunny, at his bedside in their adopted home of London,” the family statement said. It gave no further details.

Born in 1969 in Melbourne, Australia, Granger was a self-taught cook who launched a chef’s career over three decades after dropping out of art school. He opened his first restaurant in 1993 in the Sydney suburb of Darlinghurst, where he soon became known for his breakfasts served at a central communal table.

  • Quokka
    cake
    link
    fedilink
    English
    626 months ago

    Who?

    If anyone bought avo on toast to the world it was that entitled fuck who said to stop buying if we wanted a house.

  • @piecat@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    326 months ago

    Did he really though?

    Sliced or mashed avocado has been eaten on some sort of bread, flatbread, or tortilla (often heated or toasted) since humans first started consuming bread and avocados, and before any documented or written history.

    According to The Washington Post, chef Bill Granger may have been the first person to put avocado toast on a modern café menu in 1993 in Sydney,[9] although the dish is documented in Brisbane, Australia, as early as 1929

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avocado_toast

    • @misophist@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      156 months ago

      Do you deny that there has been a massive growth in the worldwide popularity of “avocado toast” in the past few decades?

      • @Patches@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        English
        6
        edit-2
        6 months ago

        Given the rise of the internet given the timeline (Chef since 1993).

        There’s been a massive growth of everything in popularity except maybe Nu Metal.

        Did Strongbad invent comics? Because there’s been massive growth since he did it.

    • @mateomaui@reddthat.com
      link
      fedilink
      English
      13
      edit-2
      6 months ago

      I think “to the world” in this context means to a larger audience of people who had never heard of it before and didn’t live in a area where it was a common thing. So possibly yes. Or maybe no. Probably a shared effort either way.

    • Victor
      link
      fedilink
      English
      66 months ago

      since humans first started consuming bread and avocados, and before any documented or written history.

      So how do we know if it’s before documented history?

      • @Skates@feddit.nl
        link
        fedilink
        English
        126 months ago

        When you try to read the epic of gilgamesh and the first 5 pages describe how to pick ripe avocados smh

          • @piecat@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            16 months ago

            It’s documented in early human works and there’s nobody who wrote about discovering it in those early human works.

            Actually, nobody discovered it until this chef guy apparently.

            • Victor
              link
              fedilink
              English
              16 months ago

              Right but I’m not talking about discovering it, I’m talking about: how do we know humans have been consuming it “before any documented or written history” if there’s no record of it? Archaeologists found ancient leftovers? Just curious.

  • @ninjan@lemmy.mildgrim.com
    link
    fedilink
    English
    226 months ago

    The story doesn’t really work out? I mean if he started his first restaurant at 24 how could he have launched his chef career 3 decades after dropping out of art school?

    Further if art school is supposed to be college level he barely even stayed alive long enough to live three decades post dropping out…

    • @Stamau123@lemmy.worldOP
      link
      fedilink
      English
      376 months ago

      I thinks it’s bad punctuation or grammar

      He launched his three decade chef career after dropping out of Art school

      • @ninjan@lemmy.mildgrim.com
        link
        fedilink
        English
        15
        edit-2
        6 months ago

        That makes sense. But that is a really piss poor sentence.

        Especially since it’s literally “Who launched a chef’s career over three decades after dropping out of art school”

        That s on decades and “over” kills any ambiguity, but a comma after decades would make it passable, a semi colon and changing to “; after he dropped out of art school” would make it crystal clear.

  • @Stamau123@lemmy.worldOP
    link
    fedilink
    English
    156 months ago

    I hope when I grow up I can one day own an avocado of my very own!

    Serving breakfast at one large communal table sounds like a cool idea actually.

    • lurch (he/him)
      link
      fedilink
      English
      196 months ago

      Oh it is, but it’s an entry level drug. Soon you’ll be deep frying snickers and slow cooking an entire pig.

      • SteefLem
        link
        fedilink
        English
        86 months ago

        Isnt deep fried mars bars a thing somewhere i think?

          • SteefLem
            link
            fedilink
            English
            3
            edit-2
            6 months ago

            Well if they eat enough of the fried mars bars, you can then roll them into the sauna and you have slow cooking pig

              • @feedum_sneedson@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                English
                26 months ago

                It’s a milky way with a soft caramel layer, also the nougat is a bit different. Honestly they’re better battered and deep fried, it’s like it’s wrapped in a pancake and melted. Maybe a corndog batter is similar - it looks similar - but I’ve never had one. Anyway you should never eat one because it’s not food, it’s poison with calories.

                • @Brekky@lemmy.world
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  16 months ago

                  The milky ways in America have a soft caramel layer? I say this as a Scot living in America whose constantly trying to remember which way round Milky Way/Mars bars & Three Musketeers go.

            • @HeyJoe@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              English
              16 months ago

              Only specialty places, and that makes me sad… Mars, Maltesers, and Flake bars are my favorite things I never get to have due to availability. In the end I think it’s a good thing I can only have these like once a year if I am lucky.

      • @TurboHarbinger@feddit.cl
        link
        fedilink
        English
        -36 months ago

        Is not like I would care after.

        Besides I must say I certainly haven’t created something that already existed for centuries. Especially in other countries. (/s)

  • @aeronmelon@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    -86 months ago

    Avocado toast is stupid, but he didn’t deserve to die so young.

    And it really sucks to have Christmas of all days overshadowed by your father’s/husband’s death.

    • @Fenrisulfir@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      English
      146 months ago

      Im really curious about your opinions. Do you hate avocados specifically or just on toast? Or do you just hate things on toast in general? What about bagels?

      • @Earthwormjim91@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        76 months ago

        Avocado toast itself is a great meal. If you make it at home, it’s a cheap meal full of good fats that will keep you full for a while.

        Avocado toast in a cafe or something is stupid because they charge $15-20 for something that costs $1 to make.

    • @deegeese@sopuli.xyz
      link
      fedilink
      English
      36 months ago

      That’s stupid like saying buttered bread is stupid.

      It’s not some trendy thing, people have been mashing avocado on toast for 140 years.

      • @aeronmelon@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        -46 months ago

        Putting butter on bread is kinda stupid if you’re not going to at least toast the bread first.

        And if avocado toast is so old, why are people saying a 54-year-old invented it?

        This guy was a chef, a family man, and a business owner. Making avocado toast can’t have been his only claim to fame.