Matthew Caldicott
Accountant (NSW)
AGE: 21
HOME TOWN: SYDNEY, NSW
MARITAL STATUS: SINGLE
COOKING STYLE: MODERN AUSTRALIAN WITH FRENCH INFLUENCE
Possessing artistic flair and mouth watering creativity when it comes to food just doesn’t add up for Matthew. The 21-year-old is a third generation accountant, and by rites, should be more interested in the cost of ingredients rather than the flavours they exude. But Matthew is no ordi- nary number cruncher. He loves the feeling he gets in his heart when he creates a culinary work of art, and can’t get enough of reading cookbooks. “My dad is an accountant, my uncle is an accountant, and my grandfather was an accountant,” says Matthew, revealing his family is concerned about the risk of him leaving a mapped career path. “It’s always been expected of me that I would be an accountant. I never met my grandfather but he gave up accountancy and become an artist for Coca-Cola. I’ve always had an artistic flair in my body so I think the creativity must come from him. “When I’m cooking, it’s an escape for me to do something creative and I try to make my food look as beautiful as possible, and it’s a chance for me to express myself.”
His colourful world away from the black and white of numbers began when he was studying at university and be- came a gym junkie. “I’d get home after the gym and cook dinner,” says Matthew, who names Peter Gilmore from Sydney’s Quay restaurant as his favourite chef. “Pretty soon I was cooking every night of the week and really started to get into it. I love cooking intricate dishes, and I guess my style is Modern Australian cooked in the French style.”
Matthew learned from a young age that dinner time with his parents John and Lisa, and older sister Alison, was sacred. Indeed a nice, home cooked dinner is the very essence of his family. “I’ve been raised in a family where my mum has always put a home cooked meal on the dinner table, every single day for my entire life,” explains Matthew, who dreams of one day training in France before owning a restaurant. “I’ve literally never had dinner in front of the TV, the radio is never on, and it’s always family time, with all of us around the table talking. “It’s made me the person that I am because I’ve always had that communication with my parents and have been able to talk about anything with them. I never used to think that was unique until I’d speak to some friends and they just had dinner in front of the TV on their own.” “I just want to be able to cook food that tastes as good as it looks,” he says. “I’m still really young so I’ve got lots to learn. But I’m amazed to have got this far. I just hope the judges like what I cook and I’ll learn as much as possible from them.”
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