An introduction and an invitation

Your chance to tell us what you'd like to read, learn and share

Good morning friends, it’s Melanie and Naomi here, coming to you from the kitchen where all kinds of exciting new recipes are steaming, bubbling, crackling and slooshing away on the stove, oven and counter-top… and where the kitchen table is literally overflowing with beautiful letters, containing heartfelt stories, that we are opening and reading one by one.

It’s a pleasure to meet you

If you haven’t met us yet, hello new friend! We are two friends who hail from separate-but-close cities in Victoria, in the south of Australia. We share a love of good books, gardening, travel, living a ‘slower’ life, and laughter. Lots and lots of laughter.

We also adore the timeless joys of writing and receiving wonderful letters, and cooking and eating wonderful food.

• Melanie Hall (above right) is a professional cook, baker, cooking teacher and food writer, and brings her wonderful creativity in the kitchen, fascinating insights into food histories and cultures, and envy-inducing kitchen-props cupboard to this project. She lives in a beautiful Federation cottage in Geelong on Australia’s stunning south coast, with a big modern kitchen, a flower-filled garden, a very well behaved cavoodle named Rosie, and an equally well behaved husband

• Naomi Bulger (above left) is a professional writer (former magazine editor) and illustrator with a particular addiction to letter-writing and “mail art”, who celebrates the joys of storytelling through letters, food, and art. She’s also very good at eating. Naomi lives in a yet-to-be renovated Victorian terrace house in Melbourne, Victoria, with a temperamental oven, two rambunctious children, a groodle named Thistle who intends to be well behaved, and a husband who doesn’t even try

Coming soon!

Meals in the Mail is well and truly up and running, and we are preparing a bumper launch issue of our monthly journal Home, Hearth & Harvest, which you’ll discover in your inbox a week from today (on Monday 3 October). Expect seasonal produce guides and recipes, printable illustrations, a sneak peek at all the letter-dispatches coming up in October, a Halloween special, and more.

Introducing… open conversation time

As we pull together all the recipes and stories to share with you, we’ve also been brainstorming some other ways that we might make Meals in the Mail a wonderful place for you to be.

And one of those ideas is to create a sense of community. We want you to be part of the conversation, and to welcome you (metaphorically but maybe one day actually!) into our kitchens, writing desks, and friendships.

To get those conversations started, we hope to create some forums where we (and you!) can share ideas, stories, and expertise. Maybe you’d like to quiz Melanie for some cooking tips or advice? Maybe you’d like to quiz Naomi about letter-writing or watercolour painting? Or you have some ideas you’d like to share with the world?

So… if you have a few seconds to spare, can you tell us what you’d like to know or chat about, by completing this little poll? We’ll use your answers to inspire the community conversations we start and host in the coming weeks and months.

Any other ideas / questions / requests? We’d love to hear them! Start the conversation early by popping them into the comments below.

Happy cooking & writing,
Melanie & Naomi x

ps. The photo at the top is of Sanna from Finland’s “shaked cucumbers” Meals in the Mail recipe, packed into a basket to be enjoyed over crackers and cheese on a picnic in France. You’ll adore this simple recipe when we share it!