About.
Content creator, cook, drink maker, tv personality and even author. I am a lot of things but at the heart of everything I do, is eating great food, seeing as much of the world as possible and then writing up approachable, accessible and affordable recipes for you all to enjoy.
Born and raised in Melbourne, Australia I grew up in a suburb called Clifton Hill where I revelled in the food scene, starting with cafes down Brunwisk St in the late 90’s. I was fascinated by restaurants and the jusxtopisition of chaos and calm that they entailed and how they became meeting grounds to connect with those you love. If I wasn’t eating out, I was eating at my yiayia’s (Greek Grandma) where daily she would place down blocks of feta, bowls of kalamata olives and fresh psomi (bread) on the table as I picked at and put together over her plastic covered doily lined dining table.
Her backyard was overgrown with vegetables every summer, hugged together with rows of parsley leaves that became my main ingredient when I would make pretend to make salads. This is where my love for food really go started, particularly my love for greek food as I regularly put back pastitsio, moussaka, kota kokkinisto, many pieces of spanakopita and freshly syrupped galaktoboureko. Despite being named Conor Curran (my dad being Irish Australian), being Greek very much was the heritage that I connected to.
As I came to the end of my time in school I got a job at KFC, before moving into hospitality which is where I would spend a big portion of my youth. Post high school I went to university at William Angliss and got my Bachelor in Culinary Management and then went on to work in hospitality, managing restaurant for a decade. This included Mister Bianco, Supernormal and Tokyo Tina before I headed to London to work over there for a couple years and travel as much as I possibly could, eating my way through Europe.
Working in hospitality felt like home. I loved the being in the industry and really found my own family in it. It’s is where I honed my food knowledge being so close to some incredible chefs, but it’s also where I learnt everything about mixology. I worked with some of the best bartenders and luckily they shared their knowledge over the years to a point where I worked my way through the history of cocktails which is why there is such a big emphasis here on my page in the cocktail section.
I returned back to Melbourne at the end of 2019 and in early 2020 when covid hit I lost my entire career over night. Very quickly I was selling gourmet boxes of food via delivery all over Victoria. What seemed like the worst thing to happen, weirdly became a turning point in my life, because it was during this lockdown that as a joke with a couple of mates, I applied for Masterchef Australia. I honestly thought I wouldn’t get past the first round of applications, but to my shock I did, and then I continued to get through round after round before I was standing in front of the judges on episode one.
They did not give me an apron for my pan asian spanakopita (which I still do believe they were wrong, the dish was incredible) but it did let me retry in the next epsiode for the second chance. I went on to cook a king george whiting in a fish bone avgolemeno sauce, basil oil and fresh cut nectarines and I earned myself a spot in the competition. I then went on to showcase my take on modern greek food and I found a following that would set me up to take on social media.
Post show, hospitality still was closed so I gave my hand at attempting content creation as I taught myself how to film and put my recipes together for my very small 9K following. Over the years that number has grown to over a million on all platforms and I couldn’t be more thankful to the people who have joined to follow my journey along the way. Without all of you none of this exists, and for that I am truly humble.
So where does that leave my today? Well I now work full time as a content creator shooting my food and cocktail recipes and have been for the last 5 plus years working with products and companies that I love and that align with creamy confusion including IKEA, Uniqlo, Four Pillars, Georgio Armarni, Westgold and Coles just a name a few. I have worked incredibly hard on my videography and my reels and photography and I am now very proud of the content that you all hopefully get to enjoy.
I have just published my first ever cookbook ‘EAT MORE GREEK’ which is available to pre order HERE which features of 100 greek recipes for the everyday kitchen. Some classic, some modern, some hacks for quicker results and some recipes I just love and ofcourse a bunch of cocktails seen through the helenic lens.
As well as appearing on Masterchef Australia I also competed on the only season of The Challenge Australia making it to the finale and winning way more challenges than I ever dreamed of. After many pop ups on cooking shows, I am joining the lovely Sergio and Minoli in Peru for a cooking travel show, dropping August 4th on SBS later this year. A show we are all extremely proud that showcases the country of Peru like you’ve never seen it before.
Then there is the small pop ups I do cooking for you all with Golden Fleece hosting me for Greek Easter this year and many more coming up so keep your eyes peeled. Then there is probably my favourite venture, cooking pasta with my best mate Max in a series called PASTABOIS where we attempt to cook every pasta shape that ever existed.
But at the heart of what I do, is cook and shake and laugh in as much as possible in between. If you a very non serious approach to food, travel, cocktails and life that’s still steeped in knowledge and respect for the history of it all, then you are in the right place. Make sure to follow me on Instagram, Tiktok, Facebook or Youtube (depending on your vibe) to stay up to date with all my recipes and all the fun stuff that comes with Creamy Confusion.
All my love, Conor Curran x
