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Australians – being adventurous, wide-eyed types – sometimes wish they were European simply for the chance to hop, skip or Eurotrain their way in and out of different cultures. Thanks to keen foodie, journalist and entrepreneur Maeve O’Meara, a rich world of cultures has been revealed to us within easy reach and without a bout of jet lag. Maeve’s Gourmet Safaris and Gorgeous Safaris, along with her television series Food Safari, discover the unsung heroes and heroines of the national food scene and connect them on a personal level with their consumers – all in the name of discovering new cuisine. Of course, there’s a big world out there so she also explores Greece, Mexico, Vietnam and other hot spots. If success is measured in bringing joy to people, Maeve believes she’s on the right track.Maeve O’Meara’s Gourmet Safaris could easily grow into a massive brand; in just 11 years the food-inspired business has grown from a local venture to a global one and has inspired books and an SBS television series, Food Safari, with Maeve as the affable host. But the self-taught businesswoman is intent on preserving the boutique essence of her safaris and staying true to her original vision: to create intimate, authentic, off-the-beaten-track culture and food adventures for people to meet traditional chefs and cooks and share in their stories.

Maeve endearingly defines this phase of life as her “crowded years” and says she is part of a team of businesswomen who hang their washing on the line at midnight. Moonlit chores make sense; how else could you juggle the roles of food and cooking author, journalist, broadcaster, TV producer and presenter, director of two safari businesses and loving mum to son, Conor, 14 and daughters, Kitty, 12 and Scarlett, 9?

Despite the hectic pace, Maeve feels blessed because she is living her dream existence. “I couldn’t have planned it better if I’d tried,” she shares with genuine glee. “I never wanted an ordinary life. My children ask me now what I wanted to be when I grew up and all I can remember is that in Grade 4 I wanted to be a stunt woman. I imagined I’d ride motorbikes and do mad tricks. Later on I wanted to be a park ranger. I just knew that I never wanted to follow established paths. Now I am unemployable. I have to do things my own way but I have to say, it’s so nice running your own race. It’s a fascinating life.”

For the past 20 years, Maeve has been travelling the world sharing the wonders of food. Her suburban Sydney upbringing helped set the scene for this, despite being the total opposite environment. “I grew up with plain food and I dreamt of an exotic world, so my passion has essentially come from deprivation,” she laughs. Her gigs include long presenting roles on Better Homes and Gardens and the acclaimed Food Lover’s Guide to Australia, which won the World Food Media Awards for Best Food Television Program in 2005. She has also co-authored a shelf-load of foodie books (12 at last count), with another in proof stage on her desk.

As we speak, Maeve is home in Sydney’s North Shore on a short break from filming a special Italian series of Food Safari in Adelaide. She’s still on a creative high after meeting some seriously switched-on cooks and farmers, including young Italian chefs making traditional almond biscotti, and fishermen collecting fresh vongole along the coastline. She’ll return in July, hopefully in time to catch the almond trees in blossom in Willunga.

Since 1998, Maeve has been building new food adventures under her Gourmet Safaris label and has also developed a sister version, Gorgeous Safaris, which escorts women on luxury holidays to stunning locations to recharge, of course, with plenty of delicious local cuisine. A new Gorgeous Safari to a “secret valley” in Vietnam is planned for later this year.

The initial idea for Gourmet Safaris was born in Sydney when a bunch of Maeve’s friends begged her to take them to the Lebanese restaurant in Punchbowl she was raving about on her radio program. She began to realise that people were keen for their hands to be held on food adventures behind the scenes to discover exotic cuisine on their doorstep.

Maeve set about making it easy for keen foodies to explore the cosy restaurant kitchens tucked in Sydney’s backstreets, where Italian nonnas and nonnos and Greek yayas and pappous concoct traditional foods from age-old recipes using fresh produce. She describes her business philosophy as the “antithesis of the celebrity chef” where she celebrates the unsung heroes and heroines of the food scene and enables them to share their stories and make personal connections with their consumers.

If you join any one of Maeve’s Sydney Gourmet Safaris, you’ll discover the finest Vietnamese sweets in Cabramatta, taste real Turkish delight in Auburn, feast on Persian classics like saffron ice cream and shame yourself on Portuguese custard tarts still warm from the oven. The safaris extend beyond Sydney to Margaret River and Kangaroo Island or across the seas to Greece, Mexico, Bali and Vietnam. Maeve carefully designs every safari to link with trusted local guides and host families or chefs she has been fortunate to meet on her travels.

Maeve says she cares about what she does because the safaris trigger connections between guests and guides that wouldn’t otherwise have the chance to flourish. “I look at our Turkish guides and know they would never in a million years believe their confidence would build so much – now they feel they can do anything. At first, I go and tell their story but then bit-by-bit they find the confidence to start telling their own story to people standing right in front of them, listening intently. In a world of lots of bad news, this is helping to really connect people.”

Maeve says the biggest challenge so far has been launching the safaris without any business skills, “… it’s purely run along instinctive lines,” but she says this has worked for and against her. So far, the greatest achievement has been scooping The Australian’s 2007 Food Awards for Best Tour Operator. “It was extraordinary! We’re a tiny business still run from the front office of my house. That was a good moment. Of course, we had a feast to celebrate.”

Maeve is currently finding motivation and eternal inspiration in generosity. One of her proudest commitments is as ambassador for OzHarvest, a charity operating food rescue programs in Sydney, Wollongong and Canberra (they deliver more than 80,000 meals to people in need in Sydney each month). “I’m inspired by its founder, Ronni Kahn, who is a dynamic woman determined to make the world a better and more caring place, and by the gang of volunteers who help to keep OzHarvest going.

“I’m also inspired by the generosity of people generally – it shines like the sun in a bleak world – and how that trickles down through families … how you never leave an Italian household without something homemade and delicious and a kiss on both cheeks.”

Interview by Frances Fragenheim