Jennifer McLagan is one of Canada's most sought-after food stylists. In recent years, she has also developed a second and parallel career as a widely read food journalist. Australian by birth, McLagan left behind a degree in economics and politics early on in order to train in the food business.

She began her professional life in the kitchens of the old Southern Cross Hotel in Melbourne. Work as a chef soon took her from Australia to England, where she practiced her trade at Prue Leith's highly regarded restaurant in London and then in the kitchens of Winfield House, home of the U.S. ambassador to the Court of St. James. Love and marriage brought on yet another long-distance move -- this time to Canada, where she has lived with her sculptor husband, Haralds Gaikis, for the past 28 years.

Years of styling other people's recipes, ultimately motivated her to sit down and create her own. A Proustian moment with a plate of bones in Paris inspired the subject for her book, Bones: Recipes, History and Lore.

In her first book, Jennifer embarked on a singular mission to bring back the bold flavours of cooking with bones. In addition to being a useful and informative cookbook, Bones is immensely readable, filled with fascinating historical facts, traditions and lore, it is valuable as a work of reference.

Jennifer's next book, Fat: An Appreciation of a Misunderstood Ingredient with Recipes, will be published in September in the USA by Ten Speed Press and in Canada by McClelland & Stewart .

In 2007, Jennifer was invited to present at the highly prestigious Melbourne Food and Wine Festival Master Class Series and she is a regular contributor to Food & Drink and Fine Cooking magazines.

Now based in Toronto, Jennifer survives life in the frozen North by escaping with her husband, as often as possible, to Paris. On either side of the Atlantic, she maintains a friendly relationship with her butchers, who put aside their best bones and fat for her.