Ian Hemphill is the younger son of John and Rosemary Hemphill, who pioneered Australia's love of herbs and spices in the 1950's. Ian worked with his parents for many years, managed a spice company in Singapore and was a senior manager for a multinational food company in Australia.
In 1997 Ian and his wife Liz opened a specialty spice shop in Sydney, which bears the nickname Ian has had since school days.....Herbie's. Herbie's Spices was founded to fill a need in the community of cooks and food lovers who wanted to access hard-to-find herbs and spices.
In 2000 Herbie's Spices was the winner of the Gourmet Traveller Jaguar award for excellence for Innovation in Produce.
Ian's first book "Spice Notes" A cook's compendium of herbs and spices was received with wide acclaim. In 2001 Spice Notes won the coveted Food Media Club Food Writer's award for best hard cover food related book in Australia. Shortly after at "Tasting Australia" in Adelaide, Spice Notes was one of eight nominees for the Jacobs Creek award for best hard cover food related book in the world.
Ian's other books include Herbaceous, The Spice and Herb Bible and The Spice and Herb Bible: A Cook's Guide.
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