White Gloves: Food & Drinks with Friends

The Friends annual 'White Gloves' event offers a rare opportunity to get up close and personal with highlights from the National Library's Collection.

In 2023 we explored a broad range of food and drink related items - from menus and tablecloths to paintings and serving-ware - with a specially curated display for one night only.

Canberra food legend Janet Jeffs delivered a short talk sharing with us her knowledge and passion for cooking, farming and seasonal produce, as we delved into the culinary delights within the Library’s collections.

Drinks and canapes were served following the collection viewing.

Wolfgang Sievers, Dining Room Lennons Hotel, Brisbane, Queensland, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-160911844

About Janet Jeffs

Artist and chef Janet Jeffs’ Ginger Catering Group, based at the National Arboretum, has recently celebrated 20 years in business in Canberra.

Janet began her culinary career in Adelaide more than 40 years ago, working with food icons Cheong Liew and Maggie Beer before opening her first restaurant in the Clare Valley.

After moving to Canberra in 1995, Janet opened the successful fine dining restaurant Juniperberry, awarded one Chef’s Hat in the Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide every year of operation from 1996 to 2000. Janet established the The Ginger Room at Old Parliament House in 2004, before relocating to the newly opened National Arboretum in 2013.

Janet is currently studying a double degree, Bachelor of Visual Arts majoring in Painting, and Bachelor of Art History and Curatorship at ANU School of Art and Design.

Janet was a finalist in the ANU Drawing Prize in 2020, 2021 and 2022 and has exhibited at community art events since 2018.

Janet was recently named as a food ambassador for ACT Tourism.