Ian Parmenter, chef and host of ABC TV's Consuming Passions, dies ...

• In short: Chef and broadcaster Ian Parmenter has died, aged 79.
• He was best known as the host of the ABC TV's Consuming Passions between 1992 and 2001.
• He was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 2011 for his service to the food and tourism industries as an event director, author, journalist, and broadcaster.

West Australian chef, broadcaster, and author Ian Parmenter has died.

Long-time friends of the 79-year-old confirmed he passed away over the weekend.

Parmenter rose to national prominence in the 1990s as the host of ABC TV's Consuming Passions, helming 450 five-minute episodes between 1992 and 2001.

Born in London in 1945, he trained and worked as a journalist on Fleet Street.

Eventually making the move to Australia, he worked in advertising before joining ABC Perth in 1974, working in a number of behind-the-scenes roles and eventually rising through the ranks as a television producer and director.

But it was a growing passion for food that eventually took him into the national spotlight.

Consuming Passions was originally filmed at Parmenter's home in Fremantle.

But around the time the series premiered, he purchased a small cottage near Margaret River, three hours south of Perth, to "get away" from the pressures of production.

"A lot of the development of the recipes for the program came in the cottage," he told ABC local radio in 2017.

"I never got into areas of high speed food processing and complex things.

Eventually relocating to Margaret River in 1999, he became a long-time advocate for the food, wine, and culture of both the South West of WA, and Australia more broadly.

He remained a regular contributor to the ABC and other media after the series wrapped up, authoring a string of successful cookbooks and playing a prominent role in food events and festivals.

Chef 'encouraged us all to value what we have down here'

Parmenter was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 2011 for his service to the food and tourism industries as an event director, author, journalist, and broadcaster.

"It's a great community," he said of Margaret River in 2017.

"There's just so much going on down here. It's just extraordinary, the amount of energy that is in this place."

Margaret River local Susie Ormonde said Parmenter was a "connector" within the community.

"I think he had many sides to him. There was obviously his very public character with his beret and moustache, and his big booming voice," she said.

"He loved connecting people, an ambassador for the region … an incredible bloke."

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