The notoriously media-shy Dozer opens up! In this exclusive interview, Dozer tells-all about what it’s like to be crowned Australia’s best-loved taste tester and denies accusations of being a prima donna during the cookbook tour.
Dozer, the last time you gave an interview was back in 2020. I feel privileged that you agreed to talk to me. It’s been quite a year for you! Photo shoots. In the newspaper. Book signings! TV! Did you ever imagine all this would happen to you?
What’s a newspaper? Is that the stuff your fish and chips comes wrapped in? And wait – I was on TV? I didn’t know that!
Well, yes Dozer. You were on TV a number of times. Like Studio 10, in the photo below.
Oh wow! I really was on TV. I’m famous!! And that chef hat- it’s so pro!
Errr, yes Dozer. It’s a chef hat I had made especially for you. (It’s not made of paper. 😂)
So, 2022 was the year of the cookbook. A great opportunity for you to showcase your taste-testing skills. I heard you gave everything a 10! True?
False. Evidence below.
Though – I’m not gonna lie. Once the kale had dressing on it, I scoffed it down, and it was a 10/10. 😇 (It was Devour – Maple Sweet Potato Kale Salad. Big thumbs up paws up from me – and I don’t even like kale!)
I also heard you also helped your mum choose the cover page. What an honour!
Yes! My paws are too chunky to hold a pen so I just trod on the covers I didn’t approve of. She got the message.
So you approved of the final cover design?
Well, of course. Do you have any idea how much chicken I got to capture that photo of me that ended up on the cover? I mean, you don’t think I understood exactly what was required of me? Of course I did. But why give it to them in the first shot? The more shots required, the more chicken I got! 🙌🏻
What the…!!! You cheeky dog!!! I suppose that’s the game you played with ALL the shots of you in the cookbook!!
I can’t believe it’s taken you THIS long to figure it out.😈 I mean, how many prawns did you give me before you got the prawn shot (below) of me in the book?? I only stopped mucking up when I got full.
You really will do anything for a treat, won’t you?? I’m pretty impressed though, Dozer. Didn’t know you were that cunning.
Who me? Cunning? Is this the face of a cunning dog, I ask you?
No. That is the face that gets anything your heart desires.
Well, we’ve all got our strengths I suppose…..
Were you disappointed you weren’t able to go to the interstate cookbook publicity events?
Well yes, of course. There was clearly great demand for me. Did you know there were people who turned up at Sydney book signing events just to see me? They didn’t care about you. They didn’t even want a photo with you or your autograph in the book! They just wanted a selfie with ME!!
Ha ha yes, I did hear about that! I also heard there was such demand for your appearance at the Gold Coast Libraries cooking demo event that the organisers made life-size cardboard cut outs of you…. and someone tried to steal it!!
I didn’t hear that someone tried to steal me, but I’m not surprised. I mean, look at me. I look sooo cute. Though I would’ve liked a little more volume on my chest fur. Next time, I need a blow-dry.
With everything that’s happened to you this year, is there something that stands out as the most memorable moment of 2022?
*Chest puffs out* Yes! Seeing that poster of myself at the dog park. Out there on public display for everyone to see. Never thought I’d be a model like that!!!
Wait – are you talking about THIS poster of you??
Well yes, that’s the photo. What’s your point?
Errr…. OK sure Dozer. Something to be proud of. You on a spider-web covered filthy over-flowing dog-poo bin. I mean, there was also THIS photo of you – many of them, all throughout a giant shopping centre:
*Still huffily* Well sure. But I’m sharing the limelight, aren’t I? You’re taking up half the space. And it’s in a shopping centre. None of my doggie friends saw it. So what’s the point?
OK….. well, let’s move on. This is clearly something we’re not going to agree on.
Many people have asked, do you have a special someone in your life?
Yes! Her name is Jarrah and we’ve known each other since we were puppies. She belongs to one of my mum’s close friends. She’s svelte and smart, and loves my mum. We have a blast whenever we’re together!
What do you think your mum is most proud of you achieving in 2022?
Not doing a pee at any of the indoor cookbook events. She was really worried I’d go to the toilet on a stack of books or something, and she’d have to buy them all.
Oh look, here’s a photo of her begging me not to pee inside, just before we went out on stage. 😂
There’s rumours that you started to get some attitude towards the end of the cookbook publicity tour. You’d fall asleep on live TV and at signings, and demand to be lifted up and down off podiums. True?
*Defensively* It was a long day! It was a slippery floor! I am not a spring chicken anymore. I’m 10 – that makes me a senior citizen! Gimme a break. 🙄
That’s true. You’ve done very well. There were some long days and the schedule was pretty tight. Did you get tired of all the attention and photo requests by the end?
I’m not going to lie, it was tough, I’m not used to being the centre of attention. But I dug deep to do my mum proud and did my best to look great in every photo.
*Incredulous* That photo is an example of you “doing your best” and “doing your mum proud”??? 🤔
*Defensively* People have told me they love my bushy tail! Thought I’d try something different!
Fair enough. Your bushy tail is adorable, I’ll give you that.
Well, thank you very much for your time Dozer! It’s been wonderful insightful hearing about Life of Dozer 2022 firsthand from you. Thank you for another year of entertainment, cute photos, laughs, and using your incredibly refined palette to ensure only the very best recipes made the cut for the cookbook and on this website.
Any last words?
Dozer: Yes. When’s dinner?
A letter to you
Dear reader,
2022 was all about the making of the cookbook. For me personally, it has been a year of unprecedented highs and challenges. Making what turned out to be a best-seller cookbook does not come without sacrifices, that’s for sure. A great many lessons learned, many mistakes made, working harder and longer hours than I thought I was capable of doing that came at a cost of my well-being.
Experiences I never imagined – like meeting so many readers in person, in actual real life (!!), rather than just likes on an Instagram post and messages on this website. That was so special and will always remain as one of the most rewarding things about making a cookbook.
And yes, amazing media opportunities like being on TV and in the paper (as Dozer’s sidekick, of course).
I’m grateful and know how fortunate I am for everything that has happened.
But I’m also fully aware that none of this would have happened without you. Did you know that? You are the reason my website is what it is, the reason I am able to making a living from it, that I can employee a team of 9 people who pay their mortgages and rent from the revenue from this website.
You are the reason I am able to run RecipeTin Meals, my food bank where we make homemade meals daily which we donate to those in need.
Thank you for putting your trust in my recipes, for the laughter, and most especially, all the messages of support when I was struggling with the making of the cookbook. You make me want to do the very best I can do, in all that I do, even if it’s something as silly as a “Interview with Dozer” post!
And you make me love what I do.
Happy New Year!!
You think 2022 was delicious?? Just wait until you see what’s coming in 2023!!!
Lots of love and big hugs,
Nagi & Dozer xx
Happy New Year Nagi and Dozer!
I am so happy for you re the success of your first cookbook. I love reading your posts and your recipes are excellent. Just recently I have given bottles of your Charlie sauce to friends, recommended your site to friends and when my sister made your Massaman Curry Lamb Shanks for our interstate niece and her partner, he had cooked them within a week! Love your warm, casual but incredibly helpful communication. Looking forward to more of the same in 2023. ❤️
Loved the interview with Dozer, he is obviously a well educated dog and a very deep thinker.
I literally almost choked on a mouthful of water when I read this! 😂
Hi Nagi and Dozer
Thank you Dozer for taking the time to reflect on this years events
Nagi you are the best Mum and I loved all the photos
Hi loved reading about dozer, he is such a character. I look forward to my regular recipe and doggy updates. Thank you
We love you Dozer, your mum too. I’d do the same as you for the treats, such a wonderful success, and I’m loving my copy. X
Hi loved reading about dozer, he is such a character. I look forward to my regular recipe and dozer updates. Thank you
Happy New Year Nagi & Dozer. Loved the interview with the very handsome Dozer 🐾 ❤️
Congratulations on your cookbook which I have treated myself & a family member for Xmas. Made your mini cheesecakes for Xmas – delicious.
Thankyou for all your wonderful recipes & hoping 2023 allows you to have some time to yourself❤️
Nagi and Dozer, you have made such an impact on more people then you know. Your recipes that we cook feed our families and friends. You have made all of us better cooks with your endless information and videos on how to do it right and the ingredients we never knew we needed to get that taste right, like Chinese cooking wine. Who knew? Not me until you told us. We can never say thank you enough for that and the endless pictures and stories about Dozer. You make my day so much nicer and some days I sally need that, so thank you from the bottom of my heart. Happy New Year Nagi & Dozer, may all your new dreams come true in 2023! 🐾🐾❤️❤️
Hi Dozer, I believe you are the most famous dog in Australia. We all care for you and we wish we had a mum like yours to feed us such a wonderful menu each night. No wonder you are so gorgeous.
Val
Hi chef first I like to congratulate you and your SOUS CHEF DOZER also your team for the fantastic work and recipes you gave us and I like to wish all of you especially SHOUS CHEF DOZER MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR 2023 ☃️🎄🦌🎅🎁🥩🍗😊🍾🥂🎇🎆🌹🌹🌹🌞😎
Dozer is such a star! Thanks for my cookbook – it has everything I ever want for dinner – I have hundreds in my collection but Dinner is on my coffee table or in my kitchen. I don’t think it will ever make it onto the bookshelf! Love what you do 💕
Oh how beautiful are you Nagi and Dozer. I agree with Dozer .. his bushy tail photo is fab. Thanks for all the great recipes you have shared again in 2022 Nagi. Congratulations on the publication of your Dinner book. You have certainly helped me make huge improvements to my culinary skills. Happy 2023 to you and Dozer.
Good morning Dozer and Nagi, Dozer you are so handsome and showed off just how easy it is to look good even after a long, hard day at work. Thank you for sharing your weeks with us throughout the year, you kept us all entertained by your “work” ethics and also on your down time having fun with your friends frolicing in the sea, down at the beach.
Thank you also to your mum for all her wonderful recipes, her very hard work in putting back into your local community with your recipe tin meals. Your kindness Nagi in thinking of others in need, at such extremely testing times, that all over the world is going through is wonderful, and you are an employer of much needed jobs. There is 9 families that now have a regular income coming in because of your kindness in playing your own part in feeding the world.
Wishing you both a wonderful, happy and healthy New Year.
Norah, Glenochil,, Scotland
Wishing you & Dozer a happy, healthy new year! What a full on year you have had. Hoping you can sit back, relax and reflect on all you’ve achieved. Thank you for all the wonderful recipes and joy shared.
Dear Nagi & Dozer,
You both brought me to joyful tears with your insightful interview!
You both make this world a brighter place. Keep showing and sharing the love, you are an inspiration to us all.
Love you both and looking forward to hearing about your new adventures in 2023!
Hugs and kisses.
Sharon
Happy New Year Nagi! Huge Congratulations on everything you’ve achieved so far!! I’m in awe!
I think I only discovered your website this year (maybe last – it’s all a bit of a blur!) but it’s absolutely my first port of call for anything I want to cook. I’ll always look to see if you’ve done it first, because your recipes are so detailed and your tips so useful, that everything I’ve ever cooked from your site (and book! Love the book!!) has worked out brilliantly. I love that you’re in Australia and refer to Coles and Woolies brands too.
And of course the gorgeous Dozer is partly what got me hooked in the first place. Goldens have always been my very favorite – grew up with them 💕
Wishing you continued success in everything you do in 2023!
Hi Both,
Thats made my morning. And a B I G Thanks for all of your Food ideas and receipes , Have a Great New Year !!!!
I hope your well being is improving Nagi, and that you manage to get some well earned ‘you time’. Thank you for sharing your recipes and for helping people produce amazing, tasty, and wonderful dishes time after time. I hope your well deserved success continues and that you have a wonderful 2023. Many thanks.
So Nagi, when do you start the next book?
I hope you and Dozer have a Happy New Year!
BTW Dozer needs a Treat, just ask him!
Happy new year Nagi and Dozer. I can’t begin to count the number of dishes I’ve cooked from this site and the cookbook this year – all winners of course! I expect 2023 will be much the same. Thank you!
Congratulations Nagi and Dozer on all your achievements in 2022. I was hoping to see you in person but somehow missed out. What an amazing achievement Nagi. I really love your recipes and your cookbook, which I have given as a gift to several friends and am waiting on the hard cover version to give to my Son in Oxford, who also loves your recipes & Dozer! We have a groodle, Mimi, whose Mum was a golden retriever & like Dozer is much loved & has the best personality, Happy New Year!
Nagi, you and Dozer bring so much happiness to the world.
Thank you both so much!
Thanks for a great inspirational year of cooking, love the cook book, recommended to everyone and at the moment, your strawberry salad and mini cheesecakes are on high rotation, I have som cheese cakes in the freezer ready for NYE and plan to serve with lemon marscapone cream and blueberries
Cheers 🥂
Terri