The acclaimed Australian writer and cook Margaret Fulton has died aged 94.

Fulton, a trailblazing author of more than 25 cookbooks, is often credited with bringing international cuisine to a generation of Australians.

She was Australia’s first celebrity cookbook writer.

Her first cookbook, The Margaret Fulton Cookbook, was first published in 1968 and sold more than a million copies. It and the 800-page Margaret Fulton’s Encyclopedia of Food and Cookery, first published in 1983, are regarded as the foundational texts of Australian cooking.

In 1983, she was made a Member of the Order of Australia. She was later added to the list of national living treasures by the National Trust.

Her granddaughter Kate Gibbs confirmed her death to Delicious magazine.

“The family of Margaret Fulton are today mourning the loss of their loving, inspirational and treasured mother, grandmother and great-grandmother this morning,” Gibbs said. “They will release a statement in due course. Respect for their privacy at this time would be greatly appreciated.”

Gibbs, a food writer, also posted on her Instagram that the family was heartbroken by the loss.

Food and cookbook writer Stephanie Alexander, who Fulton once said was the best of the generation to come after her, said it was “a sad day for those of us with an interest in the food history of Australia.”

“Margaret broadened the horizons of Australian cooks at a time when many had very limited ideas about good food,” Alexander said. “She was that irresistible mix of practical commonsense with a bit of mischief.

“Margaret always had a twinkle in her eye. She had little time for humbug and was generous in her support for the next generation of cooks and foodwriters. Many households depended on their copy of the Margaret Fulton cookbook.”

Fulton was born in Nairn, Scotland, in 1924 and emigrated with her parents to Glen Innes, in New South Wales, at the age of three.

She began her career as a cooking teacher with the Overseas Corporation in 1947 and was later partially responsible for the introduction of the pressure cooker into Australia, before moving on to work for women’s magazines.

She was a food editor for the Women’s Day in the 1960s and later spent 24 years at New Idea but it was her first book that made her a household name.

Fulton told the Age in 2003 that she had not wanted to be a cook, saying: “I wanted to be a showgirl, but my little five-foot Scottish frame didn’t say much for that.”

She was dismissive of the new generation of TV chefs in the same interview, calling the trend “a terrible fiasco”.

“It is entertainment but they all get so terribly serious about it,” she said. “It’s all malarky.”

She was stubbornly non-pretentious about food, telling the ABC in 2011 that even fast food like McDonald’s had its place, if it was shared and enjoyed.

“I think it’s very important not to get too smug about how clever you are about cooking and about feeding yourself,” she said. “Everyone isn’t as lucky as you are in the situation of being able to get nice food.”

Asked how she would like to be remembered, Fulton said that she would like people to say, “She could bake a good scone.”

Her last supper would be wine and bread, but with some nice cheese added in.

“I love life,” she said. “I think it’s great. I think it’s one of the best things to be enjoying. And if you ask me when’s the best time in life, I would say I’m having it now. And I would have said that when I was 60 and when I was 30 and when I was 20. I think you’ve got to enjoy your life fully, all the time.”

Fulton campaigned against genetically modified food and globalised agribusiness.

Australians responded to her death by posting photos of their battered Fulton cookbooks on social media, thanking the pioneering writer for introducing them to cooking.

Hardie Grant Books, which published Fulton since 2004, paid tribute to her as one of Australia’s “most commercially successful and critically acclaimed authors”.

“It was a rare privilege to work with Margaret,” said Hardie Grant Group’s managing director, Julie Pinkham. “She had very high standards and we were always kept on our toes – she completely understood her audience and knew exactly what they wanted.”