I’m celebrating tonight, on a warm summer’s evening, with a glass of mighty fine New Zealand bubbles. Why? I have been accepted into the NZ Guild of Food Writers.
The Food Writers Guild is a professional body of food journalists and others involved in writing about, presenting, illustrating and teaching about food and beverages in New Zealand.Yay me.
It makes me proud. I’ve joined a group of foodies who think about food a ridiculous amount of time and now I get to wear the badge (metaphorically) no doubt, also dusted in flour.
I write for work. I write for fun. I write from my personal perspective and regularly from others too.
As a food blogger, and at times a recipe developer and food photographer, I love the flavours, colour and the practicality of food. I can stand, almost deliriously, at the glass cabinet of any delicatessen and deconstruct recipes in my head only to attempt to recreate them at home hours later, to some degree of success! I drool over the colour pages of a magazine and admire creative combinations of texture and taste. From the growing, to preparing, preserving, and embracing the abundance of seasonal produce in a variety of ways, I have lots to be inspired by.
My grandmother, born in the early 1900s, had a ‘waste not, want not’ and ‘eat what you can, can what you can’t’ attitude. I love the thought of snuggling up with book of preserves on a cold winters night planning my next bottling project. In the last 18 months I’ve grown vegetables from seed on a quest to be as self-sustainable as practically possible in suburbia to feed a family of five. I’ve raised hens and a couple of random roosters, albeit accidentally, in a bid for fresh free range eggs.
My love of food must have rubbed off somehow over the years. I now have to compete for kitchen space in the weekend with one of my three sons, a budding foodie in his own right. He whips up a mean Apple Sorbet and Fresh Prawn Spring Roll, just quietly.
When I’m not writing about food, I’m writing about travel or lifestyle. That’s when I’m not creating things, doing things and photographing things!
I’m very chuffed to now be part of a well respected group of foodies. I raise a glass to words and the love of food. Bottoms up.
