Meet the Team

The majority of the team work on a freelance basis, balancing careers and families and are highly successful in their own right. Nourish has allowed a space where this collection of talented individuals can showcase their creativity and skills in a format that inspires those at home to cook and learn about our food and the people behind it. Despite working together on several editions—many of the team had never actually met in person. However, the lure of a long Italian lunch at Alpino in Cambridge provided a well overdue opportunity to come together over glasses of prosecco and freshly shaved truffle ravioli. We honoured our ringleader Vicki, acknowledged each other and our collective involvement and celebrated all things Nourish! It’s with great pleasure that we shine a light on the members of our Nourish team. These are the faces and souls behind the pages of this magazine, and we hope as you flick through, you celebrate them and their contribution to its creation.

Denise is the doyenne of New Zealand journalism and food writing. She’s been with Nourish for five years and believes Vicki has created a ‘regional culinary treasure’. She loves nothing more than interviewing and celebrating the people and produce behind Waikato’s flourishing hospitality scene. As a self-dubbed condiment queen, at home Denise channels her farm-girl heritage with slow cooked lamb shoulder and is partial to the award-winning Meyer goat gouda. Let’s just say, she knows what’s good.

Kathy is a highly-experienced and respected food and recipe writer based in Auckland. Having self-published her most recent cookbook Meat and Three in 2019, unsurprisingly her signature dish is a deeply savoury beef stew. Kathy joined Nourish just over a year ago and thoroughly enjoys the creative team approach as she conjures up the delectable seasonal feature recipes for each issue. She’s a woman who appreciates the deep green colour and fruitiness of extra virgin olive oil and, much like her mother, feels lost if her fridge doesn’t contain at least three blocks of butter. @kathy.a.paterson

Lynda is our green-fingered goddess. If you are a keen gardener, chances are you’ll know Lynda. Born in Hamilton and raised in the Waikato, she considers herself an honorary local and has been digging up our seasonal gardening advice for two years. She helps us all navigate the challenge of growing our own organic food and does so with the right combination of wit and wisdom, which you’ll

find more of in her new book, out soon, The Joy of Gardening. Lynda’s legendary signature dish is a damson gin-soaked trifle with amaretti biscuits and Golden Queen peaches. Drool. @lyndahallinangardening

Liz is a lady who knows how to live well. If she’s not biking, hiking or skiing, she’s earning her bread and butter writing real estate advertising scripts and, as she describes it, “Nourish is the jam”. Liz offered Vicki her services in 2016 and has contributed to Bay of Plenty features ever since. Unlike most of the team, she eats to live, and her husband is the cook, although admits she has become more culinarily sophisticated since being part of the team. However, when she does cook, she brings great delight with her surprising combination of apple crumble and fennel seed. @lizskiwritenow

Nikki helps ensure Nourish makes sense! As the proofreader for six years, she has the joy of searching through interesting articles, delicious recipes and beautiful photography with a fine-toothed comb. She’s also a writer, having published several NZ-set crime novels. To the Sea, a psychological thriller and published by Harper Collins Australia, is out in December. Nikki knows her way around a beef rendang curry, can’t live without cheese and chocolate and would happily eat Italian food every day. @NikkiCrutchleyWrites

Ashlee is our woman behind the lens. A Waikato-based photographer, she’s been working with the “freakin’ talented” Vicki for five years and is at her happiest on a food shoot day. Ashlee admits she is a garlic fiend and puts it in everything, including her signature ‘everything salad’. She’s also very proud of the rēwana bug she houses in her fridge and like a true millennial her soul craves avocado on toast and is obsessed with feijoas. @ashleedecairesphoto

Sara has a big job, she’s the proficient Nourish designer and is responsible for making each edition look good. Working alongside Vicki, she’s been involved for almost four years, including birthing her son the day after the Nourish spring edition went to print! Sara is adamant that with all the gorgeous content she gets to work with, she finds her job easy! At home she’s lucky to be surrounded by ex-chefs (both her husband and Dad) so gets off doing the cooking, but has recently enjoyed dabbling in oat-based baking to entertain and fuel her hungry toddler. @minteddeisgnco

Brydie is our bubbly, bright-eyed photographer who’s been working within the Nourish family for six years. With decades of experience, she has a unique eye for capturing meaningful moments and loves working with the team of genuine, kind and clever women. Currently based in Papamoa, she’s well-travelled, and the food she craves most is an Indian dal makhni; a creamy and nourishing lentil based dish. Brydie also adores kūmara and

can whip up an epic roast vegetable salad, almost always served with pesto. @brydiephotography

Fiona is our food styling queen who jumped on board recently to inject flair and class through her editorial recipe content, styling and photography. She has an uncanny ability to set a seductive scene and make you want to lick the page. Bred in the Waikato, Fiona lives in East Auckland and juggles busy freelance work alongside farm shenanigans with her Frenchman and three food-loving children. Famous for her fancy soirees, homemade sourdough and ridiculously large profiteroles—if there’s burrata on a menu, she’s ordering it. @fiona.hugues

Emma is the soul behind My Darling Lemon Thyme, our Raglanbased, best-selling cookbook author and recipe wizard! She creates, styles and photographs recipes using produce from her homegrown garden and provides hope and delicious inspiration for those suffering dietary intolerances. Her latest (third!) book Every Day is packed full of things you’ll want to eat and cook. As someone who can’t do gluten, she’s enamoured with the versatility of buckwheat and makes buckwheat sourdough on the regular, and her fridge is always full of ferments and pickles. @mydarlinglemonthyme

Rachel is a writer who loves cooking and words and has been writing for Nourish for four years now. She’s responsible for the nutrition feature which celebrates a seasonal ingredient and delves into its health benefits. Having grown up in a Jewish family, her soul craves Nana’s chicken soup with matzo balls—Jewish penicillin. Now based in Tauranga, she hails from Canada, and still finds so much joy in the novelty of picking a lemon off a tree.

Alex is a photographer who’s been involved in various Nourish photoshoots since spring 2018, having captured both the Hamilton and Tauranga Farmers Markets—which he finds a satisfying challenge. He loves being part of helping food businesses celebrate who they are and what they do through images. Alex must have been Italian in a previous life; he loves cheese, pizza and pasta and prides himself on his spaghetti bolognaise. @alexspodyneiko

David is a writer with a keen interest in sustainability and culture surrounding food. A new addition to the Nourish team, having been away from the Waikato for a number of years, he’s looking forward to being back in the region to explore the food and drink landscape. His signature dish is burnt courgette and mint, loves anchovies and his soul pines for a plate of pici cacio e pepe from Trullo in London. @wriglemethis

Harriet is Vicki’s new right hand woman. She helps out behind the scenes with recipe testing, assisting on photoshoots and has her first feature piece in this issue—about eggs, ironically the one food she actually hates! A chef by trade, she works at Punnet Eatery in Tamahere and makes a mighty fine chicken laksa. She admits she’s a sweet tooth, is a big honey fan and loves goody-goody gum drops ice cream. Harriet’s loving working alongside Vicki and is relishing the opportunity to expand her food and hospitality knowledge. @harriet_boucher

Amber has been writing and photographing delicious vegetableforward recipes for Nourish for four years now and loves the opportunity to connect with the other like-minded food geeks. She’ll win you over with her mushroom and lentil bolognese and thinks lentils are the true hero of the cupboard, as you can do

anything with them! She likes her heat in all forms and has shelves full of chilli sauces, so it makes sense her soul is happy when dished up a Thai, Indian or Balinese curry. @quitegoodfood

Lastly—me! I’m Kate, a freelance food writer, communications specialist and everenthusiastic eater. I grew up in Te Puke and have Vicki to thank for taking me on as a keen young food writer, fresh out of my university nutrition degree. I’ve contributed to Nourish for around eight years and have absolutely loved shining a light on people, places and produce. I’m most happy when eating, celebrating and writing about our diverse food landscape and after much trial have learnt my body can’t live without greens! Ultimate soul food? Undoubtedly my dad’s whitebait fritters. @relishthememory

A woman who needs no introduction on these pages, Vicki is a strong leader with a unique passion, vision and desire to celebrate the food of these thriving regions. Her relaxed yet efficient approach ensures things get done by those best suited for the job, and her ability to put full trust in her contributors is something these creatives don’t take for granted! Her cupboard and fridges are constantly full from shoot prep, and she’s never without a good bottle of Primotivo. Vicki is both deeply humble and acutely inspiring, and we are all so grateful to be on her team. @nourishmagazine

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