About me.

Chef. Certified Health Coach. Recipe Developer. Wholefoodie. Mother.

my story

Food has been my jam for as long as I remember, since I was little but big enough to see what was cooking on the stove.

My Nanna Sue was a huge inspiration for me, she was Italian and a huge foodie, she had the gift to turn the most ordinary foods into extraordinary plates of deliciousness without even realising how good she was. She loved to eat so her desire for creating anything edible was her biggest priority, and that was her most known and loved trait which has been passed down to me. I remember watching cooking shows on telly with her while she’d scribble down notes, always keen for more inspiration and knowledge.

When I was in my late teens/early twenties my next big foodie hero was Jamie Oliver, watching him cook and the passion he ozzed, he was the one who gave me that final push I needed to enrol myself into TAFE NSW to begin my training to become a chef, from there I went on to work in some of Sydney’s best and busiest restaurants throughout and beyond my apprenticeship, early days of my new career I worked restaurants and hotels in the UK while traveling and later finding myself back in Sydney working freelance for a list of cookbooks and foodie magazines, cooking for photography while to my privilege, being mentored by the talented food author Jody Vassallo.

Later back into the restaurant scene.. I did a year cooking in Jamie Olivers Italian in Martin Place, Sydney, before more travel this time throughout Italy and other parts of Europe picking up inspiration for my own authentic Italian trattoria which opened in December 2013. Albero di lemone (The lemon tree).

Some time after, It hit me that my own health needed addressing, I began my journey of studying holistic health and nutrition, similar time of the arrival of our first daughter Sienna in 2016, I began training under Joshua Rosenthal with the Institute of Integrative Nutrition and became a certified health coach with it I began my own personal clean up after many years of burnout, high pressure working conditions, late nights, early mornings, not nearly enough sleep and undoubtedly too many alcoholic drinks and refined carbs post shift, not to mention not nearly enough self care or nourishment to back up the lifestyle. While still young this all didn’t seem to pose a problem but approaching mid thirties and now looking down the road of motherhood things started to change, they rapidly changed post birth and I required lots of self care. Yep pretty hard to balance as a new mum but this is where my health journey began.. and so it continues…

Beck xo

Eat real food.. what earth gave us.

Sometimes… stuff has got to get really broken before it’s deemed worthy of being fixed and to me it seems that is the case when it comes to the way too many humans think about food.

Sadly many peoples relationship with food has been radically disconnected and damaged and therefore our populations overall health and wellbeing is suffering. Over the last 50+ years when food really started to shift and processed and fast foods became more and more popular in and out of our homes, quality of life and overall health of our society has been on a slippery slope, but its not just the food it’s also the lifestyle that comes along with it.

Chronic disease is higher than ever and that’s including the physical and mental health of our children and the connection with real foods and seasonal foods have been severely damaged. Coincidence? Nope….convenience foods which line our supermarket shelves full of preservatives, colours and dyes, butane, anti-caking agents, chemically hydrogenated vegetable fats, toxic artificial sweeteners, thickeners and emulsifiers, stabilisers, flavour enhancers, and the list goes on and on…and on… are prevalent in most packaged supermarket '“foods” and are only getting worse, and they now have a big price to pay, or medical bill to be exact.

why cook?

Learning to cook I believe has to be one of the biggest most important life skills known to human. Once you have the confidence and ability to create the most simplest of meals using real ingredients then there is only growth from there and there should not be any good reason to turn back. From then on you will know exactly what is in your food, eating on a budget should become increasingly easier and you will hands down see a huge improvement in your overall well being having left out all those hidden nasties that your body has been so desperately pleading you to cast aside.

why grow food?

Give something back to the earth too!

Now you’re well on your way to amending your food repertoire to whole foods and no more nasties,“hallelujah!” how about getting really grounded and start giving some back to the earth by growing some of your own? Gardening is my ultimate therapy, being among nature, hands in earth and feet (usually bare) on ground, fresh air, sunshine, microbes, leafy plants, water, omg seriously how good it feels! It is medicine at its best, well on par with eating real foods anyway. The joy and satisfaction received from producing something so perfectly edible is immense and I honestly urge anyone to give it a crack no matter how big or small your space.