The beautiful and talented Nadia was of course the star of the show as she moved easily among her guests chatting happily before addressing the audience.
We enjoyed beautiful canapes based on recipes in the book along with delicious wines from Martinborough Wines . Later after Nadia's address I managed to persuade her to let me have a copy of her notes and you will find them reproduced below.
I have written previously about this truly appealing book that is filled with fresh, easy and delicious recipes. Included with my earlier piece was the recipe for Nadia's Marsala Chicken with Caramelised Pumpkin - do try it, I heartily recommend it.
Nadia's Kitchen Book Launch Address
Well, this is pretty cool.....18 months ago I would have never imagined attending my own cookbook launch. To write a cookbook is a dream I’ve had since I was 12 years old which was when I decided I would also have a cooking show called ‘Food in the Nude’. As a tribute, I thought maybe I should call this book by the same name – however my publisher Random House was honest and said they thought it might be a bit risky as it may only appeal to one particular type of audience. So instead, here we are with Nadia’s Kitchen.
Thank you all for being here to celebrate with me today. A huge thank
you to Regal Salmon for being such good guys and sponsoring this launch, I just
love working with them – they are such a fantastic, smart, innovative company,
with the nicest bunch of people working there from the factory floor right up
to top management! Thank you Martinborough Wines, who I must say have one of
NZ’s best pinot noirs; we drink a lot of it – hopefully after tonight you will
be too!
As always, thank you to the
super women at Pead PR, and Tyler St Garage for putting on this awesome do and
putting together these canapés together inspired by recipes from the book.
The last 12 months have been a wonderful springboard for me, but I see
this as just the beginning of my food career. A lot of you will know my
background as a dietitian or nutritionist – nutrition is a field I’ve always
been passionate about, however in my experience practising I found that
traditional methods to get us to eat better haven’t been working, in fact the more
nutrition information that’s out there, the more confused and misguided people
seem to have become and our health isn’t getting any better either. I think it’s
time for a new, fresh and inspiring approach to eating well, which is what
Nadia’s Kitchen is all about. Nadia’s Kitchen is full of fresh, bright,
beautiful and delicious recipes that get you to.....eat your colours (something
my Nan drilled into me when I was a child), eat from the ground, sea and sky
(instead of the factories), eat balanced meals (by serving ‘the perfect
plate’), and making food an experience (rather than just scoffing it down as
fuel) by encouraging eating together around a table (something Dad was very
strict about when I was a kid) and thinking a little about the journey behind
what’s on your plate. I write about all
these things in the book, which is divided into seasons – that was simply
because it made sense to have it that way (I don’t have particularly green
fingers or anything).
I think the book is absolutely beautiful – and that’s thanks
to two incredibly talented and inspiring people – Tam West and Kieran Scott, and
also Alex Landon-Lane who was a big help with the chaos of recipe testing and
photographing. I had a blast working with these guys, we made a great team. Thank
you Random House, especially Jenny Hellen and Rebecca Simpson, for the
opportunity to produce, what I hope is only the first, of many books to come.
And most importantly, this would definitely never have happened if it
weren’t for Mum and Dad who’ve grown my love of food from when I was knee high
(getting me to try lots of weird and wonderful foods!), and Carlos who is by my
side every step of the way and inspires me to dream every day.
Nadia’s Kitchen will be released tomorrow along with my brand new
website www.nadialim.com – take a
look.....
Here’s cheers to all of you, cheers to Nadia’s Kitchen, and cheers to enjoying
lots of laughs, stories, great food and wine together tonight and for many more
occasions to come!
Footnote:
Thank you Nadia for your words and your special book; thanks too to Regal Salmon and Martinborough Wines for a very special event. Goodness knows how many book launches I have attended after 40+ years working in the book world but this was one of the very best, a truly special event. I was delighted and proud to have been there.
The Bookman featured with Annie in subsequent story on the launch in Herald on Sunday, 8 April.
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