Page 85 - Healthy (March - April 2020)

FOOD

My life

in food

Influenced by her farm-to-plate upbringing, retreat
chef and food writer Bettina Campolucci
Bordi puts sustainably sourced ingredients
at the forefront of her recipes. Now she’s
encouraging us to try plant-based eating

I grew up in Tanzania and we sourced vegetables As I stepped out of that, I noticed a massive change.
and fruit from the markets. My mother would I had been diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome
go to a farmer for milk, the isherman would come and endometriosis and was told that the likelihood
to our doorstep with fresh ish a few times a week, of me ever having children was next to none. It came
and my dad would go hunting. Everything was made as a shock and made me change my life around, not
from scratch, so if we had pizza, my dad would make just from a food perspective. As I launched my irst
the dough, and if we had yoghurt, my mum would business, I fell pregnant – against all odds.
have made that. When I was 11, we moved to Sweden
and suddenly had access to all this processed food. Food is a big fixture in my family life. My daughter
I couldn’t believe that you could buy a pre-made pizza is only seven, but I like to let her make decisions
from the supermarket. about what we’re going to cook, as well as taking her
to markets to choose vegetables. My husband is very
From a very young age, my parents let me cook into food as well, and we try to eat as locally and as
for their dinner parties. I was always inspired seasonally as possible, making vegetables the ‘hero’
by food and wanted to be a chef, but my parents ingredients of each dish.
told me there was no money in it, so I studied hotel
management because I thought that was the closest My blog, Bettina’s Kitchen (bettinaskitchen.com),
thing. I worked in restaurants from the age of 15, but began as a way of documenting my plates. I’d tend
was always front of house. to forget what I’d cooked on the retreats, so I started
a social media account and website to keep a record.
As told to Niamh Leonard-Bedwell. Photograph Nassima Rothacker eat! So I started running my own and decided to cook that became my irst book, Happy Food. 7 DAY VEGAN CHALLENGE
Through the blog, I was approached to do recipe
I started working in wellness retreats as a food
and beverage manager. At the time, juicing and
development for companies and started running
cooking workshops. I also wrote a book proposal, illed
detoxes were popular and I thought it would be nice
to run a wellness retreat where people actually got to
with versions of the recipes I’d been preparing, and
on them, too. My business partner at the time was
The aim of my new book, 7 Day Vegan Challenge,
vegan, so we decided to make vegan and gluten-free
is getting people to eat more vegetables. People
food. I loved it. I was living in Spain and would go to
tend to think about veganism in terms of what they
a farmers’ market to buy my ingredients. The irst
can’t have, instead of what they can. Vegan eating
retreat went really well and I got hooked from there.
opens up a new world of ingredients that you might not
even realise existed. It’s not necessarily about turning
While I was running the retreats, my own
vegan forever; it’s about giving it a go. If you can eat
wellbeing came into focus. I realised I felt a lot
plant-based food a couple of days a week, you’re already
better eating the food I was cooking for guests. When
BY BETTINA CAMPOLUCCI BORDI
making a massive change. The rest of the time, if you do
I was in the food and beverage industry, I drank lots of
(HARDIE GRANT, £15)
izzy drinks and cofee and worked really long hours.
eat animal products, choose quality over quantity.
IS OUT NOW
healthy-magazine.co.uk 85