Fresh Hunger – fruit, veggie & herb cookery for omnivores with approachable, simple & rustic recipes using bold, globally inspired flavors along with cooking tips & tricks. When I first created Fresh Hunger, I wanted to showcase nature’s bounty – a website dedicated to in-season fruits, vegetables and herbs. Unfortunately I strayed from that path and Fresh Hunger became a website without purpose – delicious recipes sure, but not what I’d envisioned. Now it’s time to move in the direction for which this site was intended – to share fruit, veggie and herb recipes through the seasons. This isn’t a vegetarian site – it’s a place where fruits and veggies reign supreme. Where herbs are used like greens and not as an almost apologetic afterthought. Where omnivores come to find luscious, simple recipes with bold and usually global flavors.
When it comes to a meal, most people choose their protein and the veggies get relegated to the side as an afterthought. A bag of precut salad drizzled in a store-bought dressing. Or greens unceremoniously steamed with nothing but salt. Not very exciting for food that deserves more. To say that vegetables get overlooked at meal times is an understatement.
If I’m going to get my health and weight back on track then I want to do it right so fruits, veggies and herbs are now the focus of my meals. While there’s certainly nothing wrong with plain steamed greens, surely the foods that provide us with the nutrients for optimal health deserve more than mere water. Don’t you agree?
I’m not going to prattle on about nutrition, goodness knows we hear enough of that and everyone is an expert these days. You’d have to live under a rock to not know that fruits and veggies supply us with key nutrients but they also add flavor and texture to a recipe so I want to make them the main ingredients – give them the star status they deserve. Not just as sides but as appetizers and mains. It might be a juicy beef burger, a venison pie, a chicken salad, a pork roast, a simple pasta, flatbread or a soup – all things delicious with veggies staring. If it’s a dessert or buttery baked goods fruits will be front and center. I’d love you to come along and delve into this way of eating with me.
So let’s be open to fresh ideas. Don’t be that person still proud of loathing asparagus at age 39. It’s childish. No one thinks it’s cute. No one likes a picky eater especially not as an adult so stop being an attention seeker, it’s very unattractive.
Try growing some of your food – it can be as simple as a pot of herbs and a tomato plant. Get excited about trying a new ingredient, making a meal from scratch or cooking something you’d never considered before. Enjoy the process of cooking. It’s not a chore so work on changing your mindset – I’m going to do my best to help you. Be grateful you have fresh fruit, veggies and herbs so readily available. Embrace that.
ABOUT LOVONI
Thanks for being here and taking the time to look around my web site. Feel free to lurk and loiter. I’m Lovoni Walker – the creator of Fresh Hunger. For the past 27 years I’ve been working with food in publishing, television, online, social media and corporations. I’m a cookbook author, food stylist, cookery teacher, food photographer, a TV food show host and a bit of a gypsy. If your name is your destiny then I was born to cook – ‘Lovoni’ (lovo) – means “underground oven”. Sadly it does not mean “very rich”. Or “svelte”. But you know, I’m working on both and can only dream right?
Let’ see…I attended culinary school in Sydney, Australia – where I was born and raised but I’ve loved to cook since I can remember. Cook and eat. More of the latter really but I’m passionate about both. During my career I’ve authored six cookbooks, co-written over 60 and self-published one myself (no wonder I’m exhausted). And I’ve written recipes & food styled for food companies, magazines and cookbooks worldwide. And lots more but please don’t let me bore the pants off you.
Twenty years ago I moved from warm and sunny Sydney to the frozen Canadian tundra (as one does) to become food editor for a recipe magazine and a cookbook publisher. Several years later self-publishing my own cookbook – Simple, Fresh, Delicious. And that lead me to host a national cooking show in Canada also called – Simple, Fresh, Delicious – I’m going to assume you see the connection. The show’s focus was to inspire home cooks with easy recipes, using fresh, seasonal and local ingredients. The show was filmed in my studio and on locations across the Canada. It was the most enjoyable and rewarding thing I have done in my career.
In 2010 I moved to Montana, USA where I met & married a very talented American boy from Indiana, who thank GOD, loves food and drink as much as I do. We lived in Minnesota and I became the food specialist for a fortune 500 company. Several moves and states later, we now live on the outskirts of a tiny town in Indiana where my husband was born and raised. We’ve renovated a 120 year old house and I’m on a journey to discover my Aussie body under the American one I’ve worked on for a couple of decades. I know it’s in there. Nowadays I work for myself writing recipes, food styling and creating all and anything pertaining to food. Cooking videos for my You Tube channel are yet to come but they’re coming.
