Welcome to Fresh Hunger – recipes, food inspiration, tips, techniques & stories to incite enjoyable cookery & some kitchen magic.
Cooking & sharing home-cooked food connects us. When we cook for others, we offer up a little (or a lot, depending on the passion level) of ourselves. It’s a privilege to cook for people – it’s a way to nourish others & to care for oneself.
Sadly many people are led to believe through clever marketing & advertising, that preparing tasty, wholesome food at home is time-consuming, complicated and/or expensive. We’re told we lead such busy lives we don’t have time to cook – that opening a package or picking up something at the local drive-through will somehow need & nourish, leaving time for the business that is life. But tell me, when did cooking become something to be abhorred in our western culture? And why can other cultures juggle work & life & still manage to make a nourishing meal for their family? When did we decide it was okay to turn our health & that of our family over to the processed food business? Why is cooking regarded by so many as a chore?
If your name is your destiny then I was born to cook – my name is Lovoni – it means ’underground oven’ & for 25 years I’ve been cooking professionally in the publishing & television industries in several countries. I attended culinary school in Sydney, Australia where I was born & raised. And that’s where I began my career with food. During my career I’ve authored six cookbooks & co-wrote over 60. I’ve written recipes & food styled for food companies & magazines around the world.
In the dead of winter in 2000 I moved to the frigid, Canadian tundra to become food editor for a publisher’s magazine & cookbook division. Several years later, I decided to self-published a cookbook – Simple, Fresh, Delicious. And that lead me to host a national cooking show in Canada also called – Simple, Fresh, Delicious.
Then in 2010 I moved to Montana, USA. I met & married an American man & became the food specialist for a fortune 500 company. Several moves (& states) later, we now live on the outskirts of a tiny town in Indiana where my husband was born & raised. We’re renovating an old house & I’m trying to find my Aussie body again after gaining weight – both the house & I are a work in progress.
Cooking doesn’t have to be complicated & it doesn’t have to be expensive. Most of us can’t afford grain fed & organic so buy what you can afford: better nourishment & health starts with cooking nutrient dense food at home.
Be open to fresh ideas. Grow some of your food – it can be as simple as a pot of herbs & a tomato plant. Get excited about trying a new ingredient, making a meal from scratch or cooking something you’d never consider. Get organized. Plan. Budget. Enjoy the process of cooking. You’re taking an array of different ingredients & creating something wholesome with them that you can feed & nourish others. And that my friend really is a privilege.