Made it in the paper !

Cath Jeffares may be no stranger to being in the kitchen, but what she’s cooking these days might seem a bit strange to some.

Cath will be running a plant-based cooking workshop in Napier this month and says after going through some health issues a few years ago, she discovered the health benefits of this way of eating.

“Basically, what whole food plant-based eating is, is you eat plants in their entire form before anything is bleached, stripped or removed. That way you get all of the nutrients and all of the fibre.”

Cath says she has always been a bit of a dab hand in the kitchen and quickly learnt how to redo most of her “old comfy kitchen favourites”.

“I learnt a ton of stuff, had a few failures (sorry family) and quickly built a base of my favourite recipes.” Although Cath has turned down suggestions of running another cafe, she would love to share her recipes and show how to improve your health from your very own kitchen.

“We should all be eating plants like our lives depend on it because, well, they kind of do. Research tells us that by changing to a plant-based lifestyle not only can you add on some extra years, but you can add healthier years. Plant-based eating can be such a cheap way to get great-tasting food on your table and with grocery prices going up, up, up so who wouldn’t be keen?”

Cath believes many people are curious about plant-based eating but are a little unsure of where to begin. “Maybe they would just like to add a couple of plant-based meals into their weekly meals. This is exactly why I’m doing this workshop. To help people learn the basics and for them to be able to invite plants to every meal and hopefully help themselves and their kids into their own healthful journeys.”

Her goal is to offer four cooking demos a year based around the seasons.

“That way the fruit and veg is at its optimal taste and freshness and it will help keep more money in your wallet.”

This first cooking workshop is “summer” where she will be looking at dressings, sauces and “a couple of one-pot wonders that will be able to be whipped up in no time”.

“Everyone is busy so it’s important that we can feed ourselves with nourishing food that is not too complicated. It’s free, but please register so we know numbers, and I promise to make it fun with some tasting along the way.”