Roz Purcell to stage cooking demo at Red Line Book Festival
MODEL, blogger and food writer Roz Purcell is bringing her natural, no fuss, whole food approach to food to Tallaght next month, when she stages a cooking demo as part of the Red Line Book Festival.
No stranger to public life or television, Roz recently started a new chapter when she combined her passion for food and love of cooking into a successful blog, which lead to the whole food advocate releasing her first book, Natural Born Feeder: Whole Foods, Whole Life, in February.
On Saturday, October 15, Roz will demonstrate some of her favourite recipes from her number 1 bestselling book as part of the Red Line Book Festival.
Run by South Dublin Libraries, the successful and dynamic Red Line Book Festival is a celebration of all things literary and boasts a range of events that see national and international writers, agenda-setters and performers descend on South County Dublin for five days.
Ahead of this year’s festival, which runs from October 12 to 16, Roz took some time out to chat with The Echo.
Have you always been into food? What’s the first dish you remember learning how to make?
Yes, I grew up in a household where food was the centre of everything. My granny, aunt and dad love cooking and baking so from a young age I was always roped into help. My gran and aunt definitely played a big part in my love of food, they always took the time to show me how to make different recipes and involved me whenever they were whipping something delicious up. The first recipe I remember making was scones. My granny was known for always having fresh scones straight from the oven when visitors called around, they were a staple in the household. I can still remember the smell.
There are lots of different types of diets, food fads and advice on the go at the moment, what’s the most important thing to you about food?
I don’t advocate any particular diet, I believe eating whole foods and avoiding processed food is key to maintaining a healthy lifestyle. I’ve tried every diet there is and it never lasts, they’re usually very extreme and for me, I developed a negative relationship with food from fad diets. Food is there to be enjoyed and depriving yourself is never a healthy option. The thing with eating whole foods is there is so much choice, which is key to maintaining a healthy lifestyle – stop thinking of all the foods you can’t have and start thinking of all the foods you can!
What advice would you give to people who are trying to eat healthily and nutritiously?
Make sustainable changes. Don’t go all out one day and say you’re never eating sugar again, unless you have serious will power, you’ll end up binging after a few days. Make small changes that you can stick to. Also, focus on all the delicious healthy food you can eat instead of what you can’t eat.
What’s your guilty food pleasure?
My guilty food pleasure would have to be cake. I love cake. Sweet recipes are definitely the most popular on my blog, I always get asked for healthier alternatives to sugar coated desserts like brownies.
If you had to choose one recipe out of your recent book that reflects you the most, which one would you pick and why?
That’s so hard, I don’t know which I would pick. I love my sinless banoffi, my tomato, feta and basil load and lamb tangine…sorry I can’t pick one!
What kitchen utensil could you not live without?
My thermo-mix. It’s the one item I use the most. It was very expensive but totally worth it as I use it so regularly. You can make almost everything with it.
Name your top five kitchen cupboard staples?
Eggs, fish (usually salmon), broccoli, nuts and oats. I could make pancakes for breakfast and salmon (even breaded salmon with oats and nuts!) and broccoli for lunch/ dinner. To be honest, it would be extremely hard to pick just five as my cupboards are full of food but these are among my favourites.
What will your event at the Red Line Book Festival entail?
I will be doing a cooking demo on the night. I love cooking demos as they are really interactive and it shows people just how easy it is to make healthy recipes. I haven’t decided which recipes I will make on the night yet, I’ve been testing a few new recipes out so you’ll have to stay posted to see.
Are you a big reader yourself? What was the last book you read that you really enjoyed?
Yes, I do love to read when I have the time. I love reading about nutrition and sports (my two passions!). The last book I read was an autobiography, The Grace to Race: The Wisdom and Inspiration of the 80-Year-Old World Champion Tri-athlete known as the Iron Nun. Being so into sport myself, when I heard about Sister Madonna Buder I had to read her autobiography. It’s extremely inspiring to read and just goes to show what you can achieve. Anyone into sports, I would highly recommend it.
How important do you think it is to bring festivals like the Red Line book Festivals out into communities?
I think it’s hugely important. People love events where they can socialise with others who have the same interests. At any events I attend I usually leave with lots of new information that someone has mentioned to me that I may never have come across if I hadn’t been to the event. For me, I really just love getting to chat to people with the same passion and hearing their stories. Events that can bring communities together like that are brilliant and celebrate something so positive.
Anything planned for the rest of the year?
I’ve been working really hard on some big projects that I hope to announce soon from collaborations, new products and of course, working hard on my second cookbook. I’ve been extremely fortunate and had a great year so far and so much has happened that I really didn’t expect to achieve at 25. I’m beyond excited for the next few months!
Roz’s demo will be staged in the Civic Theatre on Saturday, October 15, between 6.30pm and 8.30pm. Tickets cost €10/€8 and for more visit www.redlinebookfestival. Natural Born Feeder is available in all good bookshops or visit www.naturalbornfeeder.com
