Nicholson - Planted

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To me, veganism encapsulates a lifestyle choice, which excludes using animals for food, clothing or any other purpose, be it a bee or an Iberico pig. However, plant-based eating is based on a diet rich in all things that come from a plant, and not from any animal source. It does not seek to advocate anything more or less. It is rather simple in its form. But in all of this, we cannot forget we are talking about food. To me, food is so much more than just nutrients I put in my body. It is a great source of enjoyment, of creativity, of fun, of friendship and of delicious tastes and flavours. This trumps all. That is why I wrote this book to celebrate delicious food, and to be able to enjoy it.

If you are starting out on a more plant-based lifestyle then it is important you get the vitamins and minerals required for a healthy diet. There are a lot of comments floating around regarding the lack of protein in a plant-based diet. Whilst at present (yes, watch this space) there is no like for like, weight for weight, alternative to animal protein, you can lead a healthy lifestyle which includes protein on a plant-based diet. I am not a qualified nutritionist, nor purport to be, so I would suggest a quick internet search, where there is a plethora of information at your fingertips. In laymans terms, protein is essential for our body to function, it builds and repairs. Along with fat and carbohydrates, it plays a tripartite role in keeping us alive. It also plays a very interesting role in the science behind cookery, and chemical reactions. Protein can be found in both animal products and plant based products, hence the forceful reasoning that you can get enough protein from a plant based diet to function, and to perform well. Plant-based eating is becoming more common in top performing athletes, which to me solidifies the notion above.

As a child, growing up on the North Island in New Zealand, fruit and vegetables were a big feature of early life. Time spent outside was the norm, with a warm climate that enabled this most of the year. With a backyard and a neighbourhood where all the children spent time together, the outdoors was our playground. Being in the garden, picking the sour, green grapes off the vine, or peeling the insect-like outer leaves off a Cape Gooseberry before the sweet, juicy sphere popped in my mouth remain entrenched in my memory. Picking our vegetables for dinner or nipping out to the garden for some fresh mint to put in with the potatoes were just part and parcel of growing up. The summer holidays spent on my Uncle and Auntys stone fruit orchard and sheep farm in Central Otago were a long, happy and sunny sabbatical of family time and growing fruit as a livelihood. Looking back on it now, I see it for the education, privilege and wonderful experience that it was, and that in todays society is not the norm. My earliest childhood memories are mostly all about food. Understanding where food came from was the rule, not the exception, which I think steered me to life as a chef and an advocate of food, nutrition and cookery.

A few years into my Law and Commerce degrees in Dunedin, I decided that the burning fire in my belly, in relation to how much I loved cooking, was not to be dampened. Plus, as a self-funded student, I needed a job. So approached my favourite local caf, aptly named Ground Essence, advising I had zero experience but loved to cook. Luckily for me, they happened to be looking for a part-time cook and the two female owners took a chance on me. My muffin-making skills improved and I started to work with the owners to develop a more extended weekend brunch menu, from a kitchen that was approximately 1 x 2m, including the dishwasher and the domestic oven. A little ambitious, but it was a success mostly, and the beginning of the journey.

In 2001, the university summer holidays arrived and I needed more work, so applied for a kitchen hand job at Corstorphine House, a boutique hotel and restaurant with its own kitchen garden (a no brainer in those days). The head chef, Craig, ended up employing me as a chef and thus my education in elements of classic French cuisine began, (he had trained under a French chef and had spent time in the U.K.) from beurre blanc, to a classic beef stock to tarte au citron.

After finishing my university studies I had the cooking bug well and truly, but a little word from my mother encouraged me to at least give being a lawyer a go, and get your bar exam under your belt. Moving to Wellington, I did just that. Part way through my studies, whilst working as an Investigator for the Banking Ombudsman, I spotted an advertisement in our national foodie bible, Cuisine Magazine, for Gordon Ramsays Chefsearch competition. Contemplating it for all of a minute, I set to work creating a 3 course menu with recipes and duly posted it off. A couple of months later I received an unexpected phone call, inviting me to the semi finals of the competition, to be held in a few weeks time. Excitement soon turned to anxiety, realising I had not been in a restaurant kitchen for over 18 months. Suffice to say, with a little kiwi ambition and confidence, I made it through to the final six contestants. The night of the final, I was chatting to one of the judges, a fellow kiwi called Josh Emett, who was head chef of the Savoy Grill in London. As is typical in NZ, it turned out we had one degree of separation between us. He offered me a job on the spot. Not thinking twice, I jumped on the opportunity and arrived in London in September 2004.

Reflecting on my fourteen years in London is an interesting exercise. I stayed at the Savoy Grill until Josh left in 2006, when Marcus Wareing, knowing my admiration for Josh, took me over to his restaurant in Knightsbridge, Ptrus. Stepping up a level, here I honed my chef skills further but, perhaps more importantly in terms of my future, I showed Marcus that I wasnt just a professionally-trained chef, but a lawyer too. This led to opportunities both inside and outside the kitchen, supporting him in cookery book writing, external events, and the kitchen as a whole, as well as the business transition in 2009 where he became an independent operator.

Fast forward to 2010, an email arrived in Marcuss inbox about a project in Kings Cross, which at that time was a not-so-desirable part of London that had embarked upon the journey of gentrification. Marcus, Jane (his wife) and I went to look at a derelict building site, which held all the promise of the glory it once was as the Midland Grand Hotel, designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott. After many discussions and a decision on my part that I needed a different type of experience in terms of the restaurant world I opened our new restaurant, The Gilbert Scott, as General Manager, thus out of my whites. Whilst I designed the opening menu, scouring historical British cookbooks, I spent little time in the kitchen and learnt all about Grade 1-listed buildings, reservations, marketing, restaurant operations, financial control, IT and general maintenance, to name but a small part of my education. A swift and in-depth learning curve is the best way to describe it, invaluably so in hindsight.