After 25 years working in restaurants, Alesha Bilbrough-Collins is now all about promoting "real food" in her local community.
In the new cookbook Food for Thought, Alesha shares not only recipes and photography but also thoughts on the dangers of chemical weed killers and food packaging waste.
Photo: Bateman Books
Growing up in Christchurch, Alesha tells Kathryn Ryan she was always immersed in the gathering and preparation of food and served her first four-course meal aged 12.
Alesha's mum (a "great preserver") would get her kids involved in making muesli and jam, their father hunted and their grandparents owned a farm and orchard.
After training at Christchurch Polytechnic, Alesha worked in the London kitchens of celebrity chefs Yotam Ottolenghi and Gordon Ramsay. Later, she and her husband ran the BearLion catering business in Christchurch for years.
Now Alesha and her husband have settled on a half-acre property in Upper Moutere, 20 minutes from her family.
"Go being-in-your-40s, I say. It's pretty good."
A "hazel, cashew, choc-orange number" by BearLion Photo: Alesha Bilbrough-Collins
For Alesha, it hasn't always been the case. She experienced years of ill health before eventually hitting "rock bottom" and being diagnosed with chemical poisoning, mostly due to the commonly used weed-killer glyphosate.
"That was a huge eye-opener and a wake-up call and I suddenly realised the importance of how food was being produced and grown. And it's terrifying what we're doing.
"All you've got to do is drive down the road and look at all the things that are dead around every signpost. The way the council uses [glyphosate], it's just ridiculous. No one is safe from it in reality. It's everywhere."
Health is everything and the degree that the food we eat can support our health is much underestimated, Alesha says.
"You are what you eat and you want to be eating something that's not going to poison you.
"We need to start supporting the people who are doing it right and looking after the soil for future generations."
Under the BearLion name - a combination of her husband's nickname and her own - Alesha serves BYO-container takeaways, caters for functions and also cooks weekly meals in private homes with whatever the occupants have on hand.
She describes her food as seasonal, local, simple, easy, flavourful - and always well-seasoned: "Salt is your best friend … it helps out a lot."
Recipe: Miso Roasted Potatoes with Pea, Tahini and Herbs
Photo: Alesha Bilbrough-Collins
