About Helen

Hi and welcome to Foodlovers, a New Zealand based food website.

Foodlovers first launched in 1999 (gosh that seems a long time ago). We were probably the first food site in NZ and while I wasn’t that sure what to do with it, like all babies the more I fed it the more it grew. There have been times over the past 17 years that I have questioned what I am doing but then I don’t see an alternative so just keep going.

The lovely people that I have met along the way and the community that our forum has generated all make it seem worth while.

While I grew up loving to cook and took over the baking in our house from a relatively young age. Our meals were fresh but simple and I always yearned for flavours I didn’t know of but knew there must be more than what we were eating.

Punchy flavours have stayed with me and contribute to my love of both SE Asian and Middle Eastern Cuisines.

My first career path was Primary school teaching. I loved the kids but figured that I could always have my own one day and it wasn’t long before the tug of the kitchen won over.

I am not a chef, my cooking has developed over time and skills have been learnt along the way.

Originally from Hokitika, I now live in Auckland with Ed and our 3 children Daisy, Jemima and Freddie. Greta has left the nest for her next venture in life.

Next to my love of family and food is my love of travelling and I am often plotting where to go to next. Thankfully my foray into food travel writing and tour hosting means that my passport gets enough stamps each year to keep me happy.

My food doesn’t really fit into any particular category, there are days and weeks when I love making bowls of super healthy salads and then days when all I feel like a hearty pie enveloped in layers of buttery puff pastry.

I do like to cook seasonally and pretty much the cans in my pantry contain tomatoes, sweetened condensed milk, coconut cream/milk and legumes such as chickpeas.

As of 2022 I am working as recipe editor for a subscritpion based recipe company MenuAid 

Close to my heart in Guardian Angels Charitable Trust (GA) a trust that I set up with my good friend Leanne Hegan and we are both trustees of. GA cares for families in our community that have a terminally ill child and are finding it difficult financially. Most of these families would have never needed to ask for help but find that illness and the inevitable loss of income see them spiralling into a deep dark hole. The help that GA provides is at the most basic level with food and utilities being a major component of our spending.

I love hearing from you and of course our social media channels are always needed numbers and comments.

Please do come and like us on facebook and instagram.

Happy Cooking!

Helen