Roz Purcell, food blogger and former winner of Miss Universe Ireland, released her first cookbook, Natural Born Feeder, in January 2016. Due to the book’s promotion, Purcell has been in the media a lot lately. In February, she made an appearance on the RTE Today Show and she also opened a pop-up shop. Interviewing Purcell, we talked about her book, the tight knit Irish foodie community, and her plans for the future.
Purcell’s food philosophy is “Whole Foods for a Whole Life”. For her, the moment she realised she needed to make a change was when she returned from modelling abroad when she was 18. “I was just sick and tired of putting my body through gruelling diets. I was ready to make a change and make peace with food!” Sharing her story in her book, she writes “I was young and impressionable, so of course I tried every wondrous new diet and fast fix around. I started to blame food for any of my physical issues and struggles with my measurements.” At first, she used her blog, also called Natural Born Feeder, to keep her array of recipes in one place. In time, she shifted to using the blog to share her journey with food and “bring the fun back to healthy eating, recreating all those foods we just can’t resist without the guilt factor.” This is a common trend in Ireland and globally. Famous Irish foodies such as Susan Jane White pride themselves on not just creating new recipes, but on using the framework of our favourite foods to make healthy versions. This plays in particularly well to Irish culture- we love alternating between old time classics and new dishes.
We have a great little food community here in Ireland and foodies tend to support one another’s endeavours and I think we admire each other’s successions.
Instead of focusing on one diet, Purcell says Natural Born Feeder “caters for typical diet requirements like paleo, vegan, raw, gluten free and dairy-free.” Being less restrictive opens Purcell’s book up to a wider audience. Her favourite recipes from it are the quinoa, feta, and hazelnut salad with tahini dressing, as well as the quinoa, sweet potato and feta burgers. She also loves the feta, basil and sundried tomato bread. On the sweet side, Purcell’s favourites are the peanut butter banana cookies, crunch time protein bar, and the innocent toffee pops. Her worst disaster in the kitchen involved one of these; she had just finished making a double batch of toffee pops and let them all fall. “I ate one off the floor in tears.” If she’s indulging, she’ll eat her sinless banoffee or billionaire shortbread. As we all know, nothing beats homemade family cooking, and she loves having her Aunt Mary’s profiteroles when she goes back to Tipperary.
With the release of her book, Purcell also opened a pop-up shop on the 10th, 11th and 12th February on Baggot Street Lower. For the book release, she says she didn’t want a typical launch. In essence, she wanted to bring the book to life. Of the experience, Purcell loved “the adrenaline of the mad rush, queues and meeting people who had the book and followed the blog.” This also meant a 5am- 9pm working day, but she affirms that she was lucky to have help from so many family and friends. Of the 11,000 that she raised, she donated it all to The Capuchin Day Centre for Homeless People. Purcell outlines how “It was extra special to do it for a charity close to my heart and in keeping with my ‘feeding’ nature.”
The more healthy influencers we have the better, sharing their healthy recipes and tips in staying healthy.
Bringing her food following community together with this experience is something that is also relatable and integral to Irish culture. Due to the small size of our Emerald Isle, there seems to be less competitiveness in the foodie world. “We have a great little food community here in Ireland and foodies tend to support one another’s endeavours and I think we admire each other’s successions.” During her book launch, Purcell couldn’t believe the support she was getting from other foodies and chefs that she would really look up, and outlines how there was a real sense of community. She says that her dream team in the kitchen would be a mash up with the Happy Pear twins (David and Stephen Flynn) and Joe Wicks as “there would be chaos!”
When asked about the future of food blogging in Ireland, Purcell responded that “Irish foodies are really making a name for themselves abroad and paving the way for other foodies. There will be a huge growth in food blogs, which is fantastic. The more healthy influencers we have the better, sharing their healthy recipes and tips in staying healthy.” She went on to say that “The change in how Irish people eat has been massive.” Purcell asserts that this is particularly true in the last 2 years with supermarkets opening whole aisles dedicated to health foods and restaurants and shops welcoming the new dietary trends.
With all this change for the better, what does Purcell think will be the top food trends for 2016? She responds by talking about how in the last few years there has been avocado everything and tons of sweet potato dishes. She also discusses how there has been a huge growth in Middle Eastern style cuisine, with chefs such at Yotam Ottolenghi taking front and centre. She thinks 2016 is the year of fermenting and all about foods to boost your gut health. Her favourites of these are Umeboshi, homemade sauerkraut, kefir and kombucha.
So, what does the future hold? As a result of the overwhelming and heart-warming response to the pop-up shop, Purcell says that she would certainly open one again. She would also definitely write another cookbook. Purcell maintains that “Writing and creating a book has been one of my most special experiences to date and I hope I get to do it all over again- mind you it’s a lot of work!”
Purcell has three staples- talent, tasty food and a likeability factor, and in this way, she is a welcome addition to the Irish foodie community.
