Tom grew up in Wellington where he thinks his first word was “McDonalds”. You would have known him at the time as the fatter kid in class, hanging out with his mates at the tuck shop downing lollies to soothe those primary school blues. Even though Tom’s parents were health conscious and his mum made sure he at least knew the names of his vegetables, Tom was, at the time, a typical kiwi junk food kid. It wasn’t until Tom hit high school – that magical arena for self-awareness – that he started to become aware of his body, especially after joining the rowing team. The physical regime demanded a better kind of nutrition which Tom became aware of, but more importantly, the awesome community of 30 kids and coaches working together towards a common goal became a game changer for Tom and his peers as they sought a better way to live and improve together. Such are the seeds sown in a young man’s life who grows up to be a personal trainer, nutrition expert and food business entrepreneur.

Once Tom got going in his career as a personal trainer, he noticed there was a massive disconnect when it came to fitness and nutrition. Most of his clients wanted to focus on weights and training, but Tom didn’t want to just change peoples diets to bulk up, but rather to help his clients eat properly to develop their bodies across the board. During this time, Tom developed a great radar for nutrient dense foods that brought on the right mix of fats, proteins and the right kind of slow burning carbs. While working at Les Mills Gym in Lower Hutt, Tom would head across the street to Abode Cafe where chef Luke Cooper was making some pretty fabulous caramel slices and GF choc brownies to snack on between sessions. Tom wanted to reduce sugar intake for himself and his clients and asked Luke if they could come up with something for people in the neighborhood together. No ordinary cafe cook, Luke had some killer ideas on how to bring the best of kinds of ingredients together to get this fat / protein / carb ratio right while being delicious at the same time. For the first six months, Tom was the focus / test group but as they nailed the recipes, Tom’s clients and other folk in the neighborhood started getting on board. Tom shared the new snacks with people back at the gym, one of whom was a sharp entrepreneur with skills in the food industry who first advised, then later collaborated with Tom and Luke to take these goodies to market.

Making the transition from Luke’s cafe kitchen to full-on production was a bit of work for all them. First, it was about getting all the right ingredients and quantities from the right suppliers. Then, came a lot of trial and error, rehydrating the goji berries for instance for the right texture (those puppies can be super chewy right?). Agave was already being used to both aid digestion and to soften other ingredients and then other sweeteners were added to find the right balance with new flavours. Then they had to back off on certain flavours while pumping up others to make chef Luke and chief product taster Tom happy enough to eat these goodies every day. An Apple Computer lead designer (Alan Kay) once said that if a kid can use the thing, it’ll sell like crazy. In a sense, what Tom and Luke were doing was tapping into their inner child food needs to see if it was something, say, a mum might get away with placing into the lunch bag every day…

Tom & Luke shared the end results with friends, family and the places they liked to shop. One such place was Common Sense Organics, where they sourced a lot of the main ingredients for their new nutrition / health / sports / snack bars. Common Sense snapped them up as did a few other retailers in the area. What was making the difference, was that on the back end, Tom & Luke bars had some deep nutrition going on while on the front end chef Luke made sure these bars had the flavours, textures and sensations which would make people glad. Then, they had to transition from 300g testing quantities, to say, 7 tonnes of goodies to make a heap of bars, bites and treats under the newly establish brand of Tom & Luke Bars.

Now having a product they all liked, Tom hit the road to share the goodness with other gyms, clients, retailers and farmers markets. His main pitch wasn’t just that these things were really good for foodies, healthies, (is that a term, or a person?), kids and their mums… but that he had a box of “Black Forest Bites”, or “Apple & Cinnamon bars” or GF Spirulina and Whittaker’s 72% Dark Ghana Chocolate bars called “Trinity”. Whoa. Of course, all of these bars were also:
• super high in fibre (10g per bar)
• even higher in protein (20g per bar)
• had the right balance of good fats (sunflower butter at 20g per bar)
• only 6.4g net carbs per bar
• and of course, naturally low in cholesterol
win, win, win, win, win

Being able to have a tasty snack is pretty cool, but packing said snack with stuff like organic sunflower butter, golden pea protein, toasted organic oats and organic chia seeds makes it even better for health and happiness (on top of all the cool of course). Tom & Luke bars, like the world they inhabit, are also adapting and changing according to the needs and desires of their customers. The bites came about for instance, because Tom’s mum (and others) were cutting the bars into pieces to last throughout the day. New flavours are coming on line as well and Tom is always finding new groups of people who are keen to have an amazing snack to fuel their holistic personal development. Tom’s come a long way from the tuck shop to being his own shop on the road selling much healthier and tastier snacks to people. At Raeward Fresh, we’re stoked to be able to share this story, these products and their vision for a healthier personal development for all of us.

They say it takes a tribe to raise a child. In this case Mr & Mrs Coconut have been the proud parents and the community of Raglan have been the supportive village. Raglan Coconut Yoghurt is the prodigy of this creative community – born of love and collaboration – and what a beautiful baby it is! I had the privilege of chatting with the diversely entrepreneurial Tesh Randall (Mrs Coconut) this morning to find out more about their amazing process and product. Tesh is an engaging young Kiwi who embodies the best of a new breed of foodie culture, people who care about making exceptional stuff from the heart.

Tesh grew up in the Kumara capital of the world (Dargaville) and spent most of her homeschooled childhood around good baking with an exposure to the land at her grandparents nearby farm. Finishing school at 15, she soon went on to Whangarei where she took jobs in a number of fields from accounting to event management. By the age of 19, she had self-published her first childrens book, ‘Button Thief’, which she has sold over a thousand copies of to date by going store to store. From there, Tesh started focusing more on writing and, moving to Christchurch, worked for a radio station writing ads and freelancing other projects until the earthquake knocked the wind out of the city. Back north then, Tesh worked in Auckland running her own copywriting business, working from home and developing her web skills. Happily working away in this milieu, Tesh met her partner Seb (Mr Coconut) at an ‘Art Of Happiness’ seminar because they were both attracted to the vegetarian food on offer.

What has all that to do with coconut yoghurt you might be asking by now? Well, it’s the same as with the NYC lawyers who started WEKA olive oil, or the Cromwell school teacher who runs Off Our Tree Cherries. People with diverse professional and creative backgrounds bring all their skills together in the creation of something very new in the world of food. What’s unusual about Tesh and Seb however, is that they’re not retiring into food at mid life, they’re shifting gears in their mid 20’s. Seb had been working for Telecom and Tesh had been focusing on corporates in her writing and web development. They both wanted to break away from this scene and live more from the heart so, of course, they moved to Raglan. Like American musicians Jack Johnson and Ben Harper, Seb loves the surfing there and Tesh found herself at home in the community vibe.

Seb and Tesh immediately started making things together. They loved creating various foods from Kefirs to Kombuchas and, Tesh tells me, the baking got a lot healthier than in her childhood “Edmonds” days. They also formed a company to help small businesses get on-line but felt like it was keeping them in the corporate scene more than they really wanted. Along the way, Seb noticed he was reacting to dairy products so Tesh started experimenting with non-dairy yoghurts. She’d heard of coconut yoghurt but wasn’t in love with anything at the stores. Tesh trial-and-error-ed through four months of iterations, trying different creams, incubation times, temperatures, cultures and mixing the coconut with other milks or creams. Eventually, she came up with something both she and Seb really liked (and this pair REALLY LIKE yoghurt, blending it in breakfasts, smoothies, straight up… all the time).

The final recipe was completely dairy free (good for Seb), had no refined sugars (a large 700ml jar has about 1 teaspoon of organic honey which comes from local bee hives based around the Manuka Bush of Mt Karioi), no GMO or preservatives, as well as also having millions of healthy probiotics (which my Mum tells me is even helping her eczema). Tesh and Seb started making larger batches of their new creation and one weekend, ended up with a bit of a surplus. Raglan being Raglan (where the community Facebook page has 3000 members helping each other find lost jandals or puppies), Tesh posted that she had a few extra jars if anyone was keen. Tesh’s post was flooded with requests and Raglan Coconut Yoghurt was born. She spent the next few days finding more jars (from Raglan’s trend-setting recycling centre) and making huge batches to fill 60 orders, which then became weekly requests. Her post was reposted, shared in Hamilton, Auckland and elsewhere until Mr and Mrs Coconut figured they’d have to make heaps more coconut babies.

Seb’s strategic skills met Tesh’s kitchen / digital strengths allowing the couple to start a new business around this fantastic yoghurt (and, a very cool web site). But it was the Raglan community that kicked in to offer product feedback, word of mouth marketing and practical No. 8 wire support. For instance, when Tesh needed a bigger container to brew the yoghurt, a local metal artist converted a large pot by welding a spigot to the bottom, creating a large urn. You can buy this kind of thing of course, if you didn’t live in Raglan… Tesh loves that this same community has a “Time Bank” where she can write copy for a local business who, in exchange, will pay back with plumbing or baking or whatever’s needed. Tesh and Seb are also involved in local initiative KASM to help safeguard New Zealand’s beaches.

When you look at the overall story, it seems almost inevitably normal that such a creamy, deliciously healthy coconut yoghurt would come from a place and people like this. And, it makes sense that we’re not seeing this kind of quality or innovation come out of larger manufacturers who’s best efforts of late seem to be limited to coming up with cooler labels or brand names, born of paid focus groups rather than down to earth makers. Tesh and Seb seem to be glad for their experiences and connection to the corporate world, especially in terms of lessons learned in strategy or sales. But what they would really like to do is take the best of New Zealand food innovation and make it available to their neighbors (instead of all the really good stuff being sent overseas all the time). In fact, their first stockist was the neighbor down the street whose organics shop, Whaingaroa Organic Kai, is where they get the regions best groceries from others who also really care. At Raeward Fresh here in Queenstown, we fully appreciate the community behind Raglan Coconut Yoghurt and are really glad to be sharing their goodness with our own local communities of like minded food-lovers.

Tesh and Seb have put out a fantastic little cookbook featuring some wonderful personalities from around NZ and their favourite recipes using Raglan Coconut Yoghurt. It’s a wonderful read and Tesh and Seb are using the proceeds to build their own commercial kitchen. You can find a link to the cookbook here.
Ingredients
Bars:

• 400ml of Raglan Coconut Yoghurt
• 2 cups of desiccated coconut
• 3 large tablespoons of melted coconut oil
• 1 large tablespoon of coconut nectar
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• Generous pinch of salt

Coating:

• 250gram block of 72% Fairtrade Whittakers Chocolate
• 2 large tablespoons of coconut oil

 

How to make:
Mix all the ingredients wet ingredients together in a pot.
Stir in the coconut until the mixture is clumpy, but not runny. The coconut nectar will give it a slightly golden colour. Press into a rectangle container lined with baking paper and pop in the freezer for 10 mins to let it firm up slightly.
Take out and cut into small bar shapes (recipe makes about 24), and put back in the freezer to harden completely.
Once completely frozen, melt chocolate and coconut oil together in a bowl sitting in a saucepan of hot water – you can add more oil for a thinner coating. Dip each bar smoothly through the chocolate using a spatula and knife, and it will snap freeze immediately.
Place finished bars on baking paper and try not to eat them all at once! They keep in the fridge for at least a week.

Just for fun, Richard and Helen Dorresteyn started the Clevedon Farmers Market around 10 years ago. Actually, they were also a little bit tired of buying all the manky fruit and veg being dumped in their local stores, especially given that they lived out of town by many of the produce farms supplying top quality fresh food to trendy inner city markets. The community came together around this initial venture to create a thriving local market, drawing out all kinds of interesting stalls (now numbering 70) showcasing the regions best growers and makers. The only problem, as Richard and Helen saw it back then, was that no one was selling any cheese at the Clevedon market. Time for some fun…

Richard was working as an industrial electrician while Helen was teaching art in schools. The couple saw an opportunity to fill the market’s cheese gap and decided to do some research. They both loved mozzarella but wanted to make something special, and one glaring hole they noticed in the NZ cheese world was that no fresh buffalo mozzarella was being produced in their region – or the entire country at that time for that matter. So they decided to have a go at making some. With buffalos, of course.

The first step, obviously, was to fly to Darwin and buy some buffalos from a guy named Bill (Buffalo Bill to his friends). They arrived in remote northern Aussie to what seemed like another planet. Riding roughshod over the red earth they could not escape the rugged landscape, it rose up underneath them in clouds of burnt ochre through the rusted out bottom of Bill’s old truck. During this epic outback adventure they learnt heaps from Bill, bought what buffalo he could sell and then also picked up a few more from another Aussie farming contact. The buffalo were sent to Melbourne in preparation to get them back to Clevedon, NZ. No small task , not only from a quarantine perspective, but also because many of the buffalo were as wild as the landscape from which they’d come. Helen and Richard persisted and, in time, had 18 buffalo back on Kiwi grasslands ready to be milked… and milk ready to be made into cheese. And not just any cheese, it needed to be world class buffalo mozzarella. They knew that such a dream would require an amazing level of cheesemaking craft, so it was time for some more fun…

Off to the 8th World Buffalo Conference for the Dorresteyn’s. They eagerly soaked up all they could and struck it lucky when a couple of kind Italian’s took them under their wing. These gentlemen showed Helen and Richard a few tricks of the trade. Serendipity struck again when their introductions connected them with a phenomenal professor in Naples who’s life study is the making of buffalo mozzarella. Next stop: Naples (for fun of course), where they took a master class with the master. While they were making cheese together the professor was kind enough to share his “make sheet”. He then sent them on their blessed way to a small store in one of Naples’ back alleys where loud talking, chain smoking cheese specialists put together an order of all the intricate gear Helen and Richard would need to make buffalo mozzarella back home.

Over the next two years, while their buffalos were maturing into a herd of well bred, long horned beasts, Richard and Helen spent their time experimenting and perfecting their cheesemaking processes. They got to the point where they were ready for market and, following some initial encouraging feedback, Helen jumped into the Toyota and drove up to Auckland to share their labour with Tony Astle from Antione’s Restaurant,(as you do if you wanna know whether you’ve nailed it). Nervous as all hell she delivered a kilo of their smooth, round, white, cheesy goodness to Tony, who whipped it out, cut off a slice, and responded, “That’s not bad, is it”. He then made an order for the entire year ahead and has been buying, along with a slew of other chefs, from the Dorresteyn’s ever since.

On top of all the fun they’re having, it’s clear to me that some rock solid values underpin their enthusiasm and success. I think the essence of what motivates Richard & Helen is their passion for sustainable Kiwi community; to take their smallish piece of land, along with their formidable talents, and then work hard together to help see NZ truly shine. They want this from the ground up, quite literally – from the grass, to the animals, to the accumulation of craft and techniques, to the ongoing ingenuity, and then, of course, to the people in their neighbourhood and beyond who can now enjoy a delicious NZ buffalo mozzarella. They love standing alongside the 70 other stallholders at the Clevedon Farmers Market these days, looking down the rows at the men and women who are creating the future of this gifted country. It takes special people to see the heart of their community and build something extraordinary within it together. At Raeward Fresh, we take our hats off to the industrial electrician and the art teacher who went around the world and brought back a beautifully fresh buffalo mozzarella for our lucky land.

Not to brag, but I happen to be an expert on popcorn. Growing up in the U.S., I’ve sampled hundreds of variations from Cracker Jacks to your standard movie going fare, to gourmet kettle corn popped in a large cast iron caldron on the spot. I’ve created dozens of variations at home from miners thyme and sea salt to coconut sugar and nutmeg, all in my quest for that buttery, sweet, salty, puffy, moorish treat. So yeah, I knows my popcorn.

Not long ago, I saw a new popcorn offering at Raeward Fresh Queenstown with a bear on the bag, peering back at me. Obviously, we were both very serious about this stuff. Back home, I rented a serious (mostly) movie – The Big Short – and worked my way through three different kinds of Serious Popcorn. In the first act, I got an education about the lead-up to the world financial crises of 2008 accompanied by the Serious’ Sea Salt popcorn. Both the film and the popcorn had subtle complexities and surprises. For instance, who knew that baby boomers were going to rip off the whole world, right? Even more surprising though, was how buttery Serious’ popcorn tasted. Especially seeing as there’s no butter in the popcorn.

In the second act, the humor, tension and insanity of the looming crises grows while I made my way through the second bag of Serious’ Sweet & Salty popcorn. Kettle corn is my all time favourite and this one is right up there on the balance of flavours. Again, really buttery too. Hmmm? Once the financial meltdown hit in the Big Short, it was time for some Coconut & Vanilla popcorn. Maybe a bit sweeter than I’m used to but that didn’t stop me from polishing off the bag in the midsts of watching the world implode on the greed and insanity of the last decade.

Overall, this is some really good popcorn and being an expert I had to do my popcorn research so I called Serious Popcorn’s creator Roger Holmes to get the back story. Roger grew up on a North Waikato farm where his Grandfather first planted sweet corn, squash, asparagus and baby carrots… As a kid, sorting corn on the line, and watching the food go to market gave Roger a sense of quality, supply chains and the market overall. So after studying and working in London for a while, Roger got hit with the same financial crisis of 2008 and had to come up with a serious solution for work. Having a flare for combining flavours and produce in his blood, Roger developed the award winning Stolen Rum.

While promoting Stolen in Miami, Roger observed the U.S. obsession with popcorn which kindled his own connection with corn. Using that same gift for combining unique ingredients, Roger developed a recipe to achieve the essential buttery taste by using a fantastic organic corn from the Hawkes Bay and organic deodorized coconut oil to which he adds the other ingredients making up the flavours I described above. And watch this space, Roger is concocting even more flavours in his serious development to create a healthy snack that satisfies, delights and pleases the heart. And as an expert, I can verify that he’s seriously nailed it:-|

There are a gazillion drinks available on the market today – and most of them are average. So, when you take a swig of something that surprises your palette and gives you pause to take a second look at the bottle, it’s worth noting. This was my experience with the range of drinks from All Good. First, it was solid traceable flavours (as in you could actually taste the black currant or ginger, instead of their chemical alias). Next, punchy fizz balanced just right with real fruitiness. And to finish up, a startling taste experience that lasts all the way down the back of the throat (because you’ve actually just swallowed your first real cola nut beverage). It seems there’s actually something to this fair trade, organic business that comes through in the flavour and quality of the drinks. Chris Morrison, a third of the brains behind All Good, was kind enough to explain how….

Let’s begin with a bit about this third of those brains. Chris grew up in Wellington and started wandering around the world in his early 20’s. He spent some time in Vancouver, where he worked in a health food store which piqued his interest in all things organic. One of his first food endeavors in the field was to create an organic vegetarian dog biscuit. Hmm. Moving on… Chris carried on around Europe and Mexico before returning to New Zealand where he studied naturopathy and met his wife Deborah. From here it was back to work at another health food store, where a supplier eventually sold Chris his recipe for ginger beer – the long story short of which saw Chris founding and running Phoenix Drinks (along with his wife Deborah and friend Roger Harris). Phoenix became Australasia’s largest organic soft drink company.

After Chris and his wife chose to sell their shares of Phoenix, Chris continued to look for ways to keep his Kiwi entrepreneurial gears turning and turned to organic bananas. Along with his brother Matt and friend Simon Coley, Chris and Co (of the collaboration All Good Bananas) wanted to make the shift from looking solely at the environment (organics) to the social side of food (fair trade). As food production is the staple part of small community economics around the world, Chris, Matt and Simon decided it was time to get in direct contact with growers and work the supply chain in a fair and ethical way. They were the first in the country to supply NZ stores with organic, fair trade bananas.

This combination of solid business nous and a compassionate ethos formed the background for taking their All Good company to the next level. For Chris, this meant cola. Many companies had abandoned using the actual cola nut in beverages and opted for chemical substitutes instead. Cola is challenging to source (especially in war torn Sierra Leone) and costly to work with, but it has a such a unique flavour that can’t really be reproduced. Similar to the ethical thoughtfulness that’s come to characterize the coffee movement of late, Chris wanted to build bridges between growers and discerning NZ consumers. He chose a village in Sierra Leone (Boma) to work with, bought directly from them and thus Karma Cola was born. Simon, who worked with 42 Below’s marketing team (an interesting story in it’s own right) helped come up with the campaign for All Good drinks, telling the honest story of shared values between Sierra Leonean farmers and a few ordinary Kiwi blokes. Karma’s main pitch is “What goes around, comes around”. It’s catchy but it’s not spin. They have indeed created a virtuous cycle around quality farming of exceptional ingredients (including organic vanilla from Sri Lanka and organic cane sugar from Maharashtra India), it’s transformation into healthy and delicious beverages, and it’s sale to an appreciative audience.

Since Karma Cola, the All Good crew has gone on to make Gingeralla, a fantastic low sugar, high ginger kick of a drink sourced from Forest Garden Growers cooperative in Sri Lanka (who are made up of 130 small family farmers who grow a variety tropical spices and fruit). After that it was Lemmy, a lemonade made from organic Sicilian lemons and organic cane sugar from Suminter Organic Farmers Consortium in Maharashtra India. And finally, just last year, All Good added a range of sparkling fruit drinks to their stable of liquid goodness. These wee sparkling sippers smack of James Bond coolness paired with Gordon Ramsay in-your-face flavour. Seriously, these fruity little bombs will light up your day. The water is sourced from Waiuku and the fruits come from as close to home as the Canterbury Plains (for black currants) or as far as the Negev Desert (for the bitter lemon). Have a look at All Good’s site to see the wonderful range of fruits and their sources used in their new Sparkling drinks.

Perhaps the only thing I’m left wondering is, with ingredients sourced from all over the world, what’s so Kiwi about All Good? Here’s what Chris had to say. Like many boutique companies in the Kiwi food scene, Chris and crew would love to get all of their ingredients creating as few carbon molecules as possible. Problem is, for all our clean and green image down under here, NZ uses only 1% of it’s land for organic growth (as opposed to say, Switzerland which uses 11%). So while this does create a carbon conundrum, it also creates an opportunity for green tech, fair trade creatives like Chris, Matt and Simon to come up with a Kiwi-esque solution. For All Good, this has meant using the inevitable distance to build bridges. All Good shares it’s Kiwi sensibilities in the form of ethical practice, fair prices for primary produce, and the opportunity to build substantial relationships across cultural divides. Recently, these relationships have meant they also literally build bridges (like in Boma, the village where they source the cola nut). They also network like crazy to find other boutique producers (like Eyal from Dan in Northern Israel who supplies the red grapefruit) who they can share ideas and markets with, creating both the social and environmental impact their values have them dream of on a worldwide scale. Chris still campaigns to see more of NZ grown organically, but he’s not afraid to use the existing horticultural tension as a means to share the profits with an international set of villages. I say grow on All Good, grow on.

Most of us have an intuitive sense about the sorts of foods our bodies need. What good things we may know about our personal nutrition are, however, all too often overridden by sugar cravings, stress, comfort foods, tempting Christmas treats… or all of the above. Our daily battles with food often boil down to the struggle between listening to that healthy inner voice of nutritional wisdom vs. overt cravings caused by us constantly messing with our innate systems. I know, for instance, that I should start my day off with something that will get my stomach ‘thinking’ right – like some apple cider vinegar, or lemon juice in hot water – prepping it for the host of delicious (and not always super nutritious) things that it will have process throughout the day. Instead, I’ll often go with what I ‘feel like’ (cue black coffee), what will be the most comforting (like thick sourdough toast slathered in butter & honey) and then do my best to play catch up over the day from there. This constant tussle between intuition and cravings isn’t so much about how many calories will end up on which part of our bodies; it’s really about what our stomach, acting as our second brain, knows if only we would listen. Namely, that we need to be healthy and well across the spectrum of ourselves, and that means our mental, physical and relational selves. For many of us, the inherent resilience of our bodies affords us the ability to play with the fire of poor dietary choices. My interview with Anita and Terry Kyle from the Kefir Company taught me that not everyone has that luxury.

Anita Kyle was a busy woman working in the fashion industry. When she and husband Terry had their first child, Shamus, they were immediately confronted by long sleepless nights, their small son screaming uncontrollably and vomiting constantly. It wasn’t long before this difficult start became a growing awareness that their son was struggling both mentally and physically with what would later be diagnosed as autism. Interestingly, Anita tells me how she knew intuitively – as hard as the reality of the diagnoses hit her – that Shamus’ illness was deeply related to something in his gut. Anita had struggled with stomach issues for most of her life as well, so she decided to dive headlong into the mountain of research available on the issue. She and Terry visited a range of specialists too, from GP’s to nutritionist to naturopaths. They compiled everything they learned and decided to take Shamus off both dairy and gluten to refocus on his internal bio-ecology. Within four months they saw improvements. He slept better, vomited less and began to engage in more social behaviors. Spurred on by the encouraging results and the hope they might be on to something, Terry and Anita studied even more diligently and continued to learn from and work closely with their doctor (Leila Mason) and nutritionist (Gina Wilson). Necessity had given them the opportunity to gain expert knowledge and first hand experience on the importance of gut health and how that affects the rest of our well being.

Of particular note to the Kyle’s was the priority of rebooting gut health and then maintaining it through absorbing the right kinds of foods. This included eating well-made bone broths and fermented foods while avoiding foods high in sugar and carbohydrates that bred destructive microflora. These sorts of food choices affect digestive function and metabolic health for all of us. In Shamus’ case, Anita (and team) knew he wasn’t digesting food correctly and that his constipation and vomiting were obvious signs of ill-health. Putting Shamus on bone broths and taking away dairy had such a positive effect (the family noticed increasing improvements in his ability to focus and be relationally connected) that Anita sought out other foods that would keep Shamus well and allow the rest of his system to function in healthier ways. 

Thus the Kyle’s came to discover fermented foods – and one powerhouse of the fermented food family in particular; kefir made with coconut water. Kefir of this kind was not available commercially at the time, so Anita and Terry pursued a process to make it themselves using fresh coconut water (from coconuts Terry learned to chop open with Islander efficiency) brewed slowly to neutralise the sugars (even the natural sugars in coconut water can feed candida) with the addition of seven strains of healthy bacteria and yeast. The hope was that this precious kefir could reboot Shamus’ gut health and, by extension, his immune system. The Kyle’s had such positive results from the kefir in conjunction with the rest of Shamus’ dietary regime that Anita and Terry saw the biggest improvement yet for their son – Shamus actually smiled at his mum for the first time. 

The specialists working with Shamus were also so impressed by the improvements in his well being that his nutritionist asked Anita to make more kefir so she could offer it to other families she was working with. Eventually, Anita sold her fashion business so she and Terry could develop their kefir full-time. Since those days, the Kyle family have faced other challenging personal circumstances which have required them to be at their best health wise. Anita tells me these situations also required them to apply everything they had learned about the centrality of gut health to overall well being for Shamus to themselves. You can read more about their story on their web site here.

For the rest of us, who may or may not be dealing with health crises, we have to decide what we’re going to do in response to the increasing body of knowledge, research, and even the anecdotal experience of a mother’s remarkable intuition, when it comes to our own gut health and overall well being. Thankfully, we don’t need to be sucking down Kale smoothies all day to be well, or skinny for that matter. We do, however, need to know what goes on inside our bodies, what our internal systems need to function at their healthy best and how to consistently put the basics of wellness in place. I think this is especially true in the mornings, so that we can enjoy a wide array of wonderfully delicious foods throughout the day that actually build on good bio ecologies. Anita and Terry’s Kefir Company coconut kefir water does this. It’s pricey, but you only need about 30-50 mils a day to keep nourishing your stomach with the good stuff. The good stuff squeezes out the bad bacteria over time, making it a very good deal in the long run. It is always difficult to put a price on well being and sometimes you simply can’t – in Anita’s case, the first smile of her son after a good nights sleep for her whole family is priceless. At Raeward Fresh, we’re super glad Anita and Terry found this solution for their family and that in doing so they have created a beautiful, life-affirming product to share with the rest of us.

PS. Anita suggests giving her a call or email if you want to discuss dosages for specific needs for yourself, your children or family. 0800 KEFIR ME or anita@thekefircompany.co.nz

In confronting herself, then, she moved to Wanaka to carry on her heart’s journey. Within a short time she met the chef of Whare Kea Lodge,
a Relais & Châteaux property. She started baking and doing breakfasts. Without any professional kitchen experience Sarah nevertheless ended up being the sous chef within six months! Her heart was emerging and so were her real skills in the kitchen. She developed a grain free granola – based mostly on roasted coconut and dark chocolate – that everyone absolutely loved. People badgered her to sell this exceptional stuff commercially but Sarah took her time to work out the best ingredients, the best processes, as well as the logistics of how to produce it while holding down her kitchen day job.

When the Whare Kea Lodge slowed down for the season last April Sarah took the opportunity to rent a local commercial kitchen. The time was right to begin placing all of her lessons into her hand made,
small batch, gluten free granola. She chose coconut from Blue Coconut in Christchurch,where they can trace each and every batch back to their exact farms in the South Pacific. Sarah makes her own dark chocolate using organic cacao and coconut oil and the honey comes from Flat Out Apiaries, a couple of kms down the road from her kitchen. The hazelnuts come from Wanaka, too, and the rest (goji berries, chia and almonds) come from wherever she can source the good stuff seasonally. Sarah asked a graphic artist friend in Wellington to do some packaging design and, thus, YUM Granola was born.

Sarah tells me the making of YUM is a three-part process where she has to 1) measure out all the ingredients to concoct a perfect flavour balance,
2) bake the stuff that needs baking and let it cool,
3) mix everything in together. If you’ve ever baked coconut you know it can go from perfectly brown and delicious to burnt and useless in the blink of an eye. Sarah’s partner, Mike, helps bake using his meticulous time-management skills to keep an eye on things, including making sure the home made dark chocolate mixes in and bakes just right. Mike also helps package (by hand) and stands along side Sarah at the various markets they’ve consistently sold out of YUM at.

YUM makes a dark chocolate granola (which has a lovely smidgen of Marlborough Sea Salt added) and an Original version which has a warming cinnamon vibe (because it has cinnamon,
of course) along with rich caramel notes thanks to the local honey. Being a cereal nut, I could eat this stuff all day… and heaps of it. The dark chocolate YUM is so rich and delicious, especially wth some Raglan Coconut Yoghurt, that about a half a bowl does me for the day. This works well with my personal approach to buying food, choosing items that may cost a bit more but provide me with exceptional health benefits, unparalleled quality and a delicious flavour experience. I think this is the heart of living as a modern day epicurean; to thoughtfully and thoroughly enjoy what you buy and eat everyday. Sarah and Mike at YUM share this same kind of thinking which flows authentically from their formidable foodie hearts. Keep your eye out for their lighter Bircher Muesli arriving on shelves soon. It’s going to be made so you can soak and activate it the night before, giving you an enjoyably different grain-free, breakfast Bircher experience. Yum, can’t wait!

In the future Ben is looking to grow his business. Not towards a factory sized approach as many of his competitors have, but rather to get more farming environments, like his father’s orchard, to adopt chickens as a natural and sustainable addition to their existing orchard, or olive grove, or vegetable garden. Ben stands behind the value inherent in the price of his chickens, but would like to scale the business in such a way as to multiply the model and bring the costs down for everyone, while using existing abundance (like those of his of apple skins, or other organic feed sources) to keep food and farming as natural as it was when he was a kid.

At Raeward Fresh Queenstown, we’re pretty excited to be one of the few places in the South Island to carry Bostock Chickens!