03 Magazine: November 03, 2023

62 Magazine | Food
It has always been his goal to walk into a bookshop and see
a book of his on the shelves.
“To see something you’ve made, that others can enjoy
and it can be part of their kitchen and family. I think that’s
something to be proud of .”
Alby admits to being a messy cook – just think back to his
benches on Bake Off, he says.
“I always had the messiest of aprons. Now since moving
here we have a very small kitchen compared to the past so it
necessitates being a bit tidier.”
An important part of his ethos around food, which he
hopes comes through in the book, is the importance of
having a positive relationship with food.
“I’m very anti a lot of these restrictive fad diets that have
come through in the past five or 10 years which can result in
a really negative relationship between your mind, your body
and the food you are eating.”
While there are good reasons to change a person’s diet,
such as reducing gluten intake if you have coeliac disease or
turning to plant-based diets due to environmental concerns,
he believes the ideal way of eating is when people can
connect to the whenua where their food comes from, if
possible, cooking your own food and to do it with others.
“Food is so powerful at creating human connection –
every celebration or sadness, food is part of that and has
been through history. [It’s] part of a healthy life, especially in
our work-centric society. It’s so important to connect with
people through food and having fun in the kitchen, challenging
yourself to have more fun with flavours and thinking about
the personal benefits through the cooking process can be a
very mindful thing.
“The kinetic feeling of kneading dough or tuning in to the
smells and tastes. There is a lot to be gained from food. “
Hence the title of his book – Good Vibes – with the tagline
“eat well with feel good flavours”. It’s broken up into chapters
such as energise, delight, thrive, comfort and connect.
“It’s a combination of globally inspired ingredients. There is
a lot of fusion food to push people to try different food and
flavours, but in an accessible way, with positivity.
“There is a sprinkle of mental health in there, while at the
core it’s a cookbook that people can enjoy with their friends
and whānau.”
The recipes are all ones he has made many times for
himself or for others. They are recipes that might have come
together from throwing a few things together in the kitchen
to “see what happens”, to others where he has pored over
cookbooks from his favourite food writers to see how they
approached a dish and then put his own spin on it using
different flavours and techniques.
“Food is such a big part of our history, a completely original
concept or recipe is pretty hard to come by. There are some
pretty amazing things being done in the cheffing world but
when you are making more home-cooked food it still has to
have a degree of familiarity.
“That’s what my recipes try to do – something that is
still familiar but is something different. Even something as
basic as the lasagne recipe, where it’s blitzing beetroot into
the bechamel sauce, which makes it super yummy but is
something you might not think of doing. “
Overall he enjoyed the process of publishing the book
and believes it represents him “relatively” well. He is planning
a publicity tour around the country after its release and a
launch party in Dunedin.
“It’s slightly left-field from the typical cookbook you see in
New Zealand and the cover is different. I’m excited to see
how it goes and how New Zealanders respond to it.”
With the cookbook in production, Alby has been working
on his cake business when not working as a locum. He had
originally thought he would start a food business but couldn’t
find the right fit and location. Instead he decided to make
cakes to order from his home kitchen.
“It allows me the flexibility to still go off and do doctoring
work and food writing.”
When people order a cake they can also choose an
organisation for another cake to be donated at no cost.
“There’s a bit of sharing the love with it, which is
always good.”
Cake is something you can be very creative with on the
decorating side but also in the flavours, he says.
“People will see that in the ‘Delight’, or dessert, section of
my book too. There isn’t an ordinary plain chocolate cake in
there. I think the exciting thing about cooking is figuring out
how you can incorporate savoury flavours into sweet and
vice versa, especially with herbs and spices.
“The opportunity to be creative with food is endless and
at the end of the day you get to share the deliciousness
with others.”