Kitchen Farmacy: The Life Holistic

Three inspiring women with complementary talents, an important message and a love of good food make a great team for a beautiful blog – and The Life Holistic is a real reflection of such a unique, collective passion.

Nikki, a lifestyle, food and travel photographer met Georgia, a lawyer in a commercial law firm at high school. Both women met Jacqui, a yoga teacher and medical student at Sydney University, a few years ago; that’s when the idea of a blog formed. 

“With Jacqui’s background in science and health, my photography and styling skills and Georgia’s talent for recipe creation and cooking it was only a matter of time before we started a blog to share our food and knowledge with people,” Nikki tells us.

Your blog features beautiful recipes, but it’s about so much more. What’s the philosophy behind it?

“We hope that our blog inspires people to make sustainable and seasonal food choices. We want people to think about how and where their food comes from, and remind people of the scarcity of some food products as well as the impact food production has on the environment. We focus on bringing creative ideas to those who want to eat healthily and mindfully.” Jacqui

How do you approach sustainable eating?

“Sustainable eating can be difficult, but the first step is education. It’s important to know about the issues we face when it comes to the effects certain foods have on our health, the scarcity of food supplies and the consequence of large scale farming and food production.” Jacqui

What’s surprisingly scarce in Australia?

“It’s not a food but it’s probably the most important finite source of life… water. Obviously this isn’t a shocker for most people but it’s always good to be reminded.  

“The various droughts we’ve seen in recent years have impacted farming production and the changed water allocations in irrigated agriculture has led to a decline in overall agricultural production. 

“It pains me how wasteful we can be with water, be it washing the dishes after a meal with the tap running, leaving the tap on when you brush your teeth or filling your water bottle up to the brim when you know you will probably only drink half of it.” Jacqui

What’s your top sustainable eating tip?

“Take responsibility for your food choices. Ask questions about where produce has come from and how it was raised or caught and then allow the answers to guide your buying choices.” Jacqui

Who inspired you to be so passionate about food?

“Mum. Her cooking is how I imagine an Italian Stephanie Alexander and Maggie Beer's love child would cook. It's a revelation.” Jacqui

“My dad, he loves cooking! He’s originally from Hong Kong, but he’s always loved cooking dishes completely different to the Chinese cuisine he grew up on. I remember he went though a few phases when I was young, most notably his Cuban and Creole cooking phases.” Nikki

“Mum. She grew up in the NSW Riverina and has taught me an abundance of practical and resourceful cooking techniques.” Georgia

What three foods do you always have in the fridge?

“Goat's yoghurt, avocado and fresh hummus.” Jacqui

“Grass-fed butter, kombucha and dad’s homemade chilli sauce.” Nikki

“Greek yoghurt, lemons and olives.” Georgia

What food trends are you currently loving?

“I absolutely love the current trend of farm-to-plate eating, with an appreciation of where the food has come from and how it has been grown or reared. It shows people are not only caring about how their food effects themselves, but also the effect it’s having on the planet.” Jacqui

The Life Holistic’s top picks

1. Superfood salad

2. Gluten-free sweet potato pizza

3. Pot chicken with pesto

4. Raw lemon cheesecake

Kitchen Farmacy Editor Kris Franken

Kitchen farmacy is our food lover's blog where good health and great taste come together. Each fortnight we'll feature a health and wellbeing foodie blog, with recipes to nourish the soul and body. Here's to eating well (and satisfying all kinds of cravings). View previous Kitchen farmacy blog entries.