Lunch Lady

What is it that you do?

I play music, write, and most recently make lunchboxes for workplaces and schools.

Why did you set up your business?

When my daughter started creche I noticed a gap in the market for a school lunch delivery service in New Zealand. If you're avoiding packaged and processed foods it's a pain to make a lunchbox every day and by the time you've made one lunchbox you might as well have made ten. I figured if no one else was doing it, maybe I should... so here we are! After doing the school lunches for a few weeks we had so many requests to provide adult lunches too that we've now started Meat Free Mondays – a service that delivers plant based lunches to workplaces in the CBD every Monday. 

Are you from Christchurch originally or did you move here from somewhere else? + reasons for staying or moving?

I'm from Christchurch but have spent relatively little of my adult life here. I spent most of my twenties touring and moving around. I met my husband while living in Paris and we moved to Christchurch together three years ago because Paris is too stinky to be pregnant in.

What’s your favourite thing about living in Christchurch?

I grew up at the beach in Christchurch so when we moved here there was no doubt that we'd live seaside. Pegasus Bay is unique and incredible – I love the easy access to deserted shoreline and ocean air. These days Christchurch also happens to be one of the most exciting cities in the world for plant based foods, so that's a bonus!

If you had a day off tomorrow off to do whatever you wanted in Christchurch, what would you do?

I'd take an early walk on Sumner Esplanade and take my daughter for ice cream at Utopia. Then I'd grab lunch at Mediterranean Food Warehouse, spend the afternoon wandering in the gardens, have a glass of wine in the courtyard at OGB and have dinner at Gatherings.

If you weren’t owning/running Yumbo, what would you be doing?

If I wasn't doing Yumbo I'd be playing a bit more music and finally finishing the two books I'm working on - a mushroom recipe book and a memoir of my time in Paris. I have an EP of lullabies coming out in June, so the music thing is still there.

Who in the world would you most like to have dinner with and what would you eat?

The romantic in me would love to eat mushroom pâté, baguette, cornichons and a glass of Burgundy with my husband. The arsehole in me would like to make truly complex, delicious meal for Alain Passard and ask him for a refund for the insanely over-priced braised leek he once served me.