Healthy living for everyone in Kitchen Theatre

Neena Truscott and Belinda MacDonald are sharing their love of health and delicious food at Fieldays this year in the Kitchen Theatre.

The duo impressed crowds on Thursday morning with their Vietnamese coconut pho broth bowl and Stone Age bread, with a focus not only on taste but also nutrient density. A holistic approach to wellness is important to both Truscott and MacDonald, who prefer to use the best in local and seasonal produce.

MacDonald and Truscott opened pop-up Broth Bar in Cambridge last year, focusing on healthy tinctures and elixirs after finding bone broth had a positive impact on their own health, MacDonald losing 35kg and Truscott dealing with chronic pancreatitis.

“Bone broth is quite underrated, but there’s more and more information coming out about how it seals the gut and helps with conditions like IBS,” said Truscott.

“We’re fortunate at Broth Bar to have a really progressive community in Cambridge, to have friends dropping off their own grown herbs and vegetables.”

Truscott and MacDonald also have a cookbook, aptly titled ‘My Green Kitchen – Nourishing Food for New Zealanders.’ The book focuses sustainable eating, immune boosters, there’s even a chapter dedicated to foraging for natural ingredients, while also keeping it family-friendly.

“A lot of our recipes you don’t even need to stick to the actual ingredients, as long as the wet to dry ratio is right,” said MacDonald.

“People are becoming more aware of what we are putting in our bodies,” said MC for the event and first ever MasterChef New Zealand winner, Brett McGregor.

Truscott and MacDonald cook again in the Kitchen Theatre at 10.45 on Saturday morning.

You can find links to their recipes from Fieldays here.