Ellie’s vegan empire
Escape from uni slog leads to popular blog
emily.selleck@news.com.au ELLIE Bullen was working three jobs and studying a degree in nutrition and dietetics with honours when she started posting pictures of her meals on Instagram.
Now, the 24-year-old has built a plant-based empire in Bali and boasts more than half a million Instagram followers. She said her motto was “eat more plants”.
“Only about one in 20 Australians get their recommended five servings (of fruit and veg) per day,” she said.
“Rather than concentrating on not eating certain things, my motto is just to eat more fruits and vegetables.”
Ms Bullen, who founded Elsa’s Wholesome Life, said she started the foodie blog as a relief from stress.
“I started my Instagram and my blog as a creative outlet, it was an escape from my heavily science-based subjects,” she said.
“I never thought that by taking photos of my food I 1. Use natural light, but not direct sunlight 2. Shoot your pictures early in the morning or late in the afternoon 3. Use a good camera and a good lens 4. When it comes to styling food, learn as you go. It’s like art and you’ll learn what works would create a carer for myself. At the time it wasn’t easy, I was working three jobs, studying and running this blog. When I hit 100,000 followers I thought ‘this is going to be something big’.”
Within two weeks of graduating, the aspiring dietitian packed her bags and headed to Bali.
“Everyone makes out that Bali is this crazy, dangerous party place but it’s not,” she said. “There’s such a big health food scene here and lots of creative Aussies live here ... we never see the partying side of Bali.”