A whole fresh outlook

When Alisha McIntosh was diagnosed with arthritis at 35, she turned to wholefoods, and she took her West Coast eatery with her. The self-taught cook had been operating her food and coffee business since 2012, aimed at tourists travelling through the small settlement of Harihari.

It started as a food truck and progressed into a cafe in a small cottage, branded Hunter Gatherer, serving wild meat pies and whitebait. However, being diagnosed with arthritis in her back triggered a change in lifestyle, and a rethink of McIntosh’s food philosophy.

“I started doing research on how I could manage my arthritis, because it’s not curable. That’s when I came across dietary stuff about reducing meat, reducing dairy, reducing alcohol and coffee. All of the good stuff,” she says.

McIntosh dropped the Hunter from her cafe’s name, and it became Gatherer, which is now the only plantbased, gluten-free food outlet on the West Coast, and she immediately saw benefits for her business and how she felt.

“I used to not be able to sleep at night. The pain of moving would wake me up and take my breath away. Pretty much as soon as I took out meat, dairy and gluten, I could sleep through the night, and I changed nothing else. I don’t take any painkillers. Now I do 16-hour days and never get a sore back,” she says.

Now based on Sewell St in Hokitika and employing 10 people, Gatherer is expanding into the premises next door. McIntosh is also working with her Taranaki-based sister to bring the Gatherer concept to a pop-up food truck, and a restaurant and events venue in New Plymouth.

“I’m about making people curious about getting more vegetables into their diets. Our menu is quite Mexicaninspired. We don’t use fake meats, we use wholefoods. We treat vegetables differently to create the texture and flavour that you’re missing from meat,” McIntosh says.

Her aim is to use as much New Zealand-grown produce as possible, and to change her menu to suit vegetables that are in season.

Current dishes include pumpkin, kūmara and mushroom tacos, using tortillas she makes herself and presses every day. She makes cashew cheeses, and uses cauliflower that is brined in spices for 24 hours.

So what does her partner, who is a typical West Coast meat-eater, make of the change?

“He’s a hunter and a fisherman. The West Coast is his playground. He went plant-based for a while, but now he only eats what he catches and hunts. I didn’t force that.

“If you can make it taste good, you don’t miss the meat.”