Cooking with a Conscience /
Chef Kerry Wellman and her nourishing, nutritious flavours
Kerry Wellman is putting the Untouched World Kitchen on the map with her
nourishing, nutritious flavours.
It’s 3 pm on a Sunday and Untouched World Kitchen hums with conversation under the Māori kite above the fire. Bi-fold doors to the leafy native garden are closed on this chilly winter afternoon, but the lush outlook only enhances the feeling of warmth inside. Scandi style meets industrial chic in the dining room of this popular local café, where ecoconscious ply tables and pale timber shelving, punctuated by greenery, is the only adornment aside from the kite – a symbol utilised in the Untouched World logo as a representation of an ideal relationship between people and nature.
This philosophy has been key to the Untouched World brand since its inception in 1995 as a certified organic wool clothing line. Now known worldwide for its union of style and sustainability, worn and endorsed by the likes of Prince Harry and former US presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, its flagship store and café opened in Roydvale
Avenue in 1998.
Operating with the smallest possible ecological footprint has always been a priority for the café, as it has been for the brand as a whole, but the appointment of a new Head Chef at the beginning of 2019 has marked the beginning of an exciting new era for the beloved neighbourhood eatery.
It’s been a busy lunch service and Head Chef Kerry Wellman is still busy, prepping for the day to come. Known for her hard-working hands-on approach, the former ‘Salad Queen’ of the Dux de Lux, who earned her stripes making the salads that helped ensure queues out the door back when the restaurant was based in the Arts Centre, has been cooking for 30 years.
Bringing to Untouched World Kitchen her ethos of ‘honest, wholesome, hearty comfort food that tastes incredible’, Kerry has created a menu of approachable and enjoyable dishes, reborn with a contemporary slant. A love of comfort food is at the heart of it all. For Kerry, this means food that ‘reminds you of what you ate as a child: honest, though it can still have a twist’. And that includes moreish sweets. Her passion for baking includes a Florentine with a big reputation (‘people go nuts if they’re not there!’). This, along with her famous Raw Raspberry Dark Chocolate slice and every other treat in the cabinet, is made in-house from scratch.
Kerry is mindful of ensuring food is nourishing and nutritious, while also being equally delicious. Her signature Super Salad, bursting with quinoa, rice, beans, nuts and seeds, with a ginger dressing, is as scrumptiously satisfying as it
is wholesome. A vegan herself, she has introduced a good offering of plant-based dishes to excite vegans, vegetarians and meat-eaters looking to try something new. But this is not at the expense of meat-based dishes, and there is plenty to appeal to all diners.
Whatever she’s cooking, Kerry is dedicated to minimising wastage – another aspect of her approach which fits neatly with the Untouched World brand. She describes herself as ‘huge on using every part of the ingredient’. That means using the skins of vegetables and not ‘top and tailing’, which she says is ‘just what we’re used to and not necessary’. Parts of vegetables usually discarded find new roles, sometimes becoming the star of their own dish: the green tops of leeks, for instance, are utilised for her adored ‘crispy leeks’. By minimising wastage and honing back the menu to honest food with wide appeal, Kerry has reduced green waste in the café by about 60 per cent.
Even purchasing a (Hummingbird) coffee at Untouched World Kitchen is a contribution to a social good. A partnership with B1G1 (Buy 1 Give 1) Business for Good means every time someone buys a coffee, a family in Ethiopia gains access to a day of life-saving clean water. What’s more, a percentage of profits goes to the Untouched World Foundation, which offers leadership programmes based on sustainability for secondary and tertiary students.
Coming months will see Kerry continue to progress the menu, as well as developing the use of the café as a venue for functions after hours. A beautiful, contemporary space, it lends itself as a setting for special events: on warm summer nights, the outdoor garden adds a touch of magic to corporate events or private parties. And, of course, the catering is sublime!
Business for Good means every time someone buys a coffee, a family in Ethiopia gains access to a day of life-saving clean water.