Kiwi chef an 'inspiration'
Having been hammered by Covid19, former Timaru chef Kirsten Gilmour has used her ‘‘Kiwi’’ roots to survive and prosper in the new environment everyone finds themselves in. She tells Rebecca Fox about being named a ‘‘Woman of Inspiration’’.
HAVING sold 2500 slices of millionaire’s shortbread, ginger crunch and Anzac cookies around the United Kingdom in one month, Kirsten Gilmour is in no doubt about the popularity of ‘‘Kiwi’’ cuisine abroad.
Gilmour, who grew up in Temuka and trained as a chef in Timaru, started making the slices and bread in her home kitchen in a village in Cairngorm National Park, Scotland, after the Covid19 shutdown compounded financial problems causing her to make the ‘‘heartbreaking decision’’ not to reopen her popular Aviemore eatery, Mountain Cafe.
‘‘It hammered us. We had had a couple of tough years with my hubby going through cancer treatment and this had affected our takings due to opening hour changes and things. So we were in a bit of a hard place financially.
‘‘We had just got through a quiet winter and were all geared up for a busy Easter, then summer when Covid reared its ugly head.’’
She chose to start baking from home in an effort to pay off debts but before long people were queueing for her goods. They set up a mailorder shop and sold thousands of biscuits and slices.
Her baker from the cafe came back on board and they are now setting up a micro bakery.
‘‘We like to think of it like the cafe going mobile. It means that if we have another lockdown we will survive. We deliver all our goods by bike locally and already have a large client base.’’
They have also used the down time to connect with their local suppliers and collaborate more.
‘‘We have some pretty exciting food adventures planned. From delivering picnics to fishermen, fuelling mountain bikers, ultimate picnics to cooking lessons on a local farm — it’s all happening, so some creative goodness has actually come out of Covid even though it’s been a tough road to get here.’’
So hearing the news of the Scotland’s Highlands and Islands Business Women Awards ‘‘Woman of Inspiration’’ has been an ‘‘incredible and humbling boost after such a tough time’’, she says.
‘‘No matter what happens next, I just hope to be cooking while inspiring others about where their food comes from and how to make it damn sexy without needing to be a rocket scientist.’’
Before Covid, Gilmour’s cafe was on the mustvisit list of many foodies travelling Scotland. It was named ‘‘Best Independent Cafe in the UK’’ and ‘‘Best Cafe in Scotland’’ in 2017.
‘‘I love to give people great food that is simple, honest, special and approachable. I thrive on taking great Scottish produce and giving it a Kiwi twist.’’
She had travelled to Aviemore for a weekend skiing 18 years ago and fell in love with the place — and later her husband.
‘‘I love it here. When I lived in England I was really homesick and as soon as I got to Scotland I felt like I had come home. The people are great, I love being so close to Europe, I love the people here. I do miss New Zealand [but] feel lucky that I can immerse myself with European cooking styles and every day feels like a school day.’’
Making the most of the outdoor opportunities — it was the best ski season Cairngorm had seen in years — she ended up with a job in an outdoor shop where the perks were a free ski pass and gear hire.
She enjoyed taking a break from cooking and the long hours but was always saying the cafe upstairs from her job needed some ‘‘Kiwiana’’ injected into it.
So when it came up for rent in 2004 and it was offered to her, with the help of a loan from her inlaws, she grabbed the opportunity.
It was not an easy road, however. She was determined to make everything from scratch using local foods.
The early days were very hard as people did not understand cafe culture and there was an attitude that food should come fast, she says.
‘‘I had a real challenge getting customers to try dishes that were not just a cooked breakfasts, bacon rolls etc. They would prefer quick . . . over waiting 20 minutes and get a meal cooked from scratch.’’
She persevered, working on building trust and confidence in her customers that a wait for food would be worth it.
‘‘It was mostly fried foods when we opened and within a year we had people queueing for pancakes with fresh fruits, homemade compotes. We made fantastic scrambled eggs with our local black pudding, smashed avocado with lime and chilli with our homemade toasted Frenchstyle bread. Very quickly I learnt if you put a twist on local ingredients the locals would lap it up.’’
‘‘Top notch’’ food along with good service meant people became happy to wait.
‘‘Once we built up a reputation, this became less of an issue. We went from starting from nothing to feeding up to 70,000 customers each year, with people travelling from all over the place for our food.’’
She became known for that twist on local ingredients and made an effort to build relationships with her local suppliers.
‘‘I feed off their passion and it helps me learn while becoming a better chef. Building these relationships is as important as the food. Buying local is a nobrainer, less food miles, better quality, better flavours, seasonal foods is everything that is essential to making a very sexy meal.
‘‘You can taste the difference and knowing where your food comes from, in my mind, is a form of selfcare, selfrespect. I think it is also great for our mental health. Conversations about food, produce and sharing recipes brings everyone together.’’
Her ‘‘Kiwi’’ background was evident in her menu and her nana’s pikelet recipe became a surprise favourite and cafe breakfast staple, served with crispy bacon, berry compote and caramelised bananas.
‘‘We had customers driving from Edinburgh, a threehour drive, just to get them.’’
Another attraction was her ‘‘proper’’ flat white.
‘‘In 2004, people did not understand really good coffee. Kiwi coffee is the best in the world. I have to travel to Edinburgh or London to get a decent coffee.’’
When they first opened their new bakery they could not afford a coffee machine.
‘‘We have just done a crowdfunder and we had so many pledges with messages from people saying they can’t wait to get their Mountain Cafe coffee. It’s very humbling.’’
After getting more and more requests for her recipes, Gilmour started thinking about writing a recipe book. Her vision was a small notebook with 20 recipes for customers — not the 320page book filled with memories from home, a tribute to her grandparents and plenty of recipes and tips that became a reality.
‘‘Never did I imagine it to be so big or successful. Pretty overwhelming I had dreamt of writing a book for so long and to finally have it in my hand was strange.’’
‘‘Cooking topnotch food and writing recipes that gives people confidence to make food and cooking memories makes my job feel like it is not just a job.’’
The release of The Mountain Cafe Cookbook: A Kiwi in the Cairngorms saw her travelling (preCovid) around the United Kingdom doing events, cooking demonstrations and public speaking which she loved. It is now in its fifth reprint.
‘‘ I have loved seeing kids cooking my recipes and folks growing confidence in the kitchen.
‘‘I am immensely proud of hearing folks from all around Scotland, the UK and further afield telling me about making Anzac cookies, Kiwistyle pancakes and grilling lamb on the barbecue. I hope that I have brought a bit of the laidback New Zealand food scene to the other side of the world.’’
She also enjoys using the book herself.
‘‘I use it all the time at home, which makes our friends chuckle when I make them something from it. It is full of my nana’s, grandad’s, friends’ and teams’ recipes as well as my own. It’s like having your own diary of recipes that mean something to you.’’
Her grandparents hold a very special part of her heart as she spent much of her early life living with them on a sixacre (2.4ha) farm with orchard and vegetable patch.
Gilmour’s strongest memories of her grandparents is the produce from their garden.
‘‘Asparagus, baby potatoes, tomatoes and cucumbers were always my favourites. I used to love sitting under the cherry tree on the barbecue table with Grandad, scraping the thin layer of skin and dirt off these tiny sweet little spuds with the back of a knife, then cooking them with handfuls of Nana’s mint and smothering them with lashings of butter. Always served with some type of homegrown meat.’’
There was never a big deal made about food in their home.
‘‘It was always simple, tasty and honest. Nana was a Southlander and Grandad was Hungarian and this was reflected in the food. Not posh, just simple and tasty.’’
It was with them she experienced a restaurant for the first time in Timaru where the highlight was the owner taking her into the kitchen.
‘‘At the age of 5, I had already found my calling.’’