Superfood - March-April 2017

64 SUPERFOOD

INTERVIEW

JANE SARCHET

What made you decide to get into the world

of food blogging?

I started writing the blog back in 2008

as a ‘country living’ hobby blog. I was an

acupuncturist at the time – and when my Dad

got diagnosed with cancer I felt completely

overwhelmed with other people’s problems,

to the point that I closed down my acupuncture

practice of 10 years.

I took a couple of years out and used this time

to refocus and work out who I was going to

become professionally now I was no longer an

acupuncturist.

I decided to throw my heart and soul into

my website and the one subject I was insanely

passionate about: food.

You live on a farm on the Cornish coast,

which sounds wonderful! Can you describe

your average day?

Every day starts with a cuddle with my cat,

followed by 20 minutes of yoga. I tend to do the

head stuff (writing, emails, techy website stuff )

in the mornings as I’m clearer headed then, and

the creative stuff (cooking, photography, editing

and videos) aft er lunch when I’m a bit fl akier!

In between my long list of daily tasks I get out

of the offi ce and may potter with my chickens

and ducks, weed the vegetable patch, prune

the orchard, or be sowing seeds in the poly

tunnel.

Those nature breaks help keep me focused

and appreciative of living and working from

home even when I have a bunch of deadlines

demanding my attention.

As a recipe writer, do you consider being

healthy important to your recipes?

If eating healthy means using real ingredients

that have been grown or reared with

compassion and without chemicals, then yes!

Growing up on a farm meant I was raised

eating vegetables that had had the dirt washed

off them, and meat that we oft en knew by name.

I believe in real fat (butter, ghee, coconut and

olive), plenty of colourful seasonal veggies, and

meat that has lived a happy stress free life.

That said I also bake, love bread way too

much and have struggled with overeating much

of being lactose intolerant; however recently I

have got a little obsessed with the huge variety

of goat, sheep and even buff alo cheeses as they

don’t make me poorly.

Soft goat’s cheese with honey, buff alo

mozzarella with tomatoes (or stood at the

kitchen sink eating it chilled and straight from

the packet!). I recently found a blue goat’s

cheese that has transformed my lactose-free life!

Do you read other people’s blogs? Who is

your favourite?

Oh yes! I love the blogging community and

have a huge list bookmarked. I mostly read

English food blogs: Kate from Veggie Desserts

makes gorgeous puddings with vegetables

and is really entertaining. Bintu (Recipes from a

Pantry) and Diana (Little Sunny Kitchen) both

also write for Superfood magazine and I

love their vibrant, colourful recipes and

photography. And in May we’ll be taking a

month long VW road trip around the highlands

of Scotland and are planning to visit Elizabeth

(Elizabeth’s Kitchen Diary) and Claire (Foodie

Quine) en route!

Do you have any advice for someone wanting

to start writing a blog?

Clichéd it may be, but if you’re on the fence, and

not sure if it’s for you or not, just do it. You might

fi nd you hate it, but at least you’ll know and you

can move your creative attention to something

else that you’ll love. But equally, you may fi nd it

becomes your insanely exciting career, just like

I did!

There’s a ton of information out there

nowadays about starting a blog and I’m more

than happy for Superfood readers to get in

touch with me if they have questions or need

pointing in the right direction.

And fi nally, if you could take only three things

to a desert island what would they be?

Jonny, my partner, Sassy my cat, and Myrtle, my

VW campervan (who always has a fully stocked

camp kitchen!).

hedgecombers.com

All photographs: Jane Sarchet

Q &A

Find out what makes blogger and recipe writer Jane Sarchet tick.

of my life. Blogging has become a kind and

creative way for me to heal my relationship with

food a little.

When you decide to write a recipe, where

do you start? And where do you get your

inspiration?

If I’m writing a recipe for a client then their

product or campaign brief will be the starting

point for that recipe. However if I’m writing one

for fun, then I usually start with the protein and

build the recipe around that.

I’m lactose intolerant so am hugely inspired

by Asian fl avours, and am regularly inspired

by the plethora of artisan and small-scale

producers here in Cornwall. I love visiting local

food fairs and speaking to the producers about

how their products are created and best used. I

will always come away with inspiration for a new

dish, and a bunch of new products to try.

What is your favourite ingredient and how

would you use it?

Oh boy, only one? That’s really tough! OK, I

haven’t eaten cheese for several years because

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