Marlborough Magazine November 18 | Page 6

STORY BY KAT PICKFORD The Inspired Chef... Jax Hamilton “In my universe there’s no waste or stress in the kitchen – just giggles and nibbles my peeps; giggles and nibbles.” Celebrated New Zealand cook and cookbook author, Jax Hamilton, is returning to Marlborough for the Ocean Vine Hop this month, to share her love for rustic, seasonal, fresh, simple and fun food on Saturday November 24. The energetic entrepreneur cooked her way into the Kiwi consciousness in 2011 when she appeared on New Zealand MasterChef Series 2 and took out second place. Since then, the mum of two young men has thrown herself into her passion for food, as the ambassador of Countdown’s “Feed 4 for $15” campaign while running her own business as a recipe developer, public speaker, charity supporter and cooking demonstrator. Her most recent project has been producer and presenter of her new web channel, Jax Food Hax - a series of quick, fun and simple online episodes, to help fast track food prep with bags of inspiration and creativity. The Christchurch based cook is passionate about keeping food simple, seasonal and fun. “Over the last 10 years, food has become almost a religion, so much so it’s taken a lot of the fun out of it,” she says. “We need to be reminded that food is a gift, it’s one of those EVERY BIT EXT RAORDINARY