INSIDE Bibby’s Kitchen
‘I’m not from a food background at all,’ says Dianne Bibby with a laugh. ‘When we ran into some financial difficulties I started selling baked goods to generate an income. There were two things I knew how to make: rusks and biscuits. That’s really where my journey with food started.’
These days, Dianne is a food stylist, recipe developer and food photographer, a far cry from her previous profession – she’d worked in the fashion industry for 18 years before becoming a stay-at-home mom to her two daughters.
‘At first I did it as a necessity, then it became a creative outlet. I began looking at ingredients in an inspired way, like working with different fabrics in fashion.’
Dianne began a food blog (also called Bibby’s Kitchen) where she shared recipes, ideas and pictures of her creations. ‘Food and fashion are both very image-driven, so I decided to take the photographs myself. It was a bit of self-teaching and just empowering myself with an added skill.’
Once her blog took off, a flood of requests started pouring in. ‘Suddenly people started asking, “Can you do my wedding?” or “Can you do my function?” and I just said “yes!” because I had to. But eventually it pushed me to grow. It became a driving passion to learn more. Then it evolved into people asking me if I could teach them how to cook, which opened up another new avenue.’
Dianne was thrilled when she was approached to write and design her own cookbook. ‘I was so excited,’ she
