A self-described “serial entrepreneur”, Christall Lowe (Ngāti Kauwhata, Ngāti Maniapoto) has had an incredibly busy couple of years, but she’s living her dream. She’s just released her first cookbook – and not only did she write all the recipes (aside from a few from her nanas!) – she was also the photographer and did a fair chunk of the design. And she’s the proud mum of three children, the eldest in his teens. Being what sounded to me like a compulsive creative, I was surprised to hear Christall originally wanted to be a doctor.
“I’d given up art to focus on science,” she says. “But in sixth form, I met with the careers advisor and played a vocational card game that led to art and design. The advisor said, to my surprise, that I could study design at Victoria University, and that was that.”
She completed a degree in Interior Design, and her thesis was based around her dream restaurant. “A space that in its entirety ignites all the senses, and encapsulates all of the tikanga, the manaakitanga and the mauri of kai.”
Christall grew up in Feilding, Manawatū, and still lives there with her family. She says her grandfather has supplied their whānau with veges from his māra kai (vege garden, pictured right) for decades, and is grateful to have inherited his green thumbs and knowledge of native plants. And she’s still learning from him. He recently took her to a native plant nursery, which she says was “amazing – it was right here and I had no idea!”
He’s currently growing hue gourds, which are traditionally hollowed out, dried and used as drinking vessels. She says her family is all about making the most out of everything in life, especially food. “And celebrating the local ingredients all around us!”
“This is me and my whānau on a plate. This is our heart.”
Throughout her recipes, Christall peppers in native plants as ingredients. Her favourites, as it turns out, are literally quite peppery. “I love to make kawakawa tea – pick it fresh, crush and steep in hot water, or dry out the leaves and use a
