Finding Balance with ‘Tasty’ and a Life Well Lived
Photography Tamara West
Chelsea Winter is no stranger to transformation — in life and in food. With the release of her seventh cookbook, Tasty, the MasterChef winner has ushered in a new personal chapter, filled with lessons learned, flavours rediscovered, and a heartfelt return to balance. Winter’s Tasty isn’t just a collection of plant-based dishes — it’s an unfiltered love letter to life’s unpredictable rhythms, where feeding your soul and finding joy in the kitchen matter just as much as the recipes themselves.
“A lot has happened in the personal space,” Winter told Carolyn Robinson from Seven Sharp. “I’m a solo mum with my two boys, and you know what — of course, it hasn’t been easy — there have been tough moments. But ultimately, like right now, where I am, I’ve never felt happier or more grounded. [I’ve] never felt more authentically me”.
Her family’s recent move to New Plymouth in Taranaki has been part of that transformation. “I adore it,” Winter shares. “I have the mountain just back there; the Kaitake Ranges behind me, Ōakura Beach is two minutes away — I walk there every day”. Surrounded by this natural beauty, Winter feels inspired. “The ideas just come to me, boom, boom, boom. They come to me in my sleep, and I have to rush up in the morning [to write them down]. Or I’m walking on the beach, I get an idea for a recipe, and I’m like, ‘I gotta get home and do that.’ It’s an inspired process”.
Winter’s new environment has provided not just inspiration but a sense of peace. “I just have this knowing that this is where I needed to be. This is the next step. I get these feelings and that’s how I kind of go through my life”. With that newfound clarity, Winter has also adjusted her approach to food. Her last book, SuperGood, fully embraced a plant-based diet, but with Tasty, she’s introduced more flexibility while keeping a mindful approach.
“I’ll really take notice of — in the times I can — where [food] has come from, where it’s sourced, where it’s grown, how it’s been treated, and I’m thankful for it,” Winter told Sunday Morning on RNZ. “There’s gratitude around it, and that’s certainly a big thing that’s changed for me”.
Her kids have also shaped how she cooks. “Since having children, [refined sugar] is something that’s not part of my life anymore,” she shared. “It was a natural progression for this book to find a way to make things sweet without being loaded with cane sugar”. One of the standout recipes from Tasty is her Chocolate Monster cake. “It looks like chocolate buttercream, but there’s no icing sugar in it.
But Tasty isn’t about rigid rules. “Most of what I eat is very nourishing, it’s very wholefood, and it’s homemade,” Winter explained to RNZ. “But does that mean I don’t go to a fast food outlet every now and then and get a burger? No, it doesn’t mean that, because I do”. Winter’s approach is rooted in balance — something she’s learned the hard way, balancing work, motherhood, and the challenges of co-parenting.
Her latest recipes are designed with practicality in mind. “Ingredients are expensive. I’ve just spent the time and money to make it. You want to serve up things people will enjoy,” Winter said. “And you don’t want to have to cook two separate meals all the time. You just want the family to eat”.
Winter also tackles comfort food with her trademark humour. Her stuffed potatoes are described as “comical” in size, packed with caramelised onions, garlic, spinach, and kale. “You have to kind of pack them down quite a bit, but it’s just so comforting and heavenly”. And then there’s her plant-based meatballs, which offer a satisfying bite, free from the usual mushiness. “I played around with a few ingredients and I managed to get it so you bite into it and it does actually give you that resistance, you know, that really meaty kind of texture”.
Tasty reflects Winter’s philosophy of cooking as an act of happiness — a lesson she’s honed over seven books. “There are always people who love to cook, and there are people who love to eat. Those people come together, and it’s a beautiful thing. That’s what my recipes have always been about — cooking for happiness”.
With Tasty, Winter hopes to offer something lasting — a book that finds a permanent spot in people’s kitchens. “I just hope it’ll be that book that sits on the bench that never makes it back to the bookshelf; the pages get stained, a bit dog-eared, a couple of pages stick together because you’re always grabbing it out”.
For Winter, cooking — like life — doesn’t follow a straight path. “I heard this phrase once, like, ‘life doesn’t grow in straight lines like corn rows. It’s more like someone has scattered wildflower seeds everywhere, and stuff just randomly pops up and surprises you. Then, when you stand back and look at it, it’s beautiful.’ And that’s something to be so grateful for. And I truly am”.
Tasty isn’t just another cookbook — it’s an invitation to embrace life’s imperfections, to cook with joy, and to savor the moments that make everything worthwhile. As Chelsea Winter would say, “Cooking’s for happiness.” And she seems to have cracked that recipe perfectly.
