Can food be naughty and nice?

We caught up with Joanna Gascogne the wonderful woman behind The Farmers Mistress, a ‘Naturally Naughty’ eatery in South West London to find out how food can be naughty, fun AND healthy.

Here is what she said:

I truly believe a balanced lifestyle is a healthy lifestyle. We create natural, wholesome, nutrient rich, yet indulgent dishes by selecting the highest quality, fresh produce to create exciting options for all, no matter what your dietary requirements.

I wanted to create something unique for people that was healthy yet indulgent. Where there’s no need for restriction, and health is about being happy and having a little bit of what you want, when you want it.

 We all want to feed our bodies with nutritious foods but being healthy shouldn’t mean having to stay in and avoid social situations due to lack of options. I wanted to bring a little naughtiness and fun to being healthy! The wholesome healthy Farmer, alongside the naughtier and more indulgent Mistress. Why choose between one or the other when we CAN have both, and The Farmer's Mistress was born. All-natural naughtiness.

I myself suffered with an on and off relationship with food, labelled good and bad, a very restrictive unhealthy mindset. I found there were a lot of places that started to sell healthy food, however, none that also offered an element of fun and indulgence along with it. I trained as a Health Coach to give myself a better understanding of nutrition and health, and soon discovered it is the healthy balance that always wins over restriction, and so I wanted to create somewhere that gave people a little more freedom.

Health is a huge part of all of our lives, never more so than now, and whilst we are all very aware of how important it is to take care of ourselves and be healthier, we are also much more mindful of a healthy state of mind. We also need to take care of our souls and give ourselves balance which for a lot of people does heavily relate to food. It can be a huge release to go out and have an enjoyable nutritious yet fun meal with friends and loved ones.

 Tips to keep food healthy but also delicious

Shop seasonal and local:

 Our menus are created around locally sourced seasonal produce. By creating seasonal menus, we are able to use food when it has the most nutritional value, which seems like a very simple thing, but a lot of people get stuck in ruts and eat the same things no matter what time of year. Try to only buy fruit and vegetables that are in season and try to buy locally sourced fruit and vegetables to ensure freshness (and support local business).

 Swops and Twists:

We create twists on dishes using the very best ingredients so that people are enjoying the food they know and love but just healthier versions of it.

For example, our ‘Naughty Mistress’ is our Full English Breakfast style dish.

It seems naughty and unhealthy, but by using the best quality meat for sausage and bacon, the most delicious sweet potato hash cake, butter beans and kidney beans for more protein and fibre, it makes the dish far more nutritious and utterly delicious however you still feel like you are indulging in something that you shouldn’t! It does satisfy that naughty side which you want to indulge and why shouldn’t we indulge, that is what life is all about!

• Try swopping out animal proteins for plant proteins as much as you can, as it automatically lowers fat and increases your plant consumption therefore providing more nutrients.
• Swap bad fats for good fats; such as bad oils and butter for coconut oils and avocados where possible.
• Swap refined sugars for natural sweeteners such as dates, agave, cacao or cinnamon where you can.
• Instead of white bread have rye or sourdough. Instead of potatoes have sweet potato.
• Crispy kale..add it to everything! Dried out and roasted in the oven with salt until crispy, adds crunch and texture to every dish or just eat likes crisps.

Small changes such as these can not only make your food more nutritious but actually more delicious.

 Most popular recipe people can recreate at home:

I mean this sounds ridiculous but one of our most popular dishes is ‘Dippy Eggs’.

Good old soft-boiled eggs and toast. However, we use a delicious sourdough for the bread (easier on the digestion), Clarence Court Leghorn White eggs for the richest most delicious golden yolks and whipped marmite butter which we could probably sell by the truck load the amount of people that request it now (trade secret)

But overall, I can’t reiterate the importance of high-quality seasonal produce. If you buy the best quality seasonal produce that is within the price range you can afford, then you are guaranteed to have a better tasting dish at the end.

 Follow The Farmers Mistress at Social media: @farmersmistress

Or check out the Website: www.thefarmersmistress.co.uk

Or if you are in London: 300 BATTERSEA PARK ROAD, LONDON, SW11 3BU

 Photo credits:

@londonfoodboy

@sonyametzier