Opening up the book to: Alex's Kitchen Story

A kiwi living in London, Alex Hyslop of Alex’s Kitchen Story creates colourful and nutritious recipes she shares with her 36,000 Instagram followers who devour and recreate everything she makes. Vegetables and fresh, accessible produce are at the heart of all Alex’s recipes, along with divine dressings and sauces to elevate easy and delicious meals. Remix caught up with Alex while she was home in town to hear her story and share a few of her favourite recipes. 

How did Alex’s Kitchen Story begin?

I've always been a foodie and always loved cooking. I studied food science at university, so I have a background and I work in food too. I used to cook all the time at home, and I would occasionally post a picture to my personal Instagram page. People would often reply and ask me for the recipe, so I’d write it ad hoc on the spot ‘you throw in this and that’. People started encouraging me to start a food blog, so one night I created an Instagram handle to put all my food pictures in one place so I could find them all. I then started getting followers straightaway! They kept asking for recipes, so I stayed up all night and wrote recipes for the pictures I had uploaded. It just took off from there and I have found there is a natural need for this kind of content and now it's a daily thing and I share a lot of story content too. 

Who do you get your inspiration from?

I have always had foodie people that I admire like Josh Emmett and Ottolenghi. But, I find that I'm actually better and more creative If I'm not looking at what other people are doing. Otherwise I tend to get a bit scattered trying to keep up with what others are doing. I'm better to just be a bit more internally focused and do things my way. 

Are there any foods that you refuse to eat or cook with? 

Strawberries. Don't like them, won't eat them or cook with them. 

Via @alexskitchenstory

Do you find it hard with your busy schedule to cook and create new recipes?

I find it really hard to be creative if I'm super busy at work. If I'm having a really busy week. II feel quite exhausted and I won't be able to come up with good recipes and I find it quite hard to force myself to. But then if I'm not really busy with work, I find it really, really easy. I just have a never ending list of recipes I'm adding to faster than I'm able to cook them.

Do you feel pressure to keep up with social media and share specific content?

Yeah, I feel the pressure massively on it. It used to be so much easier, you could just take one still image and upload that and you were done. Whereas now, people want video content, and they want quite high quality video content. Attention spans are so short,  so videos need to be quick and engaging and flow really well. I do find it quite enjoyable now that I know how to do it. I like to try new things and I think you would also get bored as a content creator if you were just doing the same thing all the time.

What is next for Alex’s Kitchen Story? 

I would really like to start doing more and more recipes, more video content and more cooking classes. I’m keen to give it more of a focus than I have been.

Via @alexskitchenstory

Your wedding is coming up soon, you must be so excited! Where are you having it and who is doing the catering?

We're getting married up in Omaha, it’s called Jones Road. It’s a private property so we’re setting up a big marquee and everything. We've got Source kitchen catering for us. They’re local in Matakana and they source local food from the area so I'm really really excited for that!

So how do you think the cuisine scene differs from the UK and New Zealand? 

I think New Zealand does seasonal eating really, really well. The UK imports literally everything. So even all through winter, you've got all berries and asparagus all year round for example. Eating seasonally is actually better for your body because it requires different nutrients at different times of the year.

What are your passions outside of food? 

Health definitely, I find the human body and nutrition really interesting. I also love to travel and see new places. And I do a lot of yoga!