Vicki Young is a chef, food writer, food stylist, all-round hospitality advocate and Urban List's Guest Editor for May. Growing up in a market gardening family in the Horowhenua, eating with the seasons and adopting a no-waste-all-taste philosophy to food was instilled from a young age. After ditching law school for pastry school in Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Vicki has worked in restaurants across the capital, and now resides in Tāmaki Makaurau working as a private chef and in food styling (with the odd bit of food writing in between).
Some Kiwis do their initiation into adulthood and go on a “gap year,” aka the big OE. For me, I didn’t exactly get that chance. Instead, I dived headfirst into a career shift in my mid-twenties.
From criminology to cookery, I found myself walking out of a law lecture, resigning from the 9-5 office job, and signing up for an introductory pastry course… all within the same week.
For me, I guess did the “big hospo OE” instead: working in restaurants, bars, bakeries and cafes—fingers in all the pies so to speak—and ending up as a private chef somewhere along the way.
Image credit: Mark Wilson | Supplied
I was very lucky to explore cuisines from around the world in the form of a daily dinner plate. I would research the cultural nuances of dishes: from tamales to zongzi, the universally shared comfort of a dumpling (whether in the guise of a pierogi or momo), to recreating a mother mole with New Zealand ingredients.
One late March, an overabundance of plums from the garden meant a deep dive into what could be done without them going to waste. After lacto-fermenting way too many of them, I discovered… tkemali. A plum sauce that’s quintessential to every Georgian table.
A palate cleanser, puckeringly sour, going hand in hand with the long feasting rituals of Georgian cuisine. A refreshing burst, reinvigorating the appetite, after what the locals would call shemomechama: the untranslatable word for when you are pants-popping full but continue to eat anyway.
I felt deeply connected to this cuisine, despite my Cantonese-Kiwi upbringing around lazy Susans and marmite cheese sandwiches. I couldn’t quite put my finger on why, but I loved the familiar yet different arrangement of spices and flavours used.
I mused at my why—the power of how something so seemingly simple could bring such a connection. Then I parked that cuisine aside without further thought and continued with life in the kitchen.
Fast forward three years later, and I find myself at a table for one at Roses on K Road. Winemaker David Collins is slinging a couple of Georgian-inspired plates, with Georgian winemakers Aidan and Ellie (from Vintners and Vagabonds) pouring their wines—and for one night only!
What I love about Roses is that there always seems to be some beautiful warm magic of hospitality within those textural purple candlelit walls. As I was about to leave, Ophelia from Roses introduced me to a wonderful chef/food writer Julie Le Clerc, who had just walked in for a last-minute table for one also.
A serendipitous encounter and extended dinner took place, as we joined tables and feasted for hours like old friends—fittingly so, in the Georgian way! Hearing about her upcoming travels, traversing the beautiful old wineries of Georgia and making Tenili cheese in a 300-year-old farmhouse, I felt instant FOMO and knew I had to join in.
Image credit: Tkemali sauce with meat skewers and potato | Dave Collins | Supplied
Julie tells me about Eating Adventures, aka Sue and Janice (hospo powerhouse besties who ran the famous Caffe Astoria in Welly for over two decades), who having travelled together in the 80s, now run tours exploring the best of Tokyo, Lima and Georgia.
You know the tours are going to be good when this duo are foodie travellers through and through! So as serendipitous as life would have it, I managed to snag the last place for Eating Georgia (May) 2024.
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I’m fizzing as I pack my bags for this next adventure. I haven’t left the country since visiting my late porpor (nana) in Guangzhou, a little over ten years ago. I’m meeting Julie again, this time in Georgia with winemakers Aidan and Ellie after the tour, to explore more of the country. I’m planning to cook a delicious Georgian feast at their winery—and there will be tkemali, of course.
Join Vicki as she shares a glimpse into her life as a private chef, freelance food stylist and recipe developer, and her travels to Georgia on Urban List’s Instagram stories takeover this month and follow her IG here.
Main image credit: Jordan Griffiths | Supplied