MotherFood
By Alissa Timoshkina
MotherFoodMay 08, 2020
S3 E10 MotherFood with Maisie Hill, author of Period Power, founder of the Flow collective & a mama
My guest today needs little intro. She is a leading expert in period health, hormonal health and an advocate for women's health. Maisie Hill is the author of best selling Period Power and Perimenopause Power, she runs her own podcast Period Power, and offers health coaching via her innovative membership platform The Flow Collective. She is also a trained acupuncturist, Chinese Medicine specialist and a doula. Five years ago Maisie gave birth to her son Nelson, which inspired a new trajectory in her work - to write, and this is how she broke waves with her debut book Period Power! I was fascinated to learn more about Maisie's journey into motherhood, her career and the role of food and nourishment in her experience of mama hood. So in this episode we cover all of those topics and more!
You can find out more about Maisie (if you haven't already) on www.maisiehill.com and join the conversation over on Instagram with us @alissatimoshkina and @_masiehill_
If you'd like to learn how to bring food into your experience of postpartum then check out my online cooking course MotherFood at www.alissatimoshkina.com & you can support my work by buying me a coffee at www.buymeacoffee.com/alissatim
S3 E9 MotherFood with Uyen Luu, food writer, photographer, chef and mother
A powerful episode that celebrates food and family! It is a moving tribute to Uyen's own family who experienced an unimaginably difficult transition from post-war Vietnam to London, but also to the very concept of Family and its power to heal, nurture and support us. Uyen's passion and genuine love for food shines through every word and will undoubtedly make you re-evaluate your own relationship to the seemingly banal daily ritual of feeding yourself and your family. We talk about Vietnamese food culture, the tradition of sharing your meals, the flavours and the deep understanding of how food nourishes your body on a deep level. Uyen share recipes and ideas for postpartum and baby weaning, and if I have another chance to experience that beautiful phase in my life, Uyen's new cookbook Vietnamese will definitely be the source of inspiration for me!
Join the conversation with us over on Instagram @alissatimoshkina and @loveleluu
If you love this podcast and would like to support what I do, you can buy me a coffee at www.buymeacoffee.com/alissatim
S3 E8 MotherFood with Caroline Gladstone, food and lifestyle entrepreneur and mother of six
In this episode I have the pleasure of speaking to Caroline Gladstone, a woman of many talents. She is a co-founder and creative consultant on numerous food and lifestyle projects, from Granger and Co restaurants to The Good Life Experience Festival, which she runs with her husband Charlie Gladstone. As well as their numerous creative endeavours, Caroline and Charlie are parents to 6 children! In this episode I satisfy my curiosity about what is it like to have a family of 6! Caroline shares her birth stories, her childhood food memories, and what is it like to feed a large family as well as how being a team is at the heart of a successful household! Full of laugher and fascinating insight, this episode is likely to make you wonder whether you might be up for having another child! It certainly had that effect on me!
Join in the conversation with us over on Instagram @alissatimoshkina & @carolinegladstone
Find out more about my cooking course MotherFood over on my website alissatimoshkina.com and you can buy me a coffee over on www.buymeacoffee.com/alissatim
S3 E7MotherFood with Giulia Scarpaleggia, a Tuscan food blogger, author, photographer and a new mama
Please join in the conversation with us on Instagram @alissatimoshkina and @julskitchen
To find out more about MotherFood cooking course visit my website www.alissatimoshkina.com/motherfood-cooking-course and you can buy me a coffee at www.buymeacoffee.com/AlissaTim
S3 E6 MotherFood with Georgina Hayden, food writer, stylist and Greek-Cypriot mama
Welcome back to Part 2 of the 3rd Season of the MotherFood podcast!
In this episode I have the absolute joy of talking to one of my food-mama heroines, Georgina Hayden. Georgina is an acclaimed food writer, author of best-selling cookbooks, food stylist and a mother of a Greek-Cypriot origin. This conversation, which I have been dreaming of since the very beginning of the podcast, is likely to move you to tears and make you laugh, and feel all the feels in-between. Georgina's story of motherhood is so powerful, moving and inspiring. While she never doubted her desire to be a mother of a big family, her journey towards that vision was all but straightforward. She experienced child loss when her first baby, Archie, died short after birth, her and her husband went through a miscarriage and IVF treatments to be able to welcome their two daughters Perspehone and Elektra, who are now 4 years old and 9 months respectively. We also talk about the role of food and sisterhood in a life of a Mother, Georgina's views on gender roles within a family and why it is essential to include men into all conversations, while she also shares some insights into a life with two under 4s during a lockdown alongside some tips on weaning and eating as a family!
Please join in the conversation with us on Instagram @alissatimoshkina and @georgiepuddingnpie
To find out more about MotherFood cooking course visit my website https://www.alissatimoshkina.com/podcast and you can buy me a coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/AlissaTim
S3 E5 MotherFood with Wild Nutrition Part 2
Welcome to this 2-part special episode dedicated to Her Nutrition, where I have the pleasure of talking to nutritionists behind UK's unique food-grown supplements brand, Wild Nutrition. Their supplements are ethically and sustainably sourced, and are 100% food-grown, i.e. an organic way of producing supplements without any addition of synthetic elements, solvents or bulking agents.
In this episode featuring Lorna Driver-Davies, senior nutritional therapist with Wild Nutrition, we delve into the fascinating subject of menstrual health and our overall wellbeing as women. We discuss how hormones and our cycles are the foundation of our overall health, the source of our vitality and wellbeing, regardless of wether we want or can have children. We explore essential functions and systems of the body which are tightly intertwined with our monthly rhythms such as
- Mental health: mood, memory, sense of identity
- Immune system
- Thyroid health
- Digestive health
- Female microbiome
- Fertility
- Nervous system
And we explore just how the menstrual cycle actually works, highlighting the importance of getting familiar with your menstrual blood, and celebrate the power of cycle tracking or the fertility awareness method. To learn more about these, I highly recommend Taking Charge of Your Fertility and The Fifth Vital Sign, both books have changed my experience of my body in the most profound ways!
If you would like to work with Lorna you can book a free consolation here and you can enjoy 20% off your first purchase with ALISSAMOTHERHOOD20
Join in the conversation with us over on Instagram @alissatimoshkina @wildnutritionltd and @lornadriverdavies
To find out more about MotherFood cooking course visit my website https://www.alissatimoshkina.com/motherfood-cooking-course and you can buy me a coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/AlissaTim
S3 E4 MotherFood with Wild Nutrition part 1
Welcome to this 2-part special episode dedicated to Her Nutrition, where I have the pleasure of talking to nutritionists behind UK's unique food-grown supplements brand, Wild Nutrition. Their supplements are ethically and sustainably sourced, and are 100% food-grown, i.e. an organic way of producing supplements without any addition of synthetic elements, solvents or bulking agents.
In this episode, featuring nutritional therapist, and mama of two, Marianne Grechko, we delve into nutrition and supplements for fertilely, pregnancy and postpartum. This episode is packed full of useful insight into the science of nutrition addressing specifically the needs of female body from pre-conception to postpartum, so I would invite you to make some notes. We also talk about how food is grown and where do the nutrients in the food come from - through that we touch on the essential topics of understanding the food chain, and eating seasonally and locally where possible.
Marianne really is the perfect person whose outlook very much resonate with my own - she embodies both the science and the intuitive approach to food. Her indepth knowledge is rooted in profound love of food and nature as well as in the feeling of trust in her intuitive and the innate wisdom of the body.
While there is a ton of very sound scientific nutritional advice, I hope the key message that you carry out is that the main thing is to eat with pleasure and honesty with yourself, as it is the truthful and joyful process of eating that nourishes your body more than any particular ingredient!
If what we speak about really resonates and you feel that you would love to learn more about how to nourish yourself in an accessible way then may I recommend my online cooking course MotherFood. Created as a digital pack it offers you many tips, recipes and cooking videos of simple and nutritionally balanced meals that tick pretty much all the boxes of your body’s needs!
Join the conversation over on Instagram with @alissatimoshkina and @wildnutritionltd
To find out more about MotherFood cooking course visit my website https://www.alissatimoshkina.com/podcast and you can buy me a coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/AlissaTim
S3 E3 MotherFood with Sallar & Lisa Al Mulla founders of baby food brand, Omami
This episode is all about baby food and baby weaning! It was such a pleasure to have a wonderful husband-wife duo, Lisa and Sallar, founders of Omami, to delve in-depth into the questions of how to feed your baby. As young parents themselves, Lisa and Sallar, decided to start a new baby food brand at just 3 months pregnant, to create an alternative to baby food pouches. Omami makes healthy weaning simple with their nutritionist approved, chef inspired, baby food subscription boxes. Their blends are freshly made to order and formulated with your baby’s development in mind. We discuss how baby food is manufactured, how Omami creates their fresh pots, as well as how they approached baby weaning with their own son. There is a lot of fascinating insight into their philosophy of food as well as into their lives as food entrepreneurs and first-time parents. Funny, heartfelt and super informative, this episode will be a gem for anyone with a young baby about to embark on the weaning journey!
If you would like to try out Omami subscription box, I am delighted to offer you a special discount - just head over to omami.co.uk and use MOTHERFOOD25 for 25% your first box.
To find out more about MotherFood cooking course visit my website https://www.alissatimoshkina.com/podcast and you can buy me a coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/AlissaTim
S3 E2 MotherFood with Nena Foster, nutritional chef, cookery teacher and mama of two
In this episode I speak to nutritional chef, fermentation expert and cookery teacher, Nena Foster about her experience of being a mother of two gorgeous children. She shares her story of a major career change after having her 2nd baby, how food made all the difference to her wellbeing during the postpartum phase, and how & why we could make our children more in-tune with what they eat. Nena shares tons of useful personal insight as well as professional opinion on the benefits of eating as a family, of cooking with your children, and we talk about gut-health and the essential role fermented foods play in our diets. Find out more about Nena's work on https://nenafosterfood.com and join in the conversation with us over on instagram @alissatimoshkina and @nenafosterfood
To find out more about MotherFood cooking course visit my website https://www.alissatimoshkina.com/podcast and you can buy me a coffee at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/AlissaTim
S3 E1: MotherFood with Nargisse Benkabbou
S2 MotherFood Xmas-special: Emiko Davis, Aran Goyoaga, Heidi Sze, Zuza Zak, Lara Lee, Eleanor Ford
Happy Christmas everyone! I am so excited to share this very warm and cosy special episode with you today! I have asked some of the wonderful guests on the podcast to record a little story for you: remembering their most special memories of Xmas as a child, their first Xmas as a mama, share their plans for this year and tell us about their must-have dish! It’s been such a joy to edit this episode featuring Emiko Davis, Aran Goyoaga, Heidi Sze, Zuza Zak, Lara Lee, Eleanore Ford and myself! The community of women that has appeared in my life this year thanks to the podcast has been the most wonderful and at times life-saving thing this year! So I thank you from the bottom of my heart for this and wish you a warm, restful and cosy holiday, no matter what ✨ all my love and gratitude 🙏🏻✨
S2 E10: Her Health with Avni Trivedi
As this year draws to a close we are all invited to draw some conclusions and uncover some learnings from this confusing and contradictory experience. If I were to name one thing that has become more important than ever, that would be Health. In this episode I speak to Avni Trivedi, an osteopath and a doula, specialising in women’s and children’s wellbeing. We explore how to understand health in a new holistic way, discuss the limitations of mainstream medicine and what can we do ourselves to support our vitality on daily basis. Avni offers tons of insight into daily practises to support our emotional, mental and physical wellbeing, and shares her experience of working with expectant and new mothers, as well as children. Combining Western science and Eastern traditions, Avni’s work is truly holistic as it bridges the relationship between body and mind.
You can find more about her work on www.avni-touch.com, by listening to her podcast Speak from the Body and her instagram @avnitouch
Share your story and connect with us over on Instagram @alissatimoshkina and visit www.alissatimoshkina.com to find out more about the MotherFood cooking course and explore recipes featured on this podcast
S2 E9 Alice Zaslavsky, best-selling culinary author, TV host, broadcaster, and girl-mama
In this episode I speak to the amazing Alice Zaslavsky.
A Russian-Jewish Australia-based best-selling culinary author, educator, broadcaster and TV host, who is also a new mother to a baby girl. Alice and I, share more than just the name (she is also called Alisa in Russian), we share an Ashkenazi heritage, the memories of awful food in Soviet kindergartens, the awe for mother’s lineage and the profound love of food! Alice, a teacher by trade, took a huge risk leaving her beloved job to enter Australian MasterChef competition, which was the most important decision of her life. What followed was a succession of serendipitous events which lead Alice to where she is now - at the top of her game in food, education and broadcasting. We talk a lot about her journey and how we can learn to trust the path; how to hold on to our vision no matter what life throws at you and also what to remember when things get difficult.
Alice shares her pregnancy and birth stories, we talk about the food she ate in the early postpartum (spoiler alert: a lot of tvorog and kefir!). We discuss her life as a working mother and how she shares parenting duties with her husband. We delve into baby weaning and how to involve children in cooking early on AND we finish this 1.5-long chat on a glorious subject of elimination communication! This episode is an absolute gem full of Alice’s witty, honest, quirky and wise character!
You can find more about Alice and her work on https://www.aliceinframes.com
And join the conversation with us over on isntagram @alliceinframe and @alissatimoshkina
To find out more about my cooking course MotherFood please visit my website
S2 E8 Claire Thomson, chef, cookbook author, food journalist and a mother of three girls
Claire pretty much embodies the very concept of mother food as her cooking and food writing is so much focused on the family kitchen. Her cooking is very autobiographical documenting her experience as a mother of 3 girls. She’s an author of 5 cookbooks all of which have the home kitchen as their main location. So I highly recommend her books to all the parents listening to this podcast. Because her books really do have the answers to so many questions we often face in our kitchens - full of practical advise, seasonal, family orientated with practicality, flavour richness and nutrient value in mind.
Claire is a really passionate chef and food writer, and as you will hear, her knowledge of and her delight in cooking is so intoxicating! I just loved talking to her and then coming back to this conversation while eating the podcast, as it gave me a very much needed boost of confidence, reassurance and inspiration to get me out of my culinary rut, in which I have been finding myself a bit too often this autumn.
i loved learning how her professional life developed and flowed into her personal life almost seamlessly. I really have been chaining my mindset around what being a working mother means to me and I have been, looking for examples in other women, as I am still new to the idea of embracing home as my creative space, and of not clearly defining work time and family time. So Claire’s example was so inspiring and brought many smiles to my face as we were talking.
Claire’s new book - Home Cookery Year - is an ode to the simple joys of cooking as well as to the sheer diversity of reasons and occasions we enter out kitchen.
So Claire truly knows what she is talking about when it comes to family cooking. This episode is full of wonderful tips and ideas, and if I were to encourage you to take away one thing from this conversation it would be the joy and the playfulness around food, and the idea of not taking food and yourself in the act of feeding too seriously - something I am certainly guilty of a lot - so for me it was a very welcomed reminder that a good meal is a lot more simple than the ambitious cook inside my head thinks it is.
Find out more about Claire's work from http://5oclockapron.com and join in the conversation with us over on Instagram @alissatimoshkina and @5oclockapron
S2 E7 Zuza Zak, Polish-British food writer, author, food anthropologist and a mother of two
S2 E6 Romy Gill, MBE, chef, author, broadcaster, restauranteur and mama of two teenage girls
chef, author, broadcaster and restauranteur. She’s the host of Ready Steady Cook and makes frequent appearances on tv and the radio food programmes.
Romy is also a mother of two teenage girls!
In this episode we talk about Romy’s family and the cultural values of being a woman in India. Romy shares her challenges during pregnancy and the early postpartum period reminding us how essential it is to have the support system around. We talk about family foods and cooking with teenagers, and what does a lasting marriage look like! Find out more about Romy at romygill.com end join in the conversation with us on Instagram @alissatimoshkina and @romygill
S2 E5 Eleanor Ford - food writer, stylist, travel journalist, and mama of two
S2 E4 MotherFood: Breast Health Special with Rachelle Poitras
In this episode we discuss our relationship to our breasts and what breast health really means. We look at how we are socialised as women based on our breast size, we consider the emotional and spiritual aspect of our connection to our chests, and we look in-depth into hormone health and nutrition.
We discuss how we can nourish and nurture ourselves inside and out with tips on supplements, foods, breast masks and tinctures and Rachelle also shares a beautiful practise of a breast massage.
The most amazing thing that I took away from this conversation is a realisation that by taking care of our breast in a truly holistic way we take care of our body, mind and spirit. They really are an amazing portal to our wellbeing as women.
Find out more about Rachelle’s work on www.hermetanoia.com and join the conversation with us over on Instagram @alissatimoshkika and @her_metanoia
Some sources Rachelle mentions on the podcast
Dr Gabor Mate
Susun Weed
@thelymphaticmessage
Renegade Beauty
Women’s bodies, women’s wisdom
Breast cancer, breast health
S2 E3 Julia Busuttil Nishimura, author, food writer, teacher and mama of two boys
S2 E2 Chetna Makan, best-selling cookbook author, the star of the GBBO and YouTube food creator
Follow the conversation over on Instagram @alissatimoshkina and @chetnamakan
And visit www.alissatimoshkina.com to find out more about the MotherFood cooking course and to discover recipes featured on this podcast!
S2 E1 MotherFood with Sheila Dillon, food journalist, activist and broadcaster
Please join the conversation with us over on Instagram @alissatimoshkina and @thesheiladillon
You can find out more about MotherFood cooking course on my website and join the first live online course launching in November.
MotherFood Season 2 trailer
I am your host, Alissa Timoshkina
Chef || food writer || author || curator || and a mother passionate about maternal empowerment through food and conversation.
In this season we meet women who forged inspiring carers in food, nutrition and wellness, while also embracing lives as mothers. We talk about what it means to be a woman, a mother and a creative. We share intimate moments of our complex journey, with all the intricacies of our relationships to our bodies our partners and our children. And of course there’s a lot of talking about the food! I passionately believe that when women’s voices come together to share stories some magical transformation takes place. So, let’s talk! Join the conversation over on Instagram @alissatoshkina and visit my website alissatimoshkina.com to find out more about the MotherFood cooking course!
S1 E20 MotherFood extra: Her Creativity
S1 E19 MotherFood extra: Her Cycles
Everything in life moves through cycles of contraction and expansion, planets move in circular orbits, nature moves through the cycles of seasons, and so do our bodies, and female bodies in particular. There is so much advocacy and awareness of seasonal living and eating, so I feel very passionate about bringing this focus into the beautiful realm of a woman’s body, and exploring and supporting its complexity and magnificence through life style, mind set and, of course, nourishment.
I very much hope this episode inspires new conversations and can’t wait to hear from you ✨🌒💫 Find is on Instagram @alissatimoshkina and @mylkymoonlab Merilyn’s debut book Moon Power is out now!
S1 E18 MotherFood extra: Her Sexuality
Please join in this very important conversation with us over on Instagram @alissatimoshkina and @magiyachuvstv
To explore this subject further O.Lesya offers some useful references during the show:
Lacey Haynes
Evyan Whitney
Naomi Wolf
Sexposivite family
S1 E17 MotherFood with Rachael Hollinger, postpartum chef and doula, and founder of Nouris(her)
This conversation is full of eye and heart opening insight, amazing practical tips for self-care through nourishment, mind set and daily practises, as well as some really comforting messages which I hope will resonate with so many mamas out there. This conversation left me feeling so grateful on behalf of all mothers for the work of post partum doulas and also wishing that one day every mother will have the opportunity to benefit from that amazing support.
Rachael shares her recipe for the oxytocin chocolate bar today on my blog, so head over to AlissaTimoshkina.com to enjoy it 🤎
Follow Rachael on @nourisherdoula
We are nearing the end of Season One of the podcast and if you have been enjoying it so far I would be so grateful if you could leave a review on iTunes! It would really mean a lot 🤎🙏🏻
S1 E16 MotherFood with Marianna Leivaditaki, head chef of Morito, author of Agean and boy mama
S1 E15. World breastfeeding week special: MotherFood with Amy Vanharen, founder of Pumpspotting, a breastfeeding and digital health platform
In this episode celebrating World Breast Feeding Week, I talk to Amy Vanharen, founder of Pumpspotting, a community-driven breastfeeding and digital health platform. Amy’s own story as a two-time breastfeeder is a source of inspiration and empowerment to so many women, while her initiative which includes a digital app, that she defines as ‘facebook, meets yelp, meet boob’, a traveling breastfeeding van, and a special support scheme for workspaces, is a vital contribution to mothers’ health and social integration. We talk about the difficulty we faced at different stages of breastfeeding, how to make pumping an empowering experience and how essential it is for women to support one another. Amy’s advice to all the women who are thinking of starting a new professional journey while also learning to mother is one of the most inspiring things I’ve ever heard. It rang so true and resonated so deeply with me! So I hope it will make you feel your own magic powers a little! Join in the conversation and share with us your feeding stories over on Instagram @alissatimoshkina @pumpspotting and @avanharen
S1 E14 MotherFood with Heidi Sze, nutritionist, anti-diet dietitian, cookbook author and mama of 2
In this episode maternal nutritionist and anti-diet dietitian Heidi Sze shares her insight as a professional looking after women pre, during and after pregnancy, and as a mama of two young children. Heidi and I cover in-depth such essential topics as the nature of cravings and aversions, what and how to eat during labour, how to support yourself during the fourth trimester, food for breast health as well as how to practice intuitive eating and living and being gentle on your body. Packed full of fascinating insight, this episode really gets to the core of what mother food is about! You can find more info about Heidi on her blog Apples under my Bed, and I highly recommend her book “Nurturing your new life”, where she shares life style advice along with delightful and nourishing recipes. Join the conversation over on Instagram @alissatimoshkina and @heidiapples
S1 E13 MotherFood with Munira Mahmoud, founder of Kina Mama, co-author of the Together Cookbook
Originally from Uganda, Munira experienced the loneliness of motherhood here in the UK which was a stark contrast to the ancient traditions she grew up around back home, where home cooked food was an essential part of maternal care. Munira’s own struggle with early motherhood inspired an idea to create Kina Mama, a social enterprise which would offer support to new mothers through food and sisterhood, just like she saw back home.
The real turning point in Munira’s life was the Grenfell tower fire in June 2017, which she survived together with her husband and their two children. So in the aftermath of the fire, she came together with several fellow survivors, to start cooking food from their native countries at their local Mosque. This was the start of the Hubb Community Kitchen, which became a real heartbeat of their community, providing a sense of home to so many. Their work got noticed by Megan Markle and led to the creation of the Together Cookbook, which features Munira’s story and recipes. It was the conversation with the Duchess that inspired Munira to pursue her initial idea of setting up a support system for new mothers which soon became, Kina Mama. Join in the conversation on Instagram with us @alissatimoshkina and @muniraeats
S1 E12 MotherFood with Julie Jones, award-winning baker, chef, author and mom of three
S1 E11 MotherFood with Ping Coombes, MasterChef 2014 winner, author, chef and a mother of two girls
Ping's recipe for the amazing Hakka noodles is available on my website
S1 E10 MotherFood: the Dad’s edition. Father’s Days special with eco chef Tom Hunt
S1 E9 MotherFood with Olia Hercules, Ukrainian chef, food stylist, cookbook author and a mum of two
S1 E8 MotherFood with Shivi Ramoutar, Caribbean-born presenter, cookbook author, and a mum of two boys
S1 E7 MotherFood with Lara Lee, Lee, Australian-Indonesian chef, caterer, author of Coconut & Sambal, and a new mom
S1 E6 MotherFood with Anja Dunk, a mum of three boys, food writer, chef and photographer.
S1 E5 MotherFood with Emiko Davies, Tuscany-based cookbook author and food photographer, and a mom of two
Join me and my next guest, food writer, author of 3 cookbooks and mum of two, Emiko Davies. We spoke about her passion for Italian art & food, her mixed Japanese-Australian (food) heritage, Italy's food history and postpartum traditions, as well as of Emiko's new family lifestyle in quarantine and what it was like to write a cookbook during nap times. Emiko also shares some of her favourite family recipes. Let us know what you think on Instagram @alissatimoshkina and @emikodavies
S1 E4 MotherFood with Alex Head, running a successful food business and being a new mom
We talked about how she managed to run such a busy company while pregnant, doing a live sky news appearance with a baby bump and how she manages to look after her baby girl while also moving her company through a major restructuring during the pandemic. Alex shares her birth story and has some brilliant advice for working moms. Join in the conversation on Instagram with us @alissatimoshkina and @alexhead_sp