To Nick, the man that makes things happen – turning my visions into reality every time. For all your creativity, love, support and freedom – balancing my creative energies with your steadfastness and relaxed approach to life. Thank you for joining me in this life – and all the other ones;) Oh, and for all the beautiful photos yet again!
To my mum for her love and support, and for making everything okay, no matter what. And to my dad who I miss every day – I know you would have been just as fascinated as I am to understand the world with this new language, and I’m sure you would have been able to inspire me with many of the dishes you enjoyed around the world, which would also have had such rich wisdom.
To the wise old owl – great (and my greatest!) aunt Joan – I didn’t inherit you as my birthright but you must have been in my dharma.
Lot of special people have helped me on this journey and have become like family – supporting and sharing their love, wisdom and passion unconditionally. Beginning with Gary Gorrow who really propelled and nurtured me on this journey. Susie Pearl, my big sister, who has been holding my hand throughout and telling me how it is! Can’t wait to collaborate with you on True You. And Will Williams, who helped me shake things up and get on with it with his insights.
To my brilliant and very zen editor Carole, for fully embracing this – I knew you were the one! And Martha, who has been a bastion of patience and hard work, and my right-hand woman on the job. To the rest of the incredible team at Bluebird, including my PR team, Jodie, Jess and Tom for helping to convey the beautiful message of Ayurveda.
My design team at Imagist, Colm, Rose and Lucy, for your can-do approach to everything, and of course all your creative and design brilliance in interpreting my visions. You’ve done it again.
My shoot team, for bringing my ideas to life – Lizzie and Bianca, Jenna, Jess, Rosie and Jenna for the styling; Linda for the props; and Nick Hopper, the man behind the lens, for capturing it all on camera.
To the Ayurvedic Vaidyas of the Raju family, and Dr Avilochan Singh and Dr Dhanraj Shetty of Vana Retreat for always sharing their invaluable wisdom. Dr Deepa Apte of Ayurveda Pura and Dr Shijoe Mathew Anchery, of The Alternative Healthcare.
To the brilliant support of Chris Davies (Mayarishi AyurVeda), Dr Charlotte Bech, Dr Donn Brennan, Jess Cook, Sebastian Pole (Pukka Herbs) Mahesh Natarajan (Ananda Spa Hotel), Rob Verkerk (Alliance of Natural Health).
To some real stars and East By West team players: Jeanine, Kate, Claire and Poppy, with special thanks to Libby Nixon – thank you all for coming into my life at exactly the right time.
Emma and Alfie Pye, for letting us take over your beautiful home more than once.
To my book agent, Valeria Huerta, for doing things the right way and always open-heartedly. My sound sister Toni Dicks for always keeping it real and knowing me inside out from the star. And to all my other friends – too many to name! – who have supported me in so much over the years. I’m very lucky.
To George and Nikki Shehadah and Paul Van Zyl of Maiyet for all your help in making the pop-up cafe a success and Taylor and Britt, my Aussie dream team.
To my restaurant team at the East by West London pop up: Veronica, and Alex and the rest of the gang at Caiger and Co.
To the incredible PR team at Liz Matthews PR: Liz, Jordan and Naomi for all your hard work in helping me share the philosophy of Ayurveda.
To the recipe testers: Jessica Malik, Alina Buyko and Emma Pye who are always game to test my recipes! And a few new ones Ive picked up along the way – thanks Naomi Denziloe and Nikki Saunders for getting involved and Jenna Leiter for double checking!
Khreena Dhiman for bringing me curry leaves and ragi flour whenever she sees me and Sjaniel Turrel for all her last minute checks.
Tom Dixon, for superior style and all the support, and beautiful ceramics from Billy Lloyd and Iva Polachova.
Finally, to my wolf pack! My dogs, Aijuna, Bheema and Julie, who teach me life lessons everyday and keep me laughing whatever the world decides to throw at me.