HELLO, 

Welcome to my lovely new website! 

I am a South African freelance food stylist, recipe developer, writer, and photographer with years of experience. We moved to  the Netherlands in 2020 (yep, in the year of Covid!) 

I was the food editor for Rooi Rose magazine (South Africa’s top Afrikaans glossy) for more than 20 years. While I was there I contributed to numerous other magazines such as Shape Magazine, Food and Home, Baba en Kleuter, and Your Family, I am currently the food editor for Lose It! magazine. A health magazine focussing on a healthy, low-carb lifestyle and diet.

I am a professionally trained chef and received my chef’s qualification from the acclaimed Stellenbosch chef school, The Institute of Culinary Arts (ICA). I worked as a chef lecturer at the ICA before moving into Media as a Food Editor and Food Stylist. 

A significant happening in our family’s life was when my son was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes when he was 8 years old. We changed our lifestyle en diet to help my son with the day-to-day management of Diabetes. Our families’ transition to a low carbohydrate lifestyle inspired me to write a book with Kath Megaw detailing this journey, “The Low Carb Solution for Diabetics”. It won the Sunday Times Cookbook of the Year award in 2015 and was also published in the UK where it has sold over 40 000 copies worldwide.  I have subsequently written two more low-carb books; My Low Carb Kitchen and Low Carb Express. My most recent cookbook Clever Cooking was published in August of 2023. The Low Carb Solution for Diabetics has been reprinted and reworked as the Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes Cookbook. 

I have worked on a freelance basis for many food and wine clients doing recipe development, concept development, and food styling. Food clients included Unilever (with brands like Knorr, Flora, and Robertson’s Spices) McCain Frozen Vegetables, and Freddy Hirsch Spices. Wine clients included Leopards Leap Winery, Alto Winery, Nederburg Wine Estate, and Durbanville Hills Winery. This led to the publication of a Food and Wine pairing Recipe book; the Art of Food and Wine Pairing with Fiona McDonald and Charles Russell for Libertas Wines.

Since 2020 I have also pursued my lifelong ambition for photography and now photograph all my own recipes for clients, magazines, and websites. I write food blogs, social media posts, and health research articles for clients and present cooking workshops in our home town Woerden. 

I created this website as a portfolio and showcase of my work, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did creating the work on it. 

Love 

Vickie