Nadia Lim


Nadia Lim is a New Zealand-born celebrity chef, entrepreneur, food writer and television personality. Lim is known as the self-proclaimed "Nude Cook" as an advocate of natural, unprocessed foods, and for creating healthy, nutritious recipes by putting a health focus behind food, which is influenced by her background as a clinical dietitian.

Early life and education

Lim is of New Zealander and Chinese-Malaysian heritage and was born in Auckland to Julie and Ken Lim. At six years of age she moved to Kuala Lumpur where she lived for about six years. She has said that her experiences in two cultures influence her fusion cooking style of Asian and European cuisines.

Career

Lim graduated from Otago University in 2008 with a bachelor's degree in applied science in human nutrition and postgraduate diploma in dietetics. She worked from 2008 to 2011 for the Auckland District Health Board as a clinical dietitian, specialising in diabetes. She describes her recipes as healthy and focused on moderation. Lim believes that this is due in part to her background as a diabetes dietitian and understanding nutrition science.

Television

Lim won the second series of MasterChef New Zealand, airing on TV One on New Zealand in 2011; the United Kingdom in 2012 on UKTV; and in the Netherlands in 2013.
In 2014 the Asian Food Channel commissioned an eight-part television show, New Zealand with Nadia Lim, which was screened during primetime across 14 countries throughout Asia, to an audience of 130 million. The show was produced to increase awareness of New Zealand food and culture with Asian audiences. New Zealand with Nadia Lim was also aired by SkyTV's Food TV channel from August 2014 and TVNZ's TV ONE from November 2014.
Lim was a guest judge on the first series of My Kitchen Rules New Zealand, which broadcast on TV ONE in 2014 and on TV TWO in 2015; she returned again in the reboot series on TV Two in 2017 and 2018.
She appeared on the eighth series of Dancing with the Stars in 2019.
In 2020 she appeared on her own series, Nadia's Comfort Kitchen, in which she focused on cooking during the lockdown in New Zealand. He two children appear in most episodes and her husband functioned as the cameraman. The recipes from the series were published in a cookbook, Nadia's Comfort Kitchen, which raised money for charity.

Cookbooks

Lim's first cookbook, Nadia's Kitchen, was released in 2012 by Random House and is focused on healthy original recipes.
In 2013, Lim released her second best-selling cookbook, Nadia Lim's Good Food Cookbook. This book received runner-up at the 2014 International Gourmand Cookbook of the Year awards.
TitlePublishedISBN
Nadia's Kitchen2012
Nadia Lim's Good Food Cookbook2013
Easy Week Night Meals2014
Fresh Start Cookbook2015
What's for Dinner?2016
Dinner Time Goodness2017
Let's Eat!2017
Family Favourites2018
Vegful2019
Nadia's Comfort Kitchen2020

My Food Bag

Lim is a founder of My Food Bag, a New Zealand and Australian home delivery service that delivers recipes and fresh ingredients to customers' doors. The service was launched in 2013 by Cecilia and James Robinson, together with Lim and her husband, Carlos Bagrie, and ex-Telecom CEO Theresa Gattung. Kevin Roberts, Executive Chairman of global advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi was appointed Chairman of My Food Bag in March 2015
An Australian division was launched in Sydney in August 2014. For the sixth series of MasterChef New Zealand, the winner would be employed to work for her as a chef/menu-planner as part of the prize package. She was also a guest judge on episode 12, where the winner of her "Mystery Bag - Match made in Heaven Challenge" can have their dish featured in the company's recipe, which also served as a job trial.

Charitable work

Lim has worked with a number of New Zealand charities, partnering with Diabetes New Zealand, the Heart Foundation, the Blind Foundation, the Cancer Society and the Hospice to help encourage healthy eating and the Cambodia Charitable Trust to raise awareness of the poverty trap of underprivileged children in Cambodia.

Personal life

Lim is married and has 2 sons named Bodhi and River. Her father Ken died in 2014 because of cancer.