Community Partner profile - Chef Evelyn June from Wānaka
Evelyn June’s parents met at culinary school, so it feels like she was destined to develop a deep love for food.
“When I was in my 20s I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life,” she says. “I always wanted to cook, but didn't know if I wanted it as a profession, so I decided to go to culinary school in Vancouver and see how I liked it - and I ended up loving it. I was awarded Student of the Year, and then moved on to an internship in Colorado.”
Eventually Evelyn moved to Aotearoa and gained residency here which opened up a new world of possibilities.
“I ended up doing some private cheffing and catering, and then I just kind of jumped around and learned as much as I could. I learned about health food working at Soul Food and an organic cafe and grocery, and then for a deli here in Wānaka that did lots of different salads and baking and all of that.”
“I guess what drew me to the work is that I just love making people feel happy and seen and loved.”
“I have a bit of social anxiety, or used to, and so the kitchen was always like a safe place to be. I loved giving and hanging out in the kitchen, and people always came to me and, yeah, I was able to bring joy. It was nice to feel appreciated and loved, as much as I was making them feel loved and appreciated with my food.”
Evelyn June - photo by Jeff Forsee @ Aotearoa Anglers
Being fueled by so much joy and passion can make it easy to push too hard though, and a few years ago Evelyn found herself burnt out and in need of a break.
“So I went away on a little trip to Vietnam and Bali. And I was just sitting in Bali for a week, and I decided to plan a Buddha bowl caravan. And so I designed the whole menu and the look of it and the name and everything.”
When she got back to Wānaka, Evelyn reached out to her friend (and now business partner) Jesse to get a feel for what buying and running a food truck might actually look like.
Two days later, Jesse asked Evelyn to come back and have a chat with him.
“It turns out he had been offered the opportunity to put a proposal in to open a cafe at the new bike park in Wānaka, and he asked me if I want to be part of it with him. So that kind of threw a spanner in the works for my Buddha bowls, but partnering with Jesse meant that I would eventually buy into half of Dripping Bowl too - a business he had started with his partner in 2017.”
So Evelyn and Jesse became business partners, opening Velo Cafe out at Bike Glenhu and keeping Dripping Bowl ticking along, with Evelyn creating the food for both sites.
“Dripping Bowl is based around all whole foods. So there's no preservatives in anything, there's no canola oil, there's no white sugar, there's none of that.
But it’s also approachable - we have a Buddha bowl called ‘the tradie’. It's not just like, you know, super fit Wānaka folks who are stopping in for a smoothie bowl in the sun, it's kind of a bit of everything.
We really wanted to build a community as well, where everyone felt heard and safe and comfortable and could get great food, but also just meet new people and friends as well.”
Ultimately, Evelyn is driven by her love for good food and connecting with the people and the land around her.
“What excites me about it is knowing that there's food on offer that is actually medicine. I've studied herbal medicine as well, and so I'm a big advocate for using the plants around us. I love supporting all the local growers who are most of my friends too, and a bunch of other local businesses, and know that we're supporting their families.”
Recently Evelyn has become a Community Partner for Every Bite, where she has been giving live demos at the programme events run by Wastebusters in Wānaka.
“I've had a close relationship with Wastebusters for years and years because we have very similar values, and I just love everyone there.
So when they introduced me to Every Bite, which just aligns with how I've kind of always lived, you know, growing up with a single mom and two siblings - we used everything. And she was also big into gardening, so we learned about composting and everything from the get go, but also just learned about how to process food efficiently, how to save things, how to prevent things from spoiling - that's just how I've always lived.”
“I guess it coincides with saving money as well, which I'm a big advocate for, like educating people on the simple things and changing little habits that actually save them quite a bit in the long run.”
Evelyn loves any opportunity to take away the barriers people can have with cooking - like it feeling hard and expensive. People don't want to spend a heap of money on ingredients and then screw it up.
“So with my Every Bite talks I go into food waste a lot, but I also like to add in little general cooking tips. Things like how to chop efficiently, or flavors to mix, or how to make one pot meals when you're using up the last bits - making them delicious, rather than just, like, ‘throw it all in a pot’ kind of thing. Just approaching it with a little bit of fun and curiosity.”
Being able to connect with people in-person is a big driver for Evelyn too.
“I personally learn a lot better in person than I do reading or listening to audio or whatnot. So I really love having that interaction with guests as well, like when I'm telling them about the food waste, and they can ask me about things, and it can give them the confidence to go away and try it. Or they're getting visuals of how I store my coriander, or how I cut the carrots, or the regrowing of spring onions and stuff like that. Like it's just absorbed in the brain a lot easier, I think.”
“It really gets me going to just support people. And the holistic way that Every Bite helps - in the food miles, in the planet, in the pockets of people, yeah, just loving it, absolutely.”
Every Bite is delivered by the Zero Waste Network in partnership with the Ministry for the Environment.
If you’d like to take part in upcoming programmes, register your interest here.