Celebrity chef excited about festival

New Zealand MasterChef winner Nadia Lim is looking forward to cooking up a storm in Picton.

Ms Lim is being brought to the region by NZ King Salmon to be the celebrity guest at the Picton Maritime Festival on Saturday.

The 26-year-old, of Malaysian-New Zealand heritage, won the second series of the country's popular televised cooking competition, MasterChef, in May.

She will give cooking demonstrations and chat to the crowd at the NZ King Salmon marquee at the festival.

"I'm going to be cooking two or three dishes just showing how easy it is to use salmon. I would love it if people would come up and say `hi', and they will be able to test everything," she said.

It was important for Ms Lim, a registered dietitian who studied at Otago University, that all the food was fresh, healthy and easy to make.

She had toured the NZ King Salmon fish farms during her previous visit to Picton, about six weeks ago.

"I jumped at the chance to come again. It's such a beautiful part of the country, but I'm more the kind of person who sits on the boat and waits for the fish to arrive."

Since winning the competition, Ms Lim has divided her time between writing a cookbook and working at Euro restaurant in Auckland.

Picton Maritime Festival co-ordinator Beryl Bowers said it would be great to have the MasterChef winner at the festival, particularly after chef and cooking writer Jan Bilton featured last year.

"It's very exciting. Jan did such a good job last time, it'll be excellent to have another fantastic chef.

"We certainly didn't expect it to be her, coming all the way from Auckland."

It was hoped that Ms Lim's status as a celebrity chef would help draw more people to the festival. "Oh my gosh, we are just a couple of weeks out and have got to get special things arranged for her. It'll be great for food lovers."

- The Marlborough Express

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