Female Faces of the Brand: Thomasina Miers

My name is Thomasina Miers, most people call me Tommi. I co-founded Wahaca, which just won most ‘green’ restaurant group in a Which? poll. I cook, write and campaign on better access to good food for all. I helped set up Chefs in Schools for which I am a trustee. We are trying to change how Government thinks about food shifting the idea of real food being a luxury to the an essential. Opening their eyes to our current food system which is costing the UK taxpayer £76 billion a year in healthcare costs, diet-related disease, long term sickness and environmental damage. The Ultra-Processed Foods that stock our shelves are now killing more people than smoking or alcohol. I have known Lily, founder of Detox Kitchen, for years. As female founders we became friends early on and share a belief in the importance of eating real food for pleasure and for health. Food is at the centre of everything and DK understand this incredibly well.

What inspires you?

At my age learning new things is incredibly inspiring. New cooking techniques, learning about the incredible teaming life that exists in the ground we walk on (and how little we know about it). I am doing a writing course at the moment and am loving reading new authors and their view of the world. I am also constantly inspired by other people, my peers.

What does your day usually look like?

I am spending some time in Mexico at the moment so it is a mixture of writing, going to markets to learn about new ingredients, cooking and looking after the kids.

What is your daily non-negotiable?

I always need to find time to move. Whether its 20 minutes of exercises to help a knee injury, a short run, riding somewhere on my bicycle, swimming, yoga, tennis, pilates; I need to build in some form of activity to feel good and be full of energy.

3 wellness tips/habits you swear by...

I switch my hot shower to cold for 30 seconds when I shower; I always do some form of stretching and I start the day with slices of ginger and a squeeze of lemon in hot water. I am inconsistent on most things but these things I do stick to! I am fascinated by intermittent fasting: giving our digestive systems a break so eating an early supper or late breakfast so that our guts can re-charge. I try to do this during the week when I can.

What is your favourite cuisine?

Erm, am I allowed to say Mexican?!!! Although I love so many cuisines from Italian and Indian to French, Middle-Eastern and Chinese. I love good food!

Dish or recipe you make most often?

Well I normally make sourdough every week so I guess it would be a late breakfast of toasted sourdough, a fried egg, some type of green, kimchi or leaf with a scattering of chickpeas, or a drizzle of tahini, herbs, chilli oil. It sounds complicated but it takes 5 minutes to pull together and is unbelievably delicious.

Death row dinner?

A delicious salad, toasted nuts, amazing leaves, slices of pear or apple, maybe some blue cheese or a goats cheese, a great dressing. Then meat. Maybe a slow-cooked lamb birria with its broth, corn tortillas, greens. Fresh salsas. Lastly a creme brulee, with just the right amount of tap, tap, tap on its sugar crust.

What is your favourite form of movement?

It has to be dancing. I love nothing better than going out dancing all night. You can move all of your body and the euphoria of sharing a great night of dancing with friends is hard to beat. The government should sponsor dance spaces for its citizens - it is a well known counterbalance for depression which is afflicting so many young people these days. If going out dancing was easier and more affordable we would have far less depression in the world!

What is your favourite quote or mantra?

You can only do your best. Yes, you must try, but we all have our own personal journeys to follow, so its not about other people, its about ourselves. Best book! Wifedom - a fascinating biography of George Orwell’s wife who was written out of his history - and the questions it brings up about the unpaid, unacknowledged work of women in society.

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More on Tommi...

Her website