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KAI FEAST - Food stories & recipes from the maunga to the moana

Nau mai, haere mai ki tēnei kai hākari wainene!

Christall Lowe invites you to a hākari (feast) at her family table — replete with mouthwatering dishes infused with the flavours of Aotearoa, brimming with manaakitanga (hospitality), and served with wonderful tales of nostalgia.

In this beautifully illustrated story of feasting, the sister book to the award-winning KAI, you’ll find a bountiful basket of kai and kōrero gathered all the way from the mountains to the sea. It’s lip-smackingly good kai — from soul-warming kaimoana hot pot, umu pulled pork and hāngī infused with native rongoā, to kūmara donuts, sweet korimako cake and burnt sugar steamed pudding.

Recipes are woven with stories of traditional gathering and feasting, tips on cooking for a crowd and notes on foraging and using native herbs. With Kai Feast in your kitchen, you’ll be prepared for any occasion, big or small.

It’s time for kai. It’s time to feast.

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Christall Raukawa Lowe

Ngāti Kauwhata, Tainui, Ngāti Maniapoto

Food Photographer, Food Stylist, Author, Cook.
Serial entrepreneur and renovator.
Visual Storytelling extraordinaire.

Christall is a multi-award winning and seasoned creative, whose most recent accomplishments include publishing her stunning photojournalistic, award-winning and best-selling book, Kai - also named by Newsroom as “the cookbook of the year”.

In 2022 she was awarded the NZ Food photographer of the year, and more recently her book “Kai” won Best First Book (illustrated non-fiction) at the 2023 Ockham NZ Book Awards, Highly Commended at the Booklovers NZ Awards, and Highly Commended in the PANZ Book Design Awards.

As a self confessed “serial entrepreneur” for over 25 years, her artistic endeavours include creating an award-winning harakeke product - “Hāpene”, exhibiting her artworks both nationally and internationally, and pursuing a career as a food writer, food stylist and food photographer.

Described as a “great raconteur”, Christall loves to weave stories in both visual and narrative form, and knows how to flesh out a great story and bring it to life, especially when it comes to food and photography. Her goal is to capture and honour the mauri, or life essence, of all that she produces, which makes her an incredible visual storyteller with strong narrative vision. 

“It’s my absolute passion to create stunning, engaging imagery that elevates products and brands, and of course, tells a story”.

Creating delicious brand stories

 
 
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So much more than just a photo of food…

“We commissioned Christall for an ice cream shoot recently, and I was completely blown away with how amazing the results were! The images Christall delivered were more that we could have hoped for – absolutely stunning and could be from the pages of a world class cuisine magazine. She totally nailed the brief, and went over and above to tell the story of our brand. 

Not only was her work incredibly outstanding, but Christall was an absolute pleasure to work with. Nothing was a problem, and I really felt like we were in capable hands. She made the entire process from brief to delivery so easy!”

- Julie, Kohu Road Ice Cream

Feature Client Showcase

 Our clients include both local, national and international, small and large businesses from start ups to large export companies. Including:

Silver Fern Farms | Tatua Dairy Company | Temuka Pottery | Grove Avocado Oil | Farmland Foods | Marcels Pancakes | 5+ A Day | Arnotts | Westgold Butter | Cameron Jewellery | Zeffer Cider | Holland Road Distillery | Visa Wellington on a Plate | Kapura Group Limited | Plate of Origin | Ours Truly Milk | Earth Candles | Amayjen the Restaurant | The Alchemists Table | Kohu Road Ice Cream | Ola Pacifica Chocolate | Artisan Kitchen | Passionfruit NZ | The Avo Tree | Abe’s Bagels | The Whole Mix | Sip Sangria |

Master the art of visual storytelling, using the perfect blend of narrative, composition and light.

Whether you're a seasoned foodie, a home cook, blogger, Instagrammer, content creator, photography or food enthusiast, you want to learn something new, want to be able to take amazing photos of food or products, and you're eager to learn some secrets from an award winning food stylist, I invite you to spend a day immersed in the art of food and product styling and photography with me, in a beautiful, light filled space with like minded creatives. Food Stories Workshops are a full day symposium of demonstration and hands on tutoring, amazing food, and loads of creative synergy.

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Everything you put together was amazing, from your thoughtful and generous presentation, excellent take home notes, incredible catering, in a beautiful and multi-useful space and a lovely goodie bag to farewell us with. It was the best and most inspiring day, and such a treat to learn from you.
— Julie Le Clerc - Cookbook author; food writer & stylist, Auckland
My heart is so full after spending the day at the beautiful food stories workshop learning from the amazing Christall Lowe. Inspired is an understatement after meeting her and all the other amazing, talented wahine. Already wishing I could go back and do it all over again. We had freestyle time in the afternoon and were lucky enough to play with all of the amazing props. Legit my idea of heaven
— Megan Dudley, Mt Maunganui
This past weekend I’ve had the absolute privilege to spend a whole day with some like minded and amazingly talented ladies. Such an inspiration! Christall generously shared her knowledge of food styling and photography with us, a divine lunch was prepared by Artisan Kitchen, and Mustard Folk opened up their amazing, light filled space for the workshop. I’m still on a high!
— Nikki , Hawkes Bay
A few months ago my daughter and I made the drive to Feilding to attend a food styling workshop hosted by Christall. Honestly, I can say hands down that it was one of the best Sunday afternoons I’ve had in the longest time. I learnt SO much, from composition, how to use props to your best advantage, and the ALL important use of light which can make or break an image. I couldn’t recommend these workshops enough!
— Kate, Hawkes Bay