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Nadia Lim
Lim, 2014
Born	Nadia Rui-chi Lim (1985-12-21) 21 December 1985 (age 38) Auckland, New Zealand
Alma mater	Otago University
Occupation(s)	Dietitian, chef
Style	Fresh and organic, health food
Television	New Zealand with Nadia Lim, My Kitchen Rules, MasterChef
Spouse	Carlos Bagrie ​(m. 2012)​
Children	3
Website	nadialim.com

Nadia Rui-chi Lim (born 21 December 1985) is a New Zealand 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 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 the University of Otago 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 where she made it to the semifinals.

In 2020 she appeared on her own series, Nadia's Comfort Kitchen, in which she focused on cooking during the COVID-19 lockdown in New Zealand. Her 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.

In 2022 she was one of three judges of the seventh series of MasterChef New Zealand.

In 2022 she and her husband participated in a multipart series Nadia's Farm.

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 (Best TV Chef category). Lim's cookbook, Vegful, also went onto receive a runner-up prize for the best Vegetarian cookbook in the world in 2019.

My Food Bag

Lim is a founder of My Food Bag, a New Zealand 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.

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, the Hospice, KidsCan and Garden to Table to help encourage healthy eating and the Cambodia Charitable Trust to raise awareness of the poverty trap of underprivileged children in Cambodia. During the New Zealand lockdown with Covid19 Nadia filmed a television show hosted on TV1 called Nadia's Comfort Kitchen. Following the success of the show, Lim released a cookbook where 100% of the profits were donated to two charities. In one week this raised $405,000 which was subsequently donated to Youthline and the Women's Refuge. During 2020 she released a children's book, Marvellous Marvin, with all author proceeds from the book being donated to no-kill animal shelter HUHA and food education charity Garden to Table.

Nadia: A Seasonal Journal

In December 2020, Lim launched a quarterly print publication in partnership with Lifestyle Magazine Group. Nadia: A Seasonal Journal celebrates growing, harvesting and cooking with fresh produce through the seasons. A portion of each sale goes to the Garden to Table charity, which teaches children the essential skills of gardening and cooking.

Personal life

Lim is married to Carlos Bagrie and has three sons, Bodhi, River and Arlo.

Her father Ken died in 2014 from cancer.

References

1. MasterChef NZ Season 6 episode 12
2. WALTERS, LAURA (19 November 2014). "Nadia Lim: Eat better, work smarter". Stuff NZ. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
3. Knight, Kim (2014). "Nadia Lim's journey to cooking". No. Sunday Magazine. Fair Fax. Retrieved 14 December 2014.
4. Friends, Alumni &. "Alumna shares recipe for success". University of Otago. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
5. University of Otago Magazine (PDF) (Issue 31 ed.). University of Otago. 2012. pp. 23, 24, 25. Retrieved 14 December 2014.
6. Smith, Catherine (2011). "Masterchef: Plop, plop and a dream collapses in soggy ruins". No. The New Zealand Herald. APN. Retrieved 14 December 2014.
7. Shackelford, Linda (2014). "Nadia Lim talks career and babies". No. New Zealand Woman's Weekly. Bauer Media. Retrieved 14 December 2014.
8. Andelane, Lana (9 June 2019). "Dancing with the Stars NZ: Nadia Lim's partner Aaron confronts judge's jive critique". Mediaworks. Newshub. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
9. "Nadia's Comfort Kitchen". Retrieved 21 June 2020.
10. "Robert Oliver wins global award for Samoan cookbook". www.spasifikmag.com. Spasifik. Archived from the original on 14 December 2014. Retrieved 14 December 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
11. Rae, Sally (13 June 2020). "Celebrity chef's dream realised". ODT. Otago Daily Times. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
12. "About Nadia Lim". Nadia Lim. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
13. Milford, Catherine (2014). "Nadia Lim's secret ingredient". Bauer Media. Retrieved 14 December 2014.
14. Ryan, Holly (13 May 2014). "My Food Bag trio eyeing Aussie kitchens". No. Business. NZME. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
15. McRae, Tom. "SOCIAL ISSUES Kidscan's latest campaign features top chefs cooking real-life poverty meals". Newshub. Mediaworks. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
16. Herald, NZ (16 July 2015). "Nadia Lim honouring her father's wish". No. NZ Herald Life & Style. NZME. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
17. Plenty Times, Bay Of (16 November 2015). "Women working to heal Cambodia". No. Bay of Plenty Times. NZME. Retrieved 20 November 2015.
18. Kirkness, Luke (19 June 2020). "Covid 19 coronavirus: Nadia Lim donates $405,000 to Women's Refuge, Youthline after cookbook fundraiser". NZME. NZME. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
19. Cherie, Howie (29 November 2020). "New Zealand Herald". NZME. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
20. "Nadia: A Seasonal Journal". ThisNZLife. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
21. "Introducing NADIA magazine". Nadia Lim. 16 October 2016. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
22. Neville, Sophie. "Nadia Lim's sweet baby surprise". Now To Love. Retrieved 15 July 2020.

• 1985 births
• Dietitians
• Living people
• New Zealand television chefs
• New Zealand people of Chinese descent
• New Zealand people of Malaysian descent
• Participants in New Zealand reality television series
• Vegetarian cookbook writers
• New Zealand women chefs
• New Zealand cookbook writers