Nadia Lim: 'If exercise was a pill, it would outdo any other pill out there'

Before moving to Royalburn Station with her family in 2019, Nadia Lim says she was "incredibly ambitious".

After six years living on the farm, the chef and reality TV star has redefined success as quality time with husband Carlos Bagrie and their kids, ideally accompanied by her two favourite sounds - a fire crackling and rain on the roof.

"I feel like the fire talks to you, and it's giving you words of wisdom. And then I love the pitter-patter of the rain, that rhythmic sound that it makes when you're inside and you hear it on the roof. I also love being outside in the rain… it can be very invigorating. When you're freezing cold and wet and the wind's whistling, it's pretty harsh. But then when you come inside to the fire… wow, the contrast. You feel so good," she tells RNZ's Saturday Morning.

As well as running the 485-hectare rural station on the Crown Range with Bagrie - a fifth-generation farmer and her "partner in crime" - Lim has made two series of Nadia's Farm and recently released the spinoff Nadia's Farm Kitchen. Her latest cookbook is a companion to the show.

"I was like, great, got the recipes already… I had photographs from the last five years on the farm, as well, capturing our life throughout the seasons.

"I know how delicious the food is and just loved the thought of other people being able to cook this too and share it with their friends and people that come over."

Lim has been obsessed with food since childhood. As a 12-year-old who'd already sampled many cuisines while living in multicultural Malaysia, she wanted to be "the female version" of Jamie Oliver and wrote her first-ever recipe - a "very random" and "very bad" chilli-and-lavender milkshake.

Multiple best-selling cookbooks later, Lim is, of course, very skilled at pairing flavours.

One summer combo she's looking forward to is grilled fresh peaches, burrata and marinated tomato. This won't be on the menu for Christmas day at Royalburn, though, which always centres on a "Christmas bag" from My Food Bag - the meal-kit company she co-founded in 2013.

"It makes it so easy. Other people can help cook it - that's what I love about it. I just literally hand out recipes to different parts of the family, and they bring it on the day."

An auntie's cherry trifle made with a whole bottle of sherry is also a fixture on the Christmas menu, Lim says, and every year she makes a tiramisu for Boxing Day breakfast - "That is a must."

For everyday, more-balanced eating, Lim - who trained and worked as a clinical dietician before winning MasterChef NZ in 2011 - has three rules to share when people ask her what they should be eating.

1. Ignore the fad diets: "They're just distractions. They will come and go forever."

2. Eat real food: "By that, I mean food that comes from the ground, the sea and the sky, and less that comes out of the factories and less processed food."

3. Trust your gut instincts: "Like literally trust your gut, because you will know better than any food guru out there what kind of food and diet fits you best. We are all going to have different diets, and that's fine.

"Stick to those three rules, and you can't go wrong. Good sleep, lots of water, good food and exercise - if [exercise] was a pill, it would outdo any other pill out there."

"It's just the beat of it, right? It's intoxicating. It's one of those songs that reaches deep into you, and you can feel it just because of that beat."

"We were in Melbourne, and I'd just gotten into the top three on MasterChef NZ. I kind of had an inkling that I had a really good chance now.

"I was in my hotel room, playing this song on repeat, and jumping up and down on the bed in the hotel room in the early hours of the morning."

"Carlos is a big Neil Finn fan. I love his music as well, but he introduced me to the song. We've been together for over 20 years. We met when I was 19 and he was 20 in Dunedin. We were both studying there, and we met at the Captain Cook Tavern and fell in love instantly. We were together from that night on."

"I really, really love the rain. My favourite sounds in the world are fire crackling and the pitter-patter of rain."

"This song must have come out when I was at university, because I have very clear memories of… don't judge me, being in the bars at like 19, 20, and we'd be dancing to this song. This reminds me of the carefree days, no responsibility. Just at university, finding out who you are and meeting the love of my life and hanging out with friends and having a good time."