I'm the Maori Nigella! CHEF HER A'S 54KG SLIMD OWN

Aotearoa’s domestic goddess

- Aroha Awarau

Mum-of-two Hera Te Kurapa is a queen of the kitchen – and TV bosses are tipping she’ll soon be our very own “Maori Nigella Lawson”!

Hera, 36, is flattered to be compared to the famous English chef, but she says she has more of an appetite for two local culinary celebrities – MasterChef 2014 winners Kasey and Karena Bird.

“They opened up the doors for other Maori women to come out on top in this area,” explains the budding culinary host. “They pulled down barriers and made it easier for me to step into this realm.”

Like Kasey and Karena, Hera got her big break on a reality TV cooking contest, when she paired up with her mate Tash Whitewood on My Kitchen Rules in 2017. And just like the two sisters from Maketu, Hera is getting her own cooking show, called Easy Eats.

She says her time on MKR “crushed” her because of the restrictions placed on the contestants and she felt she couldn’t put her best foot forward as a chef. She got a second chance after pushing the producers of Easy Eats to give her a shot.

“They wanted to know what was so special about me. I told them to just put a camera in front of me and I’d show them,” she says, laughing. “I’m not like anybody else. What you see is what you get.”