'To Cook Is To Love' Annabelle's Recipe For Life

New Zealand’s ‘Cuddly Cook’ Savours the Sweet Life

- Kelly Bertrand

Talk less, smile more.” So goes a line from the hit musical Hamilton and it’s also a mantra Annabelle White is trying her best to adopt.

It’s not going very well. In the hour the Weekly has been chatting with the beloved “cuddly cook”, we’ve yarned about everything and anything, including holograms (she’s been made into one), Carly Simon (and her night of passion with Warren Beatty), op shops (the best place to buy Easter gifts) and McDonald’s fish burgers. (“They’re so underrated!”)

A conversation with Annabelle roars along; it takes delightful twists and turns along unusual tangents before finally ending up back where you started.

“To cook is to love, and to love is to cook,” she says as she pulls on an apron to pose for our photos at Auckland’s Chelsea Bay, the visitor centre and café at the iconic sugar factory, home to the hologram version of Annabelle, which people can activate with the push of a button.

“A mother of a little four-year-old boy came up to me the other day and told me how much he loves coming here – he loves pushing the button and seeing flour go all over me! He finds it hysterical. I’m thrilled! If dousing me with flour encourages a smile and a laugh and encourages kids to bake, I’m the happiest girl ever. I don’t mind. The only thing I insisted on for that was no nudity.”

Her enthusiasm is infectious and her positivity endless. Take her recent experience in Christchurch, where she shared her signature brand of comedy and cooking at The Food Show.