MASTERCHEF STAR ALICE 'MY PRIVATE BATTLE WITH PAIN'

After years of agony, the fan favourite has achieved a childhood dream

- Sharon Stephenson

She’s a former MasterChef NZ star and successful pastry chef who’s worked at leading restaurants in Auckland and Queenstown. But a few years ago, Alice Taylor suffered from such severe endometriosis, she was barely able to eat the creations she cooked.

“If I had certain foods, I’d have a painful fl are-up, which could put me out of action for days,” says Alice.

Th e 24-year-old – whose fi rst cookbook, Alice In Cakeland, is on shelves Wednesday – began suff ering from endometriosis when she was 14. Th e debilitating disease is caused by tissue growing outside the uterus, which can result in severe pain, particularly in the pelvic area.

“I knew nothing about endometriosis and hadn’t even heard the word until I was 21 when a flatmate had it,” says Auckland-based Alice.

“It was an awful burning pain throughout my body that would start in my stomach, then move down to my fingers and toes. I was also very hormonal and emotional, and wasn’t able to eat certain foods because they made it worse. It was horrible, but so many doctors told me they didn’t know what I had.”

It wasn’t until her flatmate’s diagnosis in Alice’s last year of a history and politics degree at the University of Otago that a physician suggested she might have it too. Alice underwent surgery in 2021 and although there’s no cure for endometriosis, thankfully, her symptoms are so much better.