A cup of tea with... MIKE VAN DE ELZEN

THE UNSTOPPABLE FOODIE LAUNCHED A COOKING SCHOOL JUST BEFORE THE PANDEMIC

- Karyn Henger

At the end of 2019, celebrity cook Michael Van de Elzen announced he’d had the worst year of his life. He’d been diagnosed with cancer, badly injured in a motocross bike accident, and both his best friend and stepfather-in-law had passed away. But the celebrity chef was determined to make the most of 2020. The Weekly catches up with him a year after he opened the Good From Scratch Cookery School on his farm in west Auckland.

Michael, congratulations on your cooking school. How was the first year, in light of the fact you opened it at a time that was challenging for so many people?

Opening a new business just before a pandemic certainly comes with a lot of stress and anxiety. We opened the school in January 2020, but like many businesses, we then closed in March until it was safe to reopen. It’s been hard to get into a rhythm with the different lockdowns, but now we feel we’ve really hit our stride – we’ve been fully booked for classes and functions the past couple of months! So we’ve gone into 2021 feeling really proud of the way we came out of last year, and we’re really optimistic and excited about the future of the school.