Melissa Hemsley: Get real about nourishing food

Learn about ultra-processed food and focus on real food options with the help of Melissa Hemsley’s new cookbook

Melissa Hemsley says when we make good food decisions in the morning, we make better decisions all day long. Pic: Ollie Grove

“Food should be simple. It’s there to fuel and nourish us.”

Melissa Hemsley’s new book, Real Healthy, focuses on real food and cooking from scratch.

Since she started her career as a London-based private chef with her sister, Jasmine, 15 years ago, catering for Take That, among other, and blogging for Vogue, Hemsley’s recipes have always been about healthy food that doesn’t compromise on flavour. 

This is her sixth cookbook, the first two of which, The Art of Eating Well and Good and Simple, were co-written with her sister.

With Real Healthy, Hemsley wants to give alternatives to ultra-processed food (UPF). A term coined by Brazilian food scientist Prof Carlos Monteiro 15 years ago to describe food that he describes as “typically high-energy-dense products, high in sugar, unhealthy fats and salt, and low in dietary fibre, protein, vitamins and minerals,” ultra-processed food has been linked to the rise of obesity and many chronic health issues. Fizzy drinks, packaged snacks, fast food, ready meals and sugary cereals are all examples of this kind of food.

At last month’s International Congress on Obesity in São Paulo, Monteiro, concerned about the damaging effect these foods have on diets globally, called for UPF to be labelled with a health warning, similar to that carried by tobacco products.

In February, the British Medical Journal published the world’s largest review of UPF, involving almost 10m participants. The review stated that “direct associations were found between exposure to ultra-processed foods and 32 (71%) health parameters,” including “mortality, cancer, and mental, respiratory, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, and metabolic health outcomes”.

In the introduction to her book, Hemsley writes that she enjoys mint choc chip ice cream, biscuits and tortilla chips, all examples of UPFs, but she knows that many people would like to cut down on the amount of these foods they consume. According to research published in the international research journal Public Health Nutrition in 2018, almost half (45.9%) of the food in Irish shopping baskets falls into the ultra-processed category.

Real Healthy, by Melissa Hemsley

In Real Healthy, Hemsley offers a few simple tips to identify UPFs: They a) contain more than five ingredients, b) come pre-packaged and c) contain preservatives, emulsifiers and sweeteners.

But she is not a purist by any stretch. “I understand that ultra-processed foods are the only choice for a lot of busy people who may only have limited access to shops,” she says over the phone from her home in London.

While she acknowledges that she’s coming from a privileged position, having worked in food since her early 20s and “my Mum cooked from scratch every evening while working full-time”, she knows that people can have a difficult time trying to look beyond the convenient option.

“I understand that critics will say, ‘I don’t have time. I barely have time to shop or cook. I don’t have time to read labels.’”

She recommends taking it one step at a time: “Start with a food that you buy often, something that takes up a good chunk of your hard-earned cash and your basket each week, and just see if the products either side of it on the shelf or just above it have a shorter list of ingredients.”

Along with an accessible list of UPF-free favourite ingredients and simple tips to help people swap real food for UPF (for instance, read labels, plan meals, batch cook, and food prep) Hemsley has recipes to enable people to put this into action.

Zoning in on areas where we might be tempted to reach for something quick, convenient and ultra-processed, Hemsley gives real food options: chapters centre on grab-and-go breakfasts (cherry almond bakewell granola), lunchboxes, fast suppers, throw-it-into-the-oven traybakes, one-pot options (lazy lasagne) and batch cooking (red lentil and tomato super sauce), while sweet things and snacks are not forgotten (chocolate tahini date bites, stuffed dates).

Small changes can make a big difference and, if you’re keen to start cutting down your consumption of UPF, Hemsley recommends starting with breakfast. “When we make good decisions in the morning,” she says, “we make better decisions all day long. Breakfast is great because if you make a little switch to something like a homemade granola then that’s potentially seven chances a week that you have to add something more positive [to your diet] and decrease your consumption of foods that are being linked to poor health outcomes.”

While Hemsley also believes that governments have a role to play, subsidising healthy food and making it more difficult to advertise junk food across online platforms, with Healthy Food she hopes that she can raise awareness of what UPFs are and encourage individuals to focus on delicious, homecooked meals. 

“I hope that people that are worrying about processed food and what they can do about it, find the book helpful. But also, if you are someone that isn’t thinking much about food, and then you’ll go, ‘Oh, I didn’t know that was ultra-processed food. Maybe I won’t buy it next time. Or maybe I’ll look for an alternative and maybe I’ll check the label next time I’m in the shop and maybe I’ll find something better with less ingredients that I don’t really need or don’t understand.”

Grated halloumi toasts with hot honey

This recipe takes cheese on toast to the next level. As a long-term halloumi lover, it’s taken me far too long to get into grating my halloumi. It’s game changing.

Servings

2

Preparation Time

 2 mins

Cooking Time

 18 mins

Total Time

 20 mins

Course

 Main

Ingredients

• 400g cherry tomatoes

• 1 big handful of black olives, pitted

• 2 large slices of sourdough bread

• 3 tbsp olive oil

• 225g halloumi, coarsely grated

• 1 tsp dried oregano or thyme

• Good pinch of chilli flakes

• 1 tbsp runny honey

• 2 large handfuls of rocket

• Sea salt and black pepper

Method

1. Preheat the oven to fan 220°C/gas mark 9. Put the tomatoes, olives and bread on a large baking tray.

2. Drizzle the tomatoes with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Bake for 5–7 minutes to lightly toast the bread.

3. Pile the grated halloumi onto the toasts, sprinkle with the oregano or thyme, drizzle with the remaining olive oil and bake for a further 10–12 minutes until the halloumi is melted and golden. As soon as you take them out of the oven, sprinkle the toast with the chilli flakes and drizzle with the honey. Scatter over the rocket and serve straight away.

4. Extracted from Real Healthy by Melissa Hemsley (Ebury Press, €37.50, hardback). Photography by Lizzie Mayson.