Hi, I'm Amber. I live in Hamilton, New Zealand, a beautiful town that wraps itself around a winding river and where many people enjoy a relatively low key lifestyle and a vege garden in their backyard.
The food I cook is the result of one complex household of eating 'rules'. If pushed for a label I'd consider myself vegetarian, plant-based or 'mostly vegan'. I've been vegetarian for 30 years, but not always vegan. I had a long dairy-free stint while breast feeding my youngest child and found the transition to a largely vegan diet far easier and more enjoyable than I expected. Since then our family has made some permanent changes to the way we eat. I'll continue eating this way because it makes me feel good, and I believe it's what the world needs more of.
My husband is a lapsed vegetarian, who now occasionally eats meat, but not fish, and only on his terms (cue the outrageously priced, local, free range turkey at Christmas time). My 15 and 9 year old daughters have been raised lacto-ovo vegetarian. They're both thriving, happy and the older of the two is very conversant and comfortable talking about why we don't eat meat (the animals, the environment, and our health). So far the little one is following in those same footsteps.
I think this kind of mixed diet situation is probably common for a lot of households. So rather than focusing on all the things that one or some of us don't eat, I'd rather focus on what we do eat - which is of course a mountain of healthy plant-based meals which please all of us. Call our diet mostly vegan, which it is, or just call it a lot of quite good food, which it also is.
I started this website to share recipes for healthy, interesting, delicious plant-based meals. I hope it inspires you, I really hope you cook some of these great recipes, and that you think a little about what you and your family are eating.
On meat. You won't find any here. Every meatless meal is a good one, even if you only manage it on Meatless Monday. That'd be a great start! Eating less meat makes an enormous difference to our own health as well as the health of our land, oceans and environment. And let's not forget to the lives of the animals we're not eating. The more good choices we can make, more often, the better for everyone.
Virtually all of my recipes here are vegan, but there are a few vegetarian recipes with cheese or free range eggs from the early days of this website.
Because of my desire to eat a varied and healthy diet, I tend naturally to make a lot of gluten free food, though none of my family is intolerant. Again, while not typical, you'll see the occasional full-on gluten fest here.
When I asked the big girl child how she'd describe the food I cook, she said "Well it's quite good, Mum". I like that, and decided to name the website after her comment. A healthy diet is, after all, about balance and eating lots of quite good food.
A few notes upfront
I'm not a nutritionist or trained expert, I'm just a bit obsessed with food. If I make health claims in a recipe, they're based on the general knowledge I've acquired over the years and my calculation of their nutritional profile. If you need expert advice for your individual dietary or health needs, please contact a trained professional.
If I incorrectly label a recipe gluten free, I sincerely apologise. If you're coeliac and you see this happen, please let me know. I do my best to ensure recipes are correctly tagged and safe for people with food intolerances or allergies to cook. But again, I'm not an expert.
All views are my own. Sometimes I'll suggest particular brands (or rave about my blender), based purely on my own opinion, experience and preference. If anyone ever pays me to promote a product, I'll tell you, and I'll only promote products I genuinely love.
Photos and recipes
All photography, recipes and editorial content on this website are my own. If you like what you see, and you'd like to discuss photography, food writing or other freelance opportunities with me, please get in touch.
If you want to share one of my photos, please credit Quite Good Food and link back to this website. If you want to use one of my photos for some other purpose, please get in touch.
If you want to share or reproduce one of my recipes or other material, please get in touch with me to discuss what you have in mind. You may not republish my recipes without my permission.
Any questions? Please get in touch.