With five cook books published in five years, there can be no doubt Chelsea Winter is a popular celebrity chef.
Since winning the third season of MasterChef New Zealand in June 2012, she has won the hearts of thousands of fans, many of them following her on social media, sharing their attempts at her recipes on her page.
I call it a community, my Facebook fans, because it is. They are really lovely, supportive of each other, helping each other out. They buy books for each other, they share tips and ideas and they build each other up. There isnt negativity or bad stuff on there.
Chelsea says of the more than 350,000 followers she has on Facebook, most are Kiwi women.
Chelsea was in New Plymouth on Monday this week, as part of a two-week tour of the country promoting her latest book Eat.
Every recipe featured in the book I have made, tested, remade, tweaked and then finally photographed and presented in my own kitchen.
There is no trick photography, no elaborate unattainable presentation, what you see is exactly what I made using the ingredients listed.
Honest, real food is what Chelsea is all about.
It is good ingredients with a little bit of magic to make each dish special.
She doesnt follow food or diet trends, preferring to live by the motto that everything in moderation is good.
Other than vegetables - you should eat as many of those as you can.
While she has a strong social media following, Chelsea says she doesnt follow many people on Instagram.
Im not into the stylised presentation.
The photos I like best are ones from my fans where they have made one of my recipes and they are proud of it.
They are pleased they have made something which everyone at their table liked. Those are the pictures that mean the most.
Chelseas relationship with her many fans is exactly that - a relationship.
She interacts and responds to them in a friendly way, getting even more positive feedback from them.
I listen and love hearing their stories.
They tell me they have cooked something from one of my books they are really proud of, or they tell me I have taken away their fear of the kitchen, I have inspired them to stop using jars and bottled sauces and to use more herbs and spices and that in turn inspires me. It is that feedback and those comments which are humbling but also then make me want to go to the kitchen and come up with new recipes and to start the next cookbook for them.
With such a large and ardent fan base, it was no surprise the book launch in New Plymouth on Monday had a sell-out crowd.
There are 450 people here, which is the biggest crowd we have had so far, she told the audience before happily signing hundreds of copies of her book, posing for selfies with fans and listening to their stories and answering their questions.
The team from Paper Plus Stratford and New Plymouth, which organised the event, were kept busy selling copies of all of Chelseas books, with the latest one being the biggest seller on the night.