The Chronicle Q&A: Pip Brown talks cats, food and advice for the vegan-curious

Matt Ellingham (left) and John Wilson, founders of Whanganui bakery and pizzeria SourBros, with new owner and vegan chef Pip Brown.

Pip Brown is the founder of vegan non-profit Whare O Māra and new owner of SourBros on Drews Avenue.

Olivia Reid sat down with her to chat moving to Whanganui, veganism and cats.

Why did you decide to move to Whanganui?

I am of a certain age and a certain health, and I want to settle somewhere that embraces everything that I love.

There was nothing more I could do for my business in the Wairarapa as a private-based chef, so I started looking to move about eight months ago, particularly here.

I’ve had clients move here, I’ve had business associates move here, I’ve got an uncle I’ve connected with who lives here, and I’ve got friends in Marton. I also love it’s proximity to Wellington and it’s slightly closer to my mum.

I was ready for a change and SourBros was a perfect set-up.

What is your idea of the perfect Sunday?

I’m often working but my idea of actual time out is being on my own, quiet, curled up with a really good book and my cats. Or catching up with friends for brunch somewhere. Nothing too out-there because of my health. I read – that’s my time out.

What’s your go-to coffee order?

I drink soy mochaccinos – they’re barely coffee but I never really drank tea or coffee growing up. Then in my 20s I started drinking hot chocolates, then when I got into restaurants fulltime I slowly developed a taste for mochaccinos, and now it’s usually one a day.

What is your favourite dish?

It’s a funny thing when people ask chefs that because a lot of them will just come out with bangers and mash or fish and chips since it’s just the ultimate comfort food, but it’s got to be done well.

I’m a big pasta fan, so probably like a really good moist lasagne or a bowl of gnocchi.

Otherwise, I make a really great tofu and cauliflower korma which I make from scratch – we’re actually going to have it on the menu this winter. Those are all real comfort foods for me.

What is your ‘spirit animal’?

A cat – I’ve always been a big fan of the tuxedo, and then 12 years ago I adopted two little boys. One’s a ginger cat and one’s a tuxedo. Joey is awol; I took him to be my comfort animal when I had hip surgery and while I was recovering, he disappeared on the farm. But I know he’s out there somewhere. Louie also went awol for a year but he was found, and he’s my constant companion. So cats, definitely.

If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would it be?

Italy. I was going to go there for my 50th, but instead I opened a restaurant.

I just want to spend time in the villages, learning to cook in different ways from different nonnas.

I’d also love to go to Morrocco, just to hang out in the spice markets.

And probably Europe in general, but particularly going to England to reconnect with my birth family and go ‘round to do the gardens and castles.

That’s my main thing because I’m a bit of a history geek.

If you could have dinner with any three people, dead or alive, who would they be?

Maybe someone like Madame [Marie] Curie because she was just an incredible, ground-breaking person in a time when women just did not exist in science.

So that would be quite fascinating, except my French is appalling.

Probably someone like Billie Holiday, because I’m a real classic jazz fan.

I mean, everyone says Nelson Mandela, but simply because what he went through was extraordinary.

What’s your favourite book and book genre?

Pomegranate Soup by Marsha Mehran is probably one of my favourite books. It’s [set] during the time in Tehran in which all the academics were being killed. These lovely Middle-Eastern sisters manage to escape and end up in Ireland, and it’s about how they end up opening up a bakery and the cultural differences.

It’s written as if you can almost smell the flavours as they describe the food they cook and how they get the local villagers to fall in love with them and their food.

But genre-wise, I read a lot of psychological thrillers.

My favourite series is from J. D. Robb. It’s a futuristic thing set in New York in 2060 after global civil wars and drug wars – it’s really gritty. But J. D. Robb is actually Norah Roberts. It’s one of her pseudonyms.

Olivia Reid is a multimedia journalist based in Whanganui.