Growing up in a volatile home in England, then becoming homeless at 16, 2011 MasterChef NZ runner-up Jax Hamilton turned her life around, working in the music industry, starting a qualitative research agency, then finding love with a Kiwi and moving to Aotearoa. “That was in 2001 and I haven’t left,” says Jax, 55, whose “morning medicine” is two coffees, before switching to a local Kiwi-blend tea. The Weekly sat down with her to talk motherhood, lessons in love, healing from trauma and how New Zealand has helped her live her best life.
When did you start finding joy in cooking?
Very young! My mother and aunties would go to the markets, sit down, tell stories, laugh, cook and dance.
I’d sit underneath the table listening. And because my mother…