Tell us a little about yourself?
My fascination with natural health began long before I spent many years studying it. As a child, growing up in vibrant fields of the mountains of Czech Republic, which were abundant with herbs and wildflowers, folk remedies and nature, I discovered the power of plant medicine and its healing properties. It has never left me since.
Fast forward to today, I have spent many years teaching people how to regain and reignite their health through my naturopathy clinic where I practice with Bioresonace - body natural life synergetic. Currently located in leafy setting of beautiful Bronte Beach in Sydney, at Orchard St clinic, surrounded by many inspirational like-minded ladies.
We notice you're a native wild flower lover like us, taking inspiration from nature for your work and creative pursuits. Where do you like to spend most of your time in nature and is there anything/anywhere else you find inspiration?
Native wild flowers have been part of my resonance since I was little girl, playing in the fields of "Bohemian heaven" filled with a lot of earth memories and history of Czech Republic. Contradictory, as human nature is always wanting what we don't or didn't have, I felt in love with beauty of the ocean and it's calming effect and magic of empty landscape. Leaving my home in my late teens and doing everything on my own, the journey has been rather difficult. But this led me to understand people better and feel more into their emotions. Therefor people’s life stories, untouched nature and the wildness of the ocean is my current inspiration. Ocean forever - diving or surfing is the place I love to be. “For most of history, man has had to fight nature to survive; in this century he is beginning to realize that, in order to survive, he must protect it.”
Congratulations on your dreamy new art project 'The Secret Kitchen’. Why did you want to create this book and why it's not just an ordinary “Cook book”?
The Secret Kitchen Book is a passion art project designed to inspire us to shift from rule-based eating to intuitive eating, following the senses of sight, touch, smell and feel. Years of ancient wisdom, folk remedies and naturopathic insights are weaved into a collection of recipes, self -taken film photographs and poetry by my beautiful friend Lea, to share a memory of the fields of wildflowers where I grew up. I hope to inspire people to live the cycles of nature, create their own tale in the kitchen, tune into their intrinsic knowledge and live authentically.
My aim with this book is to allow you a golden moment, where you set aside all technology, which numbs our inner cycles, and instead give yourself the gift of authentic mindful natural health, through my recipes. I also hope reading “The Secret Kitchen Book” will bring back memories from your childhood: memories of smells, forgotten tastes and simple happiness.
The book is filled with my own collection of photographs of wildflowers, people or places I have been to or was inspired by on my travels around the globe, especially from Europe, Australia and New Zealand. All photos in this book are taken in order to awaken your true innate self and hopefully inspire you on a great and beautiful adventure…
I didn't want to go through commercial publishing and compromise for the book design, in line with my Naturopathic beliefs and values ~ it is the quality not the quantity. Therefore I self-published, supported local eco businesses and community alongside this project with the same values and created an eco coffee table book with 200 pages on recycled paper with over 50 nature inspired recipes; hand-stitched, with exposed spine. First print is currently sold out, but second print is already on its way and you can reorder the book for late January delivery.
Anywhere where the nature paints a beautiful picture......anywhere where the sunrise paints the sky with pink or the sunset with peaches, where there is a burst of gold on lavender meeting into saffron....
What are your favourite healthy picnic snacks to make at the moment?
I have been currently obsessed with making Fresh Turmeric and Mango chutney for picnics or any occasion where I share goodness of healthy food with friends.
It goes well with many styles of dishes: as a dip, alongside salads, as a chutney with fish.... with vegan or non-vegan cheese and flax crackers.....you name it...you can try to add it:)
Ingredients
200g sugar (I used organic coconut sugar as it has lower glycemic index)
50ml cider vinegar
100g fresh turmeric, peeled
About 600g raw mangoes (weight with stones, about 5-6 mangoes)
Zest and juice of 2 limes
30g ginger, finely grated
8 cardamom pods, husks discarded and seeds crushed
2 tsp. mustard seeds
2 tsp. nigella seeds
2 tsp. fenugreek seeds
2 tsp. fennel seeds
1/2 tsp. crushed rock salt
About 50ml ghee or olive oil (and about 2 tbsp. extra mustard seeds, if liked)
Full recipe instructions on my blog
Your Earth Cakes are stunning and making us so hungry. How long do they take you to create and what are a few benefits of eating a raw super food filled cake?
It depends what style of cake I make.....how many layers, if people like to have chocolate lace, baked or unbaked....It can be from 1 to 3 days. Earth Cake creation is my passion, so I don't really count the hours spent on it in full honesty. The reward is the final product and seeing people happy about the creation I made for them. And proving that you can make a "sweet alternative" which taste and looks as good or even better then commercially baked cakes and not compromising on ethical values.
The benefits are endless....they are always designed to specific and individual needs....such as no use of artificial or harmful sweeteners, use of the power of plants and it's healing benefits, use of nuts or coconut yoghurt instead of processed flour, support of local businesses and farmers, no harm to animals and so on...
Do you have a little folk remedy you’d like to share?
I enjoy making this Master tonic.
It is a tonic made especially for colder seasons to fight off cold & flu, but it can also make a wonderful tonic whole year around. Especially, where there is so many sicknesses flying around due to use of air-conditioning in Summer season.
Full Recipe instructions on my blog
Any ancient wisdom or insights you’d like to pass on to inspire us to live authentically?
If you like to be creative feel free to make your own MAGIC RUNES:
I used Chestnuts, but you can just pot around the beach or in nature and find beautiful rocks to keep your MAGIC RUNES forever. There are two types of MAGIC RUNE sets that you can create which will help and guide you in your life forever – Oracle or Healing.
Oracle runes provide guidance and answers in regard to the future.
Healing runes provide guidance and empowerment for the present.
The process for making sacred runes below refers to Healing Runes as these give guidance to one’s wellbeing, the next step in the healing process and encourage self-responsibility – all of which are vital for you to restore balance within life and being and encourage you to live authentically to everyone’s own needs.
Guidelines on my blog:
http://www.thesecretkitchen.net/new-blog-avenue/2016/9/14/all-about-runes-and-how-to-make-your-own
http://www.thesecretkitchen.net
Buy The Secret Kitchen book here, delivery will be end of January
Book in a consult with Jana Brunclikova at Orchard St Bronte NSW Australia. We also hear that she will be coming to Byron Bay once a month to consult, so stay tuned on her insta for more info on booking in.
