Blogger, author, celebrity chef and lifestyle guru to more than a million social media fans, Ella Woodward is the United Kingdom’s ever-beaming face of healthy eating.
The 25-year-old was born into the Sainsbury’s supermarket dynasty – her grandfather is Lord Sainsbury, her father is Labour politician Shaun Woodward. She is a former model who reportedly lived on a diet of crisps and sweets. But in 2011, while a student, she suffered from Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (Pots), a condition in which the heart rate rapidly increases when you stand up. She switched to a plant-based diet, which she credits with beating her symptoms.
The recipe blog Woodward started, Deliciously Ella, became so popular that a book followed, in 2015. It became Britain's fastest-selling debut cookbook.
In the past year, Woodward has published a fourth book, Deliciously Ella with Friends; opened two London delis titled MaE, after husband Matthew Mills, dog Austin and herself; launched a range of "energy ball" snacks plus an organic skincare range.
Woodward spoke to The National for an exclusive interview during her visit to Dubai Food Festival.
You’re often described as a “healthy eating guru”. How comfortable are you with that?
Super uncomfortable – being a guru is a dangerous game. I love that people make the food and take inspiration and ideas, but you need to take inspiration and ideas from everything and make it work for your life – not “I see that person on the internet, I’m going to emulate them, I’m going to be them”.
Is the vegetarian craze another fad or an evolution of opinion?
It’s a change of mindset towards vegetables in general – away from just thinking about a plain salad and crudites, to actually taking them and doing interesting things and using lots of spices and new ways to cook them. An evolution into something that you really want to have as part of your life.
How much of your plant-based diet is influenced by your condition today?
I eat the way I do because I really enjoy it, but also because it’s the only thing I’ve found that helps me manage the illness I had, and that plays a big part in it. If we’re travelling or out somewhere, I’ll have a bite of [something else], but by and large I’m not really interested.
You’re not a pure vegan?
I eat a little bit of fish and eggs, but otherwise I’m pretty much entirely vegetarian, but [that] doesn’t especially appeal.
There’s a certain dogma found in the clean-eating community.
That’s what the problem is – you’re either healthy or you’re not; on a diet or you’re not; you’re good or bad; clean or dirty – and I think that’s such a stupid way of looking at it. Ultimately you’ve got to find something sustainable, which probably means eating a little bit better when you can, which is actually plausible and possible for your lifestyle, but also doing what you enjoy.
Any plans to pass the healthy eating genes to another generation?
Not yet – we definitely have a habit of doing everything at lighting speed, but feel like we have quite a lot on at the moment, [so] we’d probably make quite irresponsible parents.
The food industry always looks for new trends. What’s the next kale?
That’s the other thing that’s tricky – as humans we love diets, we love a quick fix, we’re always looking for the next thing – kale, hip workouts, this, that, what’s the one thing I need to eat? And there never will be one thing. Like, turmeric is having this moment, turmeric is everywhere, it tastes really good – but it’s a really ancient spice that people in India have been loving and using for thousands of years.
rgarratt@thenational.ae
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
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