Dear Muse Community,

Welcome to the Food Alchemy Love issue of Creating the Muse. This edition is a sensory celebration of nourishment, not just of the body, but of the heart, the spirit, and the stories we carry within us. Food alchemy, to us, is less about recipes and more about relationship. It’s the quiet magic that happens when we slow down and listen, when a simmering pot becomes a kind of prayer, when shared meals restore more than hunger, and when the act of preparing food becomes a radical gesture of care. At the centre of this issue is our cover feature, Elena Duggan, whose story, is a testament to the healing, connective power of food. From her MasterChef win to the deep emotional and physical reckonings that followed, Elena’s journey reveals what it means to create not from performance, but from presence.

You’ll also meet women who are reclaiming nourishment as an act of sovereignty. Julie O’Rourke, of Mrs Frost’s Kitchen, invites us into her hinterland sanctuary where long lunches become memory rituals woven by hand and heart. Gemma Nicholas-Brennan shares her deeply personal philosophy of regeneration through skin, gut and soul, and the importance of reconnecting with the land. Jessica Holdsworth guides us into a world where food is felt before it’s cooked, through sensory connection, seasonal ritual, and her retreats that return people to their bodies and the Earth.

Our contributors bring their own potent medicine to the table. Alyona Iljuhhina unpacks the trio behind radiant health, hormones, gut and nervous system. with grounded, cyclical wisdom. Amy Campbell speaks to the journey from survival to sensation, reminding us that pleasure begins with presence. Dr Hayley D Quinn reflects on food as a lens of compassion, for ourselves, for the planet, and for our pasts. Penny Beaumont offers poetic medicine for those navigating recovery and reclamation. And Lisa Ray tends to cinnamon as muse and healer, reminding us how ritual can live in the smallest, most sacred of moments. Together, these voices remind us that nourishment is not neutral. It carries history, identity, longing and love. Food can be a reckoning. A remembering. A restoration.

As you move through these pages, I invite you to drop the rules, soften the noise, and return to the felt sense of your own hunger, not just for food, but for connection, clarity, and creative intimacy. Let this issue be a warm bowl in your hands, a reminder that care can be cooked, that stories can be stirred, and that love, when infused with intention, is the most transformative ingredient of all.

With deep gratitude and a full heart,

Indiana Holley