Health Speak with Rude Health Founder, Camilla Barnard

We have a chat with the breakfast queen herself (and self-confessed banana cake lover) Camilla Barnard, who co-founded Rude Health with her husband, Nick, about food, fun and fears of coming across as a complete nutter… We rather like her and think you will too!

What is the first thing you do in the morning?
I gently wake the kids up. At this point I’m only half awake myself

What do eat for breakfast?
Ask me next week and it will be different, but this morning I had Daily Oats Porridge with cold milk and ginger infused coconut palm sugar.

What is your work place like?
We moved recently and it still feels new and exciting and big enough for all nine of us. We’ve made ourselves at home and tomorrow we are painting a huge Rude Health mural on one wall.

What do you eat for lunch?
I love leftovers. Yesterday I polished off the remains of a sweet potato & chorizo stew, while today it’s ratatouille and sourdough bread.

Do you snack?
Yes, no matter how much I eat for breakfast at about 7am, by 11am it’s snack time. Sometimes this is a handful of pecans or brazils, but I do love banana cake.

What do you have for supper?
Venison casserole is wonderful at this time of year. In fact any casserole is my idea of the the ideal meal for about six months of the year.

What made you start Rude Health?
A love of food, a conviction that eating well gets us and keeps us in rude health and a reckless sense of adventure.

How does it feel owning your own business?
After six years it’s easy to take it for granted and I can’t imagine doing anything else. The real pleasure is when I’m out shopping and I see someone buying a pack of Rude Health food. I still want to go up to them and say ‘thank you’, but usually don’t for fear of coming across as a complete nutter.

What do you enjoy about Rude Health the most?
Impossible question. I love creating new foods for Rude Health, particularly the eating part of this process. I love working on the packs and I love our annual trip to the Abergavenny Food Festival where we host the Rude Health Rants (we invite people from the food industry: bloggers, chefs, food writers, food producers, restauranteurs etc. to have a rant about food!).

How do you keep fit?
If it isn’t built into the day it won’t happen, so I cycle to work. As part of the journey is along the river, it’s as calming as it is good exercise. I also do yoga, mainly at home.

What keeps you young?
Camping holidays, in the sun. Wet camping makes me very old and very grumpy, very quickly.

Which three famous people (dead or alive) would you invite to dinner?
I couldn’t care less about celebrities but am fascinated by people who spend their lives doing interesting things and making a difference so I would invite Isabelle Legeron natural wine pioneer and joy to be around, Tom Lehrer whose songs always, always make me laugh, and he was a mathematician too and my husband Nick, who is busy being a stunt pilot and writing books when he isn’t working with me at Rude Health.

What is your biggest luxury in life?
There are so many, the one I indulge in more than I should is Hanro underwear. A whole drawer full.

What three things can’t you live without?
My husband and my two children. If I’m counting the children together then I could squeeze in a really comfortable bed and a mug with a thin lip. I know that’s four.

What gets you up in the morning?
The alarm and this is probably the part of my day I would most like to change. A day that starts with waking naturally is always a good day.

And what do you go to bed thinking about?
If I’m still thinking about Rude Health I know I need to do a few minutes of calming yoga or meditation. If I’ve been watching The Killing then I go to bed completely wired.

What motto do you live by?
To get me going, “What you get out, depends on what you put in” and to pick me up “Dance like nobody’s watching…”