When Margo and Rosa, also known as Two Raw Sisters asked us to dress them for their new book, it was a no brainer. Two Raw Sisters is a plant-forward company that puts good ingredients first, sharing effortless recipes that nourish. Having followed their journey, we knew the love they had for the clothes we make, and knew collaborating would be special.
Their new book, More Salad, highlights beautiful and useful recipes that are easy to shop for, simple to make, and celebrate the best of the seasons. Of course, they’re also delicious.
Learn more about Margo and Rosa and the work they do through this conversation.
Congratulations on the release of More Salad. Why was it time for another cookbook?
We LOVE writing cookbooks. We both need a big creative project on the go and it had been a year since we wrote our 4th book so it was time to start another! Developing and writing a cookbook plays so well to both of our creative strengths. Rosa comes up with the concept and recipe ideas and I (Margo) come up with the photography, design, look and feel of the book.
How do you concept new recipes? It must be such an exciting process!
Rosa is the queen of coming up with new recipe ideas. She constantly amazes me with the amount of different recipes she can create with the humble pumpkin.
Pinterest is a big one for us. We’re both visual learners and we’re always so inspired by looking at colours, textures and the way something makes us feel. We only create recipes that we love and will constantly make ourselves, so inspiration fluctuates with how we’re both feeling and what we’re loving. At the moment we love feta so expect to see lots of yummy salads with feta in More Salad!
Can you both describe your style in three words?
Margo: Minimal, Timeless, Comfortable
Rosa:Comfortable, Practical, Minimal
SNAP! You can see why we love Kowtow!
How did you first discover Kowtow?
Margo: I vividly remember discovering Kowtow while shopping for my birthday at Infinite Definite in Christchurch when I turned 15. I bought a navy blue cardigan that day, and even 10 years later, it's still a staple in my wardrobe.
Rosa: I first discovered Kowtow when I was in Wellington visiting and came across the store. Since purchasing my very first Kowtow clothing item I fell in love with the clothing brand and now my entire wardrobe consists of majority Kowtow items - both old and new season pieces.
What you eat and how you dress are both such personal things, what inspires the way you dress?
Our food and fashion philosophy are very similar. We don’t follow trends and quality over quantity is really important to us.
We get inspired by creating a sustainable wardrobe that we love and we know will last forever. Our small amount of clothes have to suit many purposes. Comfortable enough to lounge at home, durable enough to cook in everyday and smart enough to go to business meetings in. Kowtow ticks all of these boxes, the pieces take you anywhere and everywhere.
What are some of your top tips in the kitchen for staying thoughtful and nourished in your cooking?
Be more plant-forward
We don’t follow any diets, in fact we hate diets. Our philosophy of being more plant-forward is all about inspiring you to think plants first. When you think about 'what’s for dinner', most of us tend to think about the chicken that's in the freezer or the steak that needs eating, resulting in the veggies being the last minute boring side. We want to flip this thought process, inspiring you to go to the veggie draw first. Making a delicious plant-forward recipe filled with colours, textures and flavours, adding the meat on the side.
Be intelligently lazy
Everyone is time poor, and unfortunately food tends to be the first thing that goes on the list of priorities. Being intelligently lazy is all about cooking once and eating multiple times. We purposefully make sure most of our recipes last at least 3 days in the fridge or 2 months in the freezer. It is a game changer for absolutely everyone because who’s got time to be in the kitchen 3 times a day, 7 days a week. Definitely not us!
Swap ingredients with what’s in season
Rather than choosing what you’re going to make for the week ahead, writing a big long shopping list and buying expensive produce out of season. We recommend you go to the produce store first, buy what is cheap, and then go home and choose what recipes you’re going to make. Swap ingredients with the seasonal NZ produce you’ve just bought.
This results in cheap meals, time-efficient meal planning, and consumption of delicious seasonal produce grown in NZ.
