Joe Wicks started his multi-million pound Lean in 15 business by peddling his expertise from the back of a wheelbarrow in Richmond (innovative kit transportation when you’re low on funds), and Pinch of Nom founders’ Kate Allinson and Kay Featherstone’s business beginnings were equally humble. They started their “diet blog for people who don’t like diets, created by cooks who love their food” over a cup of tea at a kitchen table at home near Liverpool and the site has gone on the be the UK’s most visited food blog, with an Instagram following of nigh on 450k and a closed Pinch of Nom Facebook group that’s so far amassed more than 830,000 members.
The pre-sale figures for their first book were Wicks' level too: Pinch of Nom: 100 Slimming Home-Style Recipes soared to the top of the Amazon charts six months before release generating a surge of interest that’s not been seen since the first Lean in 15 edition hit the shelves. When it was finally released in March 2019, it broke publishing records, clocking up the highest non-fiction single week of sales ever.
In response to demand from the PoN community, the founders have come up with a Pinch of Nom Food Planner, £4.99 a fill-in weekly motivational diary covering six months and featuring 26 new hearty but low-calorie recipes from 'Pigs in Potatoes' (as opposed to blankets), to Pavlova and Tomato and Chilli Risotto. There's space to write down your meals, snacks, treat and all-important water intake plus obligatory motivational quotes.
Yet to discover the PoN phenomenon? (Where have you been?). Here's your cheat sheet.
It was started by two chefs
Unlike many a healthy food cookbook or blog, Pinch of Nom (PoN from now on) is headed up by pro foodies, so taste comes first, and their former life of long shifts in hectic kitchens means that they’re fully aware of the temptation to dial in a takeaway when you’re knackered, because they’ve been there. Kate and Kay came up with PoN when their high-pressured jobs lead to weight gain and an unhealthy lifestyle, as a way to enjoy food and prepare quick meals while also gradually losing the weight they needed to. They’d tried weight loss groups and their unimaginative recipe repertoire or low-cal ready meal recommendations and weren’t about that life, so instead started testing their homemade creations on fellow members of their slimming group. It’s fair to say that the likes of cheesecake stuffed strawberries went down a treat, and so PoN became a website and healthy, tasty recipe directory to replace dull diet food while still allowing fans to lead a balanced lifestyle and achieve their weight loss aims. Basically, the definition of ‘the best of both worlds’.
It’s comfort food but not as you know it
Kate and Kay promise that all PoN recipes will fill you up and satisfy both your hunger and tastebuds while being also lighter in calories than your average plate of comfort grub. There’s chicken balti and Mexican chilli to be had, along with numerous other ‘fakeaway’ ideas that remove Deliveroo temptation from your evening equation and switch out high sugar and saturated fat content for altogether healthier and more nutritious recipes.