Author Biography

Chef and restaurateur Michael Van de Elzen is perhaps best known for presenting the high-rating television series The Food Truck, and is one of New Zealand's best-known chefs. After a period working as a chef in the United Kingdom, New Zealand-born Van de Elzen returned to New Zealand in the late 1990s, and in 2003 opened the award-winning restaurant Molten, in Auckland's Mount Eden, with his wife Belinda. Molten won both the Metro and the Cuisine Restaurant of the Year award. He subsequently sold the restaurant, and in addition to writing cookbooks and starring in The Food Truck, worked on several culinary projects. His Food Truck Garage restaurant opened in Auckland in May 2013 and was an instant success. His first book, The Molten Cookbook, won Gourmand's 2011 Best First Cookbook award, and was described by The Press's award-winning food writer Kate Fraser as 'a chef's cookbook'. Cuisine magazine said of The Molten Cookbook- 'Chefs often don't manage to make the transition of writing for the domestic cook, so it's pleasing to see a cookbook where the recipes have been tweaked to make them as accessible as possible without losing any of their heart.' The New Zealand Herald's Viva magazine called the first Food Truck Cookbook 'a must' which 'made us smile as much as it made our tastebuds tingle'. The Sunday Star-Times declared it 'a fun book, with quirky ideas and will provide inspiration in any Kiwi kitchen'. Mike lives in Auckland his wife Belinda and their two young daughters, Hazel and Ivy. For more about Mike see vandeelzen.com