Former MasterChef winner Nadia Lim will tell you they don't taste great.
"They taste like unripe, green kiwifruit."
How does she know this?
"When I was a kid, I would eat anything and everything - even ants."
It was one of many stories the 26-year-old told food technology and food and nutrition pupils at Queen's High School yesterday during a cooking demonstration at the school.
The Whangaparaoa chef told the class she had always been passionate about food, and started to take cooking seriously when she was 12, after watching cooking shows by chef Jamie Oliver.
Since then, she has become a big believer in "food in the nude - food straight from the ground, the sea and the sky - not processed stuff in a container".
When she left school, she wanted to become a chef, but her parents insisted she gained a university degree first.
So she did a BSc in nutrition and a postgraduate diploma in dietetics at the University of Otago, purely because they were the most food-related.
The fact the Otago graduate was now a successful chef, who regularly appeared in the media and on television, was inspiring for many pupils.
Despite her celebrity, her main focus has always remained with teaching the fundamental advantages of eating well. She believes New Zealanders can have a positive impact on the nation's health if we teach children to cook.
Cooking was one of the most vital skills for health and happiness, and not involving children in the kitchen was a lost opportunity to teach important life skills.
Miss Lim's visit was a prelude to her presentation at the King's and Queen's Performing Arts Centre last night, to raise funds for Queen's High School and the Rotary Club of St Kilda Sunrise.
