ROOTED IN FAMILY. INSPIRED BY FOOD, CURIOSITY AND CONNECTION
OUR FOUNDER
A Fuller Table.
A Brighter World.
Food has always been at the centre of my world - family tables, restaurants, cooking, travelling and the people that I love gather around it.
Wholesome Bellies grew from that love, and from a curiosity about the way food can take us deeper into a place — into its culture, its stories and the lives of the people who call it home.
Meet our Founder
Hi, I'm Fiona.
Founder of Wholesome Bellies, lifelong food lover, enthusiastic traveller, mum of two teenagers and someone who finds it very difficult to sit still for too long.
I’m in my early fifties, married and living in Brisbane with our family. I was born in Australia to Italian parents who immigrated here in the late 1960s, so while Australia was home, my childhood world was very Italian.
Italian was my first language. Italian food was the food I knew. And our lives were filled with grandparents, aunties, uncles, cousins and plenty of very loud family gatherings.
Food was everywhere.
Italian at heart
My mum was a chef and my parents owned Italian restaurants for decades, so restaurant life was simply part of growing up.
I learnt very early that food was about far more than eating.
It was how we welcomed people. How we celebrated. How we showed love. How we gathered.
I think so much of what I do today comes from those early years — the generosity of putting food on a table and watching people come together around it.
These days, my own family table has even more layers. My husband’s family is of Indian heritage, so our home is this wonderful collision of Italian and Indian culture, food and family traditions.
Sitting down at the table, as a family, still remains the most important family ritual and one we rarely miss.
There is certainly never a shortage of flavour.
Before Wholesome Bellies
My path to Wholesome Bellies hasn’t followed a straight line. I’ve never been particularly good at following the predictable path.
In the 2000s I studied marketing and public relations — and began my career in the corporate world. After five years, I realised I wanted to build something of my own.
Together with my husband, I built our first company — a clothing business evolved into the uniform business we still run today.
Those years taught me so much about building a business, working with people, taking risks and trusting myself to keep going.
Then, in 2019, I felt the pull to change direction again.
I wanted something more personal. More intentional. Something that brought together the things that filled me up.
Food. People. Connection. Travel.
Who I am when I travel
Probably exactly the same person I am at home.
I’m adventurous, curious and always wondering what’s around the next corner.
I love finding the little restaurant we weren’t expecting, wandering through a market, talking to local people and tasting something I’ve never tried before.
I get bored easily, so I’m naturally drawn to experiences, movement and discovering new places. But I’m also a nurturer at heart.
I’m the person quietly checking that everyone is comfortable, has eaten, knows what we’re doing tomorrow and has everything they need.
I care about the people who travel with us in much the same way I care about friends coming into my home. I want you to feel welcomed, included and looked after — without ever feeling fussed over.
And I want us to have fun. Lots of it.
Give me the ocean
As much as I love movement, noise and adventure, I also crave stillness.
I’m not particularly good at creating it for myself — but I know when I need it. And for me, that place is almost always the sea.
There is something about being beside the ocean that makes me breathe differently. Everything slows down. My head becomes quieter and I feel grounded again.
Perhaps that’s why I’m drawn to travel that has a balance to it.
- I want the market and the busy streets.
- The cooking and conversation
- The adventure and the laughter
For me, the best journeys have room for both.
What matters most
At this stage of my life, I’m much more interested in experiences than things.
I want to see more.
Taste more.
Understand more.
And spend time with interesting people while doing it.
I believe there is something incredibly powerful about travelling together. When we’re removed from our everyday routines, people open up. Conversations happen more easily. Friendships form quickly. We laugh more. We notice things.
That is the part of Wholesome Bellies I love most.
Yes, I want to take you somewhere extraordinary. Yes, I want you to eat wonderful food.
And yes, I will absolutely make sure you’re being looked after along the way.
But what I really hope is that you come home with something more — new friendships, wonderful stories, a little more confidence, a broader view of the world and that feeling that comes from having truly experienced somewhere.
