Ayurvedic Nutrition and Cooking with Health Advisor & Chef Emily Carton
27/09/2025
Still over here slowly putting together the recipes for my Rasa Cookbook. . .
Whilst I’ve been enjoying a season away from the retreat kitchen, it’s felt beautiful to have the space to dedicate to what feels like my biggest project to date.
Since I started Ahara Rasa and catering on retreats, a cookbook has been my most requested offering.
And it also happens to be one of my longest held dreams. . .
Except I feel it’s a project that could somehow never end because inspiration only continues to flow.
I’ve finally put together over 40 of my favourite recipes.
Brining together years of Ayurvedic study, my time catering on yoga retreats and mostly from the quiet moments in my own kitchen.
It’s all coming together and I’m now in the final stages of editing and photography.
Hopefully to land at the end of the year - slowly, slowly.
Pictured here are some of my favourite recipes that will feature in the book. . .
Besan & Zucchini Fritters
Roasted Roots & Pomegranate Salad
Classic breakfast dosas
Sesame Ladoos
Pumpkin Red Lentil Soup with Spelt Chapati
Chai Spice Millet Loaf
Ayurvedic Sushi Wraps
Pitta Cooling Smoothie
Mung Bean Bread
Quinoa & White Bean Patties
Persian Love Cake
And If I’ve cooked or shared a recipe you’ve loved over the years, please let me know 💗
22/09/2025
After a restful winter, I’m looking forward to slowly returning back to the retreat kitchen this Spring.
Whilst my work in this space will be shifting in this next season, retreat catering will always remain one of my most heart-led offerings.
It’s one thing to share my passion for Ayurvedic cooking online - but, it’s another to give people a direct experience of it on retreat (with a warm bowl in their hands).
Every season, we intentionally create a menu that supports your guests to stay balanced through the season with Ayurvedic principles.
Spring is a time where kapha dosha is most predominant and we want to feel invigorated with fresh, vibrant and energising meals.
Think leafy greens and fresh herbs, succulent fruits, cleansing legumes and pungent spices.
All prepared in a way that supports your digestion and greater health.
We offer not just delicious food but, an experience of Ayurvedic nutrition and cooking to inspire your guests to live a life of radiant health in harmony with nature.
We only have a limited number of spaces left for Spring and Summer 2025, with bookings already being secured for early 2026 in Byron Bay or the Sunshine Coast.
22/09/2025
13/09/2025
13/09/2025
We are slowly arriving at the first days of Spring here in the Southern Hemisphere.
And just as nature does - I am gently starting to emerge from winter’s hibernation.
This past season I decided to take some time away from Ahara Rasa.
After almost two years of constant growth and striving, I was on the edge of burn out.
And whilst I navigated some big, beautiful changes in my personal life, I knew Nature was guiding me towards rest.
So i decided to go with the rhythm of the season and just for the winter, let myself retreat.
I let go of all commitments, signed off my emails and socials and stepped away from the retreat kitchen.
And instead try as hard as I could to let go of the mind’s constant need to achieve and simply - stop.
So lately I’ve been finding peace in slowly settling into my new home with my loving partner, working a stable job (just for a change) and quietly returning to all the things I so love again.
So that of course - ultimately inspiration can return again.
In this new season of life, I’m being reminded that it can’t be - all creation, all shakti all the time.
And that the growth comes from the stillness and the steadiness too.
Just as Nature is always teaching us.
11/08/2025
It’s been just a few months since I said goodbye to my beautiful rainforest home in the Northern Rivers. After almost five years, it was finally time to let go.
This home that held me so tenderly over the years. . .
It was where I healed from heartbreak,
Where my practice evolved
And where so much of the creative inspiration for Ahara Rasa was found.
This life that had formed so much of my identity in recent years.
Here, I was living in a way that I had always dreamed. Where I was completely immersed in nature, living in quiet solitude and working on my passions.
Except no matter how idyllic it may have been, it didn’t come without its challenges. And for some time, I held the quiet intuition that it was time for something new.
Yet every time, I would take a step to go – I would pull myself back, convinced that this is where I had to be.
It’s where my business was growing,
I was in like minded community,
And I was living in the most beautiful place that I ever had.
I’d miss nature, the creek and the quiet too much.
But I knew that no matter how much it had been a dream to live here, I could feel that the dream had been lived out.
And when I got honest with myself, I was no longer evolving.
I had all the beauty and the comfort but, I felt stuck in tamas.
Suddenly, nature started communicating with me that now was the time.
The ground was no longer fertile for growth.
Then slowly a new dream started to form — one that was more simple, more grounded and true.
And now I’m here — in this new life where everything has changed, nothing feels familiar.
But, that’s what makes it feel entirely right.
19/05/2025
Every Autumn I’m humbly reminded of the changing nature of vata dosha.
As we let go of the activity of summer and start to retreat into winter’s depths, there is always an inherent sense of instability and change.
Where Spring invites new beginnings, I find Autumn is often a time of peaceful endings. . .
It’s been a big month behind the scenes at Ahara Rasa. I’m in a pivotal moment of change as my life and business is moving to a new home.
I’ve been quietly tying up loose ends, finishing projects and getting ready for a new wave of growth.
Come Winter Solstice, I will be sharing a re-imagined Ahara Rasa. . .
I’ll be relaunching all of my current offerings as well, as sharing my first ever (and long awaited!) recipe book.
I can’t wait to share this next season of growth with you. . .
With Love,
Emily x
05/04/2025
Dosas have easily become a staple in my kitchen and you can find me enjoying these most mornings for breakfast.
Traditionally a South Indian dish that’s similar to a crepe or pancake, made with fermented rice and legumes.
These work well on the days where you need something a little more grounding, that’s still light on digestion.
They’re also wonderfully supportive for vata dosha as we settle into Autumn.
Don’t let the idea of fermentation scare you. . .
Once you’ve mastered the process, this recipe will become an easy, weekly rotation in your kitchen. And take only minutes to prepare.
Want the full recipe? Comment DOSA and I’ll send it through.
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Growing up on the Northern Beaches of Sydney I always had a love for nature, the ocean and healthy living. I practiced yoga on and off since I was a teenager, was a vegetarian from a young age and was always happiest in nature. I often joked that if all else failed I would “become a yoga teacher” or something like that! (But of course, nothing failed – it just all fell into place)
Although, like many young women the true importance for wellness was not grasped until I was ready to receive it. It wasn’t until I was faced with family tragedy that my real journey towards healing began.
For many of us, the true road to healing first begins with pain. We only begin to repair once something is broken – whether that be physically, mentally or spiritually.
I spent years soul searching at university and travelling overseas attempting to navigate my grief, depression and anxiety. On a volunteering trip to Nepal, I was invited by a friend to take a yoga class. And when I arrived home weeks later, whilst many aspects of my life still felt the same – something had sparked within me. So I began practicing, and eventually I was taking yoga classes everyday and like so many of us fell in love with the “feeling” it gave me.
I was able to get into my body, out of my mind and soon the movement became my medicine. I started feeling lighter, inspired and like I had a new found purpose. My grief and depression began to dissipate.
It was the antidote I had been searching for.
So four months later, I quit my university degree and enrolled in a teaching training. Because I now had an even newer and bigger passion – I had to share this medicine that changed my life.
I began studying and teaching Yoga in 2016 and it felt like I was finally stepping into my light. And once you begin down the path, you find there is so much more to explore.
Through the past four years of dedicated yoga practice and study in Australia and India, I soon found Ayurveda – Yoga’s sister science and the world’s oldest natural healing system. Ayurveda looks at healing holistically encompassing the body, mind and spirit in harmony with nature’s elements. It has now become an equal passion and another aspect of my healing journey to share. (You can read more about Ayurveda here).
With these practices being so steeped within the elements, my love of nature was heightened. I have always believed that nature encompasses all of our healing, and it is the ultimate tool. Amongst my studies and teachings of Yoga and Ayurveda, I began to share more of my Eco-Living philosophy and Practices.
My wellness journey began with these practices and together they were able to help me find healing. They guided me back to my true nature, as if I was never learning something new but just remembering who I have always been.
The guided me towards being the woman I was always meant to become.
And they continue to keep me grounded and on course, every day.
For me – Healing is simply about finding yourself again.
