Icelandic couple Siggi and Gus Ragnarsson have been in Australia for over 20 years but say the self-sustaining lifestyle of their early years in Iceland continues to form their approach to food.

“When we were growing up in Iceland we would spend the winter at school in the capital Reykjavik and then from May to September on the family farm,” said Siggi.

“In those days Iceland was fairly isolated and did not import much food and we grew up making our own cheeses, pates, meats and cordials. Our lifestyle was very much self sufficient and we lived off the land with what we had.”

Siggi made cheese every day with her grandmother in the family cheese room and she continues to make and consume cheese and yoghurt daily with her husband and their sons.

“It is so easy to make your own cheese at home and so good for you,” said Siggi.

“I try to demystify the process and encourage people to make cheese with things readily available from the local shops. You don’t need fancy tools and equipment - just good quality ingredients and good hygiene practices.”

The dozen participants in the Walcha workshop on Saturday learnt how to create a range of soft cheeses from Ricotta in just 90 minutes to Camembert in six weeks.

Working as an Emergency Department nurse for over 30 years Siggi believes many of the allergies and attention deficit disorders she witnessed were due to additives and preservatives in foods or ‘numbers’ as she refers to them.

“If your food can last for six months or more because of the numbers it contains, what do you think those numbers can do to your body,” she said.

Siggi eventually left conventional medicine to study natural therapies and start her own clinic in Coffs Harbour. But, due to an accident in which she broke her back in four places, she had to give up her natural therapy practice.

Along the road to recovery she and Gus decided to start teaching something they felt passionate about and knew so well.