Independent businesses in Coventry and Warwickshire are at the heart of a new book celebrating food, resilience and their community.

‘Bia’s Kitchen Show: The Cookbook - A Culinary Journey of Gratitude’ is the first in a collection being launched by Brazilian-born entrepreneur and foodie Bianca Rodrigues-Perry next month. It comes ahead of the first anniversary of the successful Bia’s Kitchen Show, hosted by Bianca, and celebrates the region that, for the last 15 years, she has called home.

The book showcases some of the area’s brilliant local chefs, nutritionists, and food and drink artisans who share some of their own recipes and top cooking tips, alongside Bianca’s.

But the project is also rooted in her own journey of overcoming personal mental health challenges through a passion for cooking. It’s in this spirit that the self-taught chef-come-author has also pledged to donate the book’s profits to Mind Warwickshire, a cause very close to her heart.

Bia’s journey of reinvention began when she left behind her family and a high-flying marketing career in 2009, emigrating from her native Rio de Janeiro as the newly married Mrs David Perry - her future now devoted to a new role as mum of three.

It was also to signal the start of a turbulent period in her life, spending much of her pregnancy in hospital with crippling sickness, and battling with post-natal depression and a series of health scares involving her children.

Then, in 2020, the family were rocked when Bianca’s brother-in-law took his own life.

It’s Bia’s combined passions of cooking and entrepreneurialism that became a lifeline – even going on to win Couple’s Come Dine With Me on Channel Four. Buoyed by her early business success running a thriving food delivery service during lockdown, it was in January this year that she stepped out of the shadows of her busy Cubbington kitchen once more, and into the limelight. The Bia’s Kitchen brand was born.

“It was all a big shock for me when I first moved here,” she recalls. “I lost my identity and had no idea what I was going to do next. I just knew that everything comes back to food for me. I thrive off feeling other people’s energy and passion for food. After all, cooking is the universal language of love.”

Since then Bianca and her show, which is streamed twice monthly on YouTube, have won the affections of a loyal and growing UK audience, even winning the entrepreneur a national award, recognising the enterprise and compassion she has shown in her work with local businesses.

She added: “As well as sharing great recipes from fantastic local chefs, the idea behind the book is to hopefully inspire with the message that you can have a bad day or a bad period in your life and come back with a determination to succeed all over again. Hence the title ‘A Culinary Journey of Gratitude.’ Through food and through supporting other people, we can all do better."

“Food has played a huge part in my own journey of recovery from a very dark place. I use it as a therapy, you can use anything as a therapy. There is not ever only one way to get out of depression. Everyone has their own thing which works for them."

“For me it’s about helping other people and finding something that you love along the way. This is what I am all about and what the book is all about. If sharing my personal story goes some way towards helping and inspiring other people who are struggling, I find that incredibly rewarding. Empowering others is what also empowers me."

“Plus, it was important to me to try and give a bit back along the way by donating all of the profits to charity that means a lot to my family and I.”

Coventry and Warwickshire Mind has been delivering mental health services and promoting positive wellbeing for more than 50 years through a variety of methods, including phone lines, one to one support, activities, peer mentoring, trauma therapy, counselling, drop-in hubs and workshops and purpose-built mental health recovery unit.

Ian Smart, Head of Business Development at Mind, said:

“Coventry and Warwickshire Mind is incredibly grateful to be receiving donations from a project that beautifully combines the love of food with the importance of mental health."

“Bias's personal journey, shared through the pages of this cookbook, will not only inspire readers, but also help fund crucial services for those facing mental health challenges in our community. It’s a wonderful reminder that healing can take many forms, and we’re honoured to be part of this meaningful initiative.”

Bia added: “This is a fantastic cookbook full of gratitude, community, and flavour, and discovering how cooking can heal and bring people together."

“I have loved where this journey is taking me so far and have met so many talented entrepreneurs who have also inspired me in their own stories of resilience. It’s been a pleasure to share in their passion and I’m proud to feature them in this first book which, fittingly, begins my culinary’ journey of gratitude’ in the adopted community I now call home.”