Cormac’s two major passions are food and music. Growing up in Roscommon, the cultural melting pot of Ireland’s picturesque midlands region, there wasn’t much in the way of either, which is probably why he moved to Copenhagen.

After a couple of years working as a vegan chef and touring, writing and recording with various bands, he returned to Ireland, completing a BA degree in English and an MA in Modern English at University College Dublin.

He went on to work as a freelance writer in the fields of music, literature, travel and film; after spending time teaching in Mexico City and working with indigenous groups in Chiapas and Oaxaca, he moved to London. Spending a year and a half in the modern Babylon working as a teacher and a cook, he then relocated to Melbourne in early 2011. Finding the city to essentially be the ideal cosmopolitan experience, he was also lucky enough to find work with Loving Earth. What’s so great about Melbourne? The food and the music! He now divides his time between working, touring, cooking and writing…and of course, eating!

Tell us a little bit about your role at Loving Earth and what its like to work at a company that has grown so rapidly while staying true to core values such as sustainability:

My role here is Digital Marketing & Communications Manager. It’s a pretty interesting job as it basically involves using any suitable means at our disposal to tell the story of Loving Earth…and it’s a pretty good story! It’s fantastic to work at such a fast growing company as it means that the work is diverse and every week there are new challenges; when I first started here the company was about a quarter of the size and I was the only person doing this. Basically it involved grabbing a few minutes out of the production schedule here and there to write copy for the packaging and website, do social media updates and send out the monthly newsletter. As the company grew it became a full time role, and soon it was necessary to hire staff and build a team. Recently we’ve been spending more and more time on developing our core values, as the growth the company has seen means that this aspect of the business is more important than ever.

Give us a sneak peek of a typical day in life of Cormac at Loving Earth? Do you get to eat the yummy chocolate?!

I certainly do – lots of it! In fact I started counting the squares at one point last year and realised I was eating well over a whole 100g bar every day, so I had to cut down a bit! Every day is different and it depends on what stage of the month we’re at. Some days are mostly comprised of meetings and planning, whereas others involve catching up on the endless pile of emails. At certain times it will involve a lot of conceptual design for website updates and campaigns, or taste testing – the hardest part of the job! Towards the end of the month we’re generally hustling to get all the content for the newsletter up to scratch. Generally it’s a mix of writing, planning and collaborating with the rest of the team here.

Is there anything you do differently now in your life having spent some time at Loving Earth and being immersed in fairly traded, sustainable organic products?

Yes – 100%! Even though I’d spent five years vegetarian and five years vegan prior to working here, I’d never been very knowledgeable about health and nutrition. I ate quite badly without putting any real thought into it, even though I loved food. When I began writing about Loving Earth products the only way to do so accurately was to treat myself as a guinea pig! We started doing a Food Diary promotion on our website and social media so I partook myself and that was essentially the first step on the path to where I’m now a lot healthier, happier and fit, eating well and training in competitive sports for the first time since I was a teenager. I still eat practically everything I used to, just in a more balanced way and with a lot more consciousness around it.

What exciting new products or news can you share with us that will be coming from Loving Earth in the near future?

Well, we’ve just relaunched our Kale range and the flavours really are a LOT better now. We’re also just about to relauch our Buckinis with new packaging that’s a lot more sustainable and much cooler looking. These changes are just the tip of the iceberg as we’re refreshing the whole chocolate range, and when all of these projects are done we’ll be seriously looking at some very exciting new product lines. Can’t reveal much just yet but these really will be a big step up for us…there’s some exciting ideas and experiments going on, the challenge is to upscale these recipes from kitchen-size to full-scale production. Fun times!

Any tips, tricks for our viewers on how we can start making steps to create a more sustainable, organic life?

Basically I would say that instead of feeling like you need to make massive changes and do everything all at once, start with a simple small change. Try adding a green smoothie to your diet three times a week or walking/cycling instead of driving sometimes. We did a whole project about this last year that went really well and ended up making a free Ebook about it with lots of tips from many different personalities involved in the world of wellbeing.

Whats your favourite Loving Earth product?

Caramel Chocolate!! Since we released this last year I’ve become startlingly addicted to it! Before that it was Mylk Choc, and I’m very partial to our Maqui, Acai & Cacao Luvju too. In terms of functional food, I use Maqui and our Rainbow Blend pretty much everyday and when I have a lot on and need more energy I use Maca. It takes about a month to kick in but when it does I feel like I’m absolutely bursting with energy, and drop down from 7+ hours sleep each night to just needing 5 hours. This is the third time I’ve started using it, as I have a few competitions coming up so I’m currently training five or six days a week. Oh, and I tend to eat an ungodly amount of Coconut Oil! For cooking, in smoothies, straight from the spoon – can’t get enough!

And lastly your favourite raw food recipe you would like to share with our viewers?

There’s absolutely tons of new recipes going up on our website and instagram every week, but here’s a nice and easy sweet snack if you’re trying to stay away from sugar and fill your diet with wholefoods – it’s one I came up with last time I did a detox. Someone online complained that they take more than two minutes, but they just need to get on the maca!

2 Minute Tahini-Lemon Nut Balls:

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup chopped macadamias
• 1/4 cup chopped Brazil Nuts
• 1/4 cup of Shredded Coconut
• 1/2 cup tahini
• 1 cup oats
• 1 lemon (juice of)
• 1 – 2 tbsp honey or Coconut Nectar
Salt (to taste)

Method:

Mix all ingredients together by hand (minus the shredded coconut). Form into pingpong ball sized bites. Roll in shredded coconut. Refrigerate. Eat!