Nadia Lim is the Auckland-born dietitian who won MasterChef New Zealand in 2011, co-founded My Food Bag and now farms Royalburn Station, a 1200-acre property near Arrowtown, with her husband Carlos Bagrie and their three sons, Bodhi, River and Arlo.
Most searches for her name are about a recipe. The rest ask the same handful of questions: who her husband is, how many kids she has, how old she is and where that farm actually is. Here are the answers, checked against what Lim and her family have said publicly.
Who is Nadia Lim’s husband?
Nadia Lim’s husband is Carlos Bagrie, a fifth-generation farmer who grew up on a farm on the outskirts of Invercargill and spent most of his working life in marketing in Auckland. The pair started dating as students in the mid-2000s, and on their second date he pitched the idea of one day moving to a farm.
“I grew up on the outskirts of Invercargill, so I always wanted to eventually move back to a farm,” Bagrie told The Spinoff in 2024, describing running a farm as “learning another language”.
What does Carlos Bagrie do?
Bagrie co-founded My Food Bag with Lim in 2013, co-owns and runs Royalburn Station, and is a Nuffield Scholar. In the 2025 New Year Honours both he and Lim were made Officers of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM), Bagrie “for services to the food and rural industries” and Lim “for services to the food industry”.
Nadia Lim’s kids and their names
Lim and Bagrie have three boys. Their third son, Arlo Fox Bagrie, arrived in February 2023, “born last week on the farm, just as the sun set”, as Lim put it when 1News reported the birth. His older brothers Bodhi and River were six and five at the time.
Beyond the names and the snippets Lim shares herself, the boys’ lives are private, and that is where we leave it.
How old is Nadia Lim and where is she from?
Nadia Lim was born in Auckland on 21 December 1985, so she is 40 and turns 41 just before Christmas 2026. At six her family moved to Kuala Lumpur, where she lived for about six years before coming home to New Zealand.
She studied at the University of Otago, graduating in 2008 in human nutrition with a postgraduate diploma in dietetics, then worked as a clinical dietitian at Auckland District Health Board until 2011, specialising in diabetes.
Where does Nadia Lim live and what is her farm called?
The family left Auckland around 2019 for Royalburn Station on the Crown Range in Central Otago, between Arrowtown and the Cardrona Valley. The regenerative farm covers about 485 hectares (roughly 1200 acres) and is one of New Zealand’s older farms, with relics on site dating to the 1880s.
Royalburn sells its produce through the Royalburn Farm Shop in Arrowtown, plus a second farm-to-shop store in Queenstown. The couple have also opened the farm to the public on charity tour days.
Lim has been candid that the farm is not a money-spinner. “The farm is a big pit, in some sense, and it just keeps digging a deeper hole,” she told the Otago Daily Times in September 2025.
When did Nadia Lim win MasterChef?
Lim won the second series of MasterChef New Zealand, which screened on TV One in 2011. She returned to the show as a judge for series seven in 2022.
Nadia Lim’s TV shows and cookbooks
Her TV work follows her life fairly closely, from the kitchen to the farm:
- New Zealand with Nadia Lim (2014)
- Guest judge on My Kitchen Rules NZ from 2014
- Dancing with the Stars NZ (2019), where she reached the semi-finals
- Nadia’s Comfort Kitchen (2020), filmed at home on phones during lockdown
- Nadia’s Farm on Three, two series about life at Royalburn
- Nadia’s Farm Kitchen on Three (2025), which she calls “a cooking show with a bit of farm in it”
She has written a dozen cookbooks, from Nadia’s Kitchen (2012) and Fresh Start Cookbook (2015) to Vegful (2019), which was a runner-up for best vegetarian cookbook in the world at the Gourmand awards. Her latest is Nadia’s Farm Kitchen (2025), with recipes from all three farm series and short stories about family life. There is also a children’s book, Marvellous Marvin (2020). Cooking, she says, “is my happy place.”
Nadia Lim and My Food Bag
My Food Bag launched in 2013, co-founded by Lim, Bagrie, Cecilia and James Robinson and Theresa Gattung. The couple later sold a large part of their stake, which Lim has said helped make the move to the farm possible.
Frequently asked questions
Is Nadia Lim married?
Yes. She is married to Carlos Bagrie, her partner since their student days.
What are Nadia Lim's children's names?
Bodhi, River and Arlo. Arlo, the youngest, was born on the farm in February 2023.
Where is Nadia Lim's farm shop?
The Royalburn Farm Shop is in Arrowtown, selling produce from the family’s Royalburn Station.
Is Nadia Lim on TV now?
Her most recent series is Nadia’s Farm Kitchen, which screened on Three in 2025. Her earlier series Nadia’s Farm has streamed on ThreeNow.
What is Nadia Lim's background?
Before TV she was a qualified dietitian, trained at the University of Otago and working at Auckland District Health Board.
