Master Chefs at this year's Durban Good Food & Wine Show
MasterChef South Africa winner Kamini Pather joins fellow alumni Siphokazi Mdlankomo and Claire Allen along with MasterChef Australia judge George Calombaris
It’s going to be a magic mix of master chefs at this year’s Good Food & Wine Show in Durban with MasterChef South Africa winner Kamini Pather in action with fellow show contestants Siphokazi Mdlankomo and Claire Allen. They join MasterChef Australia judge George Calombaris to ensure the Durban leg of South Africa’s premiere food show is bigger, better and more exciting than ever before.
Pather, who grew up in Durban and learnt her love of food there, says winning MasterChef SA in 2013 changed her life.
“It certainly boosted my cooking career and I realised that anything is possible. However, my passion for food and cooking started long before that with little things like sitting on my grandmother’s porch while she chewed on orange peels, or licking the batter spoon while perched on my mom’s kitchen counter as she made cakes. Since winning MasterChef I’ve starred in my own show Girl Eat World. It is now broadcast on Food Network in Africa, Europe, the Middle East, India, South East Asia and the Philippines and on SABC 3 and Netflix.”
Pather will be in action in the Cooking with Chefs, Eat Well, Live Well Theatre and Chef’s Open Theatre all of which are – for the first time – included in the ticket price.
Mdlankomo, the runner-up in MasterChef SA in 2014, has since created a live performance show, Short Chef Skinny Chef with fellow contestant Claire Allen.
“Audiences can expect simple but delicious food demonstrations that are not intimidating. Anyone can make the dishes in their own home while learning new techniques. I can’t wait to meet everyone,” she says.
Mdlankomo is also the star of a new show, Let’s Eat with Siphokazi, currently on Mzansi Magic, and this year published her first cookery book The Little Black Recipe Book.
She will be in the Chef’s Open Theatre while also appearing in Short Chef Skinny Chef with Claire Allen. Entrance to both is free.
Allen is also delighted to be back: “Siphokazi and I will host 25 Short Chef Skinny Chef demos over the weekend in the interactive cooking theatre and have more than R30 000 worth of prizes to give away. The Good Food & Wine Show provides a platform for local chefs, which is so important, as well as local producers to sell and grow their brand to a direct market. Most importantly visitors are exposed to incredible food and wine – it’s not called the Good Food and Wine Show for nothing!”
Says Calombaris – who will once again keep viewers glued to the screen when the highly anticipated eighth season of MasterChef Australia returns to M-Net on October 10: “I am thrilled to be coming to Durban. There are going to be a few little surprises during the demonstrations and I am going to ‘play’ with people’s senses. It’s also an opportunity for people to come and meet me and get a good idea of who I am and why food has played such a major part in my life.”
They join the stellar line-up who has already been announced including Siba Mtongana, Jenny Morris, Sarah Graham, Neill Anthony and J’Something.
