Tag Archives: Cell C

MasterChef SA chops, whips, and cooks contestants down to 25!

The MasterChef SA pace was fast and heavy last night, or so it seemed, with the 50 contestants that made the ‘bootcamp’ being whittled down to half in episode 2, by setting them what seemed to be three basic tasks: chopping onions, separating and whisking egg whites, and preparing a potato dish.  The confidence of the judges had grown, there were no more sympathy votes, and the judges set more fair measurable goals to decide on the future of the contestants.

The ‘bootcamp’ was held in Johannesburg, and most dramatically started on what probably is the Nelson Mandela Bridge, which was closed for the duration of the shoot.  The judges looked far more relaxed compared to episode 1, Chefs Benny Masekwameng and Pete Goffe-Wood wearing a T-shirt and waistcoat, and Chef Andrew Atkinson slightly more formal in an open shirt and waistcoat. The contestants proudly wore their Masterchef SA aprons.  Three activities were given to the contestants, with the judges asking the contestants once again to ‘impress us’ and to show their ‘passion’. This would reduce the number of contestants down to 25, for participation in the second day of the ‘bootcamp’, a braai they were told, which will reduce them down to 18, and take them to Nederburg, where the rest of the 15 episodes were filmed.

Even more dramatic than the bridge was the arrival of a helicopter, flying in a container of 3 tons of onions. Chef Pete showed the contestants how to professionally chop an onion, and then each contestant had to chop onions until they were told by one of the judges to stop, having mastered the art of chopping.  Some contestants clearly had not done much onion chopping before, and cried their eyes out, knowing that they might not be proceeding. Ten contestants were eliminated for their poor onion-chopping skills. Chef Pete said that it takes a good chef three years to learn how to chop onions perfectly. They were warned to watch their fingers, as the knives were razor sharp, and there were some mishaps.

Below the bridge, the old Johannesburg Market was pointed out to the visitors to the city, and the venue for the next two contestant challenges was the Bus House, a massive warehouse.  A massive long table contained eggs and bowls, and each contestant was instructed to separate the yolk from the egg whites, and beat twelve of them so stiff that they could turn the dish around and put it above their head without its content falling onto their head.  Not all contestants managed to keep their heads and hair clean!  The first five to finish were allowed to skip the third task of the day, and could go through to the second day (episode 3).  Ilse Fourie was the first to finish this task, and already impressed in episode 1, with the judges heaping great praise on her cooked dish.

The third task was to take the humble potato, and prepare a hot dish out of it in 45 minutes, adding some ingredients which had been made available in the hall.  Chef Pete was particularly harsh of (singing in episode 1) Sanjeev’s colourful dish, criticising it for being ‘plated by a four year old’, and after tasting it, saying that it tasted as if it was ‘made by a 4 year old’.  Jonathan was criticised for being over-ambitious with his potato fondant in the time available, Marianna’s potato soup was described as ‘dishwater’  (on Twitter this morning Chef Pete had even worse things to say about it), Mel’s dish was‘too basic’, and Peter and Ashley were told that their dishes were a ‘let down’.

The contestants that were eliminated across the three challenges last night included Dael, Anel, Abby, Mel, Ashley, Peter, Luxolo (a sympathy vote recipient last week, and who received lots of Twitter support last night), Megan, Karen, Helena, Stefan, Fortune, Charles, Cameron, Marianna, Sanjeev, Jonathan, Ken (he appeared to receive a sympathy vote last week too), Candice, Vani, and Bonguwusa.

There seemed to be more TV commercials in the ad breaks, including those for MasterChef SA sponsors Robertson’s, Nederburg, Woolworths, and Hyundai (with an interesting pay-off line ‘There’s a Hyundai for every taste’, and the commercial featured the car with sushi!).  Other advertisers were Spur, Outsurance, a Lindt promotion with M-Net, ESKOM, Clicks, Cape Town Fish Market, L’Oreal, Virgin Active, Jaguar, Johnnie Walker Red Label, Nivea, Cell C, Valentino perfume, and Hippo.

The MasterChef SA contestants seemed surprised about the tasks that they were given, and the time pressure placed on them, and preparing their dishes in front of others raised their level of nervousness.  Some of the contestants seemed to have been over-confident initially, and there seemed to be a correlation between this and their departure from the programme in yesterday’s episode!  The pace of the programme reminded one of Charly’s Cake Angels, who had impossible sounding cake challenges to complete against the clock, the episodes creating anxiety for the viewers too.  There is no doubt that MasterChef SA is gripping TV viewers, probably to the detriment of cinemas, restaurants, and theatres, as much of South Africa stays home on Tuesday evenings for the next sixteen weeks.

POSTSCRIPT 28/3: Candice Le Noury, who writes Gorgeous Blog, has written about her experience as a MasterChef SA Top 50 finalist.

POSTSCRIPT 1/4:  I met MasterChef SA Judge and Chef Pete Goffe-Wood at the Bay Harbour Market today, where he and his wife Elize have a steak sandwich stand. I enjoyed his feedback to the questions I asked him about MasterChef SA.  I asked him if Ilse Fourie or Jade de Waal is the winner, but (predictably) he said neither, as he may not share this information. He told us that pigeons were in the Bus House, and Marianna’s soup got hit by pigeon poo 5 minutes before her soup was judged. The judges were warned, and carefully avoided it in the soup they had to taste.  It was dreadful anyway, he said.  The judges wore an ear piece, and were reminded by the director of incidents about the particular contestant, to help shape their responses.  Not all the high and low lights experienced could be shown, and had to be edited to fit the hour time limit.  Three contestants were too scared to put the bowl with the whipped egg white over their heads by the deadline, and were sent off the programme.  The judges had a dress code, in what they should wear. Being a TV programme, the judges had to be more animated that on other TV cooking programmes.  Because the judges were not actors, they remained pretty natural throughout the show.  There are no programme viewership figures available yet.  Chef Pete is pretty confident that there will be a second MasterChef SA series.

MasterChef SA, M-Net, Tuesdays 19h30 – 20h30. www.masterchefsa.co.za Twitter:@MasterChefSA

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com Twitter:@WhaleCottage

Cape Consumer Court for complaining customers coming!

Interesting is the news that the Western Cape province is to introduce a Consumer Affairs Tribunal next month, given the existence of the National Consumer Commission which deals with consumer complaints relating to the Consumer Protection Act nationally.  The reason for this may be that the National Consumer Commission appears to be understaffed.

The Western Cape has had its own Consumer Protector for a number of years, and received 9000 consumer complaints in 2011, of which it was able to resolve two-thirds, reports the Cape Argus.  Complaints which have received ‘stalemate‘ status between supplier and customer will be the first ones to be heard by the Consumer Affairs Tribunal, which will run like a court.  Outcomes of cases heard by the Consumer Affairs Tribunal will be the replacement of products or the payment of refunds/compensation to consumers.  A similar consumer court has already been introduced in the Gauteng province. The largest number of consumer complaints relate to the motor industry, ‘serial offender’ cellphone companies, and small food retailers, says the National Consumer Forum.  A bath re-glazing company will be one of the first local companies brought to the Cape consumer court.

The Western Cape Consumer Affairs Tribunal will be chaired by Advocate Robert Vincent, with Advocate Mandla Mdludlu, Herman Wessels, Jacki Lange, Theo Burrows, and Selby Tindleni as further members of the Consumer Tribunal, reports Bolander. Complaining consumers will be represented by an attorney of the Office of the Consumer Protector, while companies can appoint their own lawyers.

The shortage of funding for the National Consumer Commission may result in a four month closure of its call centre, writes Business Report, given the vast shortage of staff.  Of the 28000 complaints it receives per month, its five call centre operators can only deal with 8000.  The National Consumer Commissioner Mamodupi Mohlala is asking for a budget of R 134 million, saying that without the funding ‘we are rendered toothless and there will be serious consequences’.  At any moment 70 calls are on hold at the National Consumer Commission call centre.  Fifteen cases have been brought before the National Consumer Tribunal since April last year, when the Consumer Protection Act came into being.  Investigations of the country’s four largest medical aid schemes, cellphone operators (Cell C, Vodacom, MTN and Telkom), pharmaceutical companies, Checkers/Shoprite, JD Group, and the Lewis Group are being undertaken by the National Consumer Commission.

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio, www.whalecottage.com Twitter:@WhaleCottage

‘House and Leisure Food’ is a food and wine flop!

My favourite lifestyle magazine is House and Leisure, and I have subscribed to it for years.  In fact, it is the only magazine (I don’t classify Noseweek as a ‘magazine’ as such) that I subscribe to.  Its new brand extension launched earlier this week is a great disappointment.

I had read the pre-publicity about the new House and Leisure Food, described by editor Naomi Larkin as an “inaugural collectors’ issue”, and was excited about the idea of the publication.   I chased after the issue at Exclusive Book’s when it hit the street on Wednesday, having to have it, and being sure that subscribers would not be sent a copy.   In fact, nowhere in the latest House and Leisure issue was there any reference to the new publication, which is silly in marketing terms, as current subscribers to House and Leisure should be the most obvious priority target market.

In her Editor’s Letter Larkin drools: “Whether you’re seduced by the mouthwatering food pictures or enchanted by the beautiful lifestyle images – designed to get you in the mood – there really is something for everyone”.

Oh my gosh, what a let down, when I paged through the magazine.  Here’s why:

1.  A big song and dance is made about the chefs that have ‘contributed’, and the names that are dropped are Chefs Luke Dale-Roberts of The Test Kitchen, Bertus Basson of Overture, Richard Carstens of Tokara, Mike Bassett of Terroir, Clare and Fiona Ras of Sprigs in Durban, and Jackie Cameron of Hartford House, as well as cookery school owners Marlene van der Westhuizen, Andrea Bergener, Toni Scorgie and Susan Greig.  The main contributors to the magazine are billed as Jules Mercer and Sarah Matsuhara, both names I have never heard of before.  Yet, none of the names of the chefs or their photographs are to be seen on any page, except in the Editor’s Letter.   The content of the magazine is purely a recipe book of 75 recipes, not one recipe attributed to any of these named chefs!   I have tried to re-read and re-read the Editor’s Letter, and I can only assume that House and Leisure Food is a rehash of previously printed recipes from past issues of House and Leisure. 

2.   An even bigger flop is the ‘Connoisseurs’ picks of top South African wines to match”, as shouted on the front cover, and the editorial page proudly highlights the names of Wade Bales, Michael Brampfield-Duggan, Michael Olivier, Thato Goimane, David Cope and House and Leisure wine writer Leigh Robertson as “Wine Connoisseurs”!  A “connoisseur” is defined “a person who is especially competent to pass critical judgement” or “a discerning judge of the best in any field”.   Most of the ‘connoisseurs’ are not widely known, and some may argue that they may not all be ‘connoisseurs’ either!  There is not one wine pack shot in the magazine, except in the few paid-for advertisements for Reyneke, Robertson Winery, Barista, and Krone.  The wine recommendations are featured in the smallest possible type size underneath the title of each recipe!  There is no description of each wine’s taste and flavour, no motivation for the match, nor is a vintage recommended.  Only the initials of the “wine connoisseur” is indicated, and is most often those of Leigh Robertson!

3.  But the biggest disappointment of all is the endless 130 pages of 75 recipes, interspersed with a handful of advertisements, the Paul Kovensky Restaurant Collection being the largest advertising supporter, advertising its Kove, Zenzero, Paranga and Pepenero restaurants.   Not all food lovers cook, and many may have liked to see interviews with chefs, cooking hints and tips, chef profiles, and even restaurant reviews and profiles.  The Indochine Restaurant page is a paid-for promotion, but would have made good editorial, in the way the chef Jonathan Heath is profiled and one of his dishes is featured, with an interior shot of the restaurant at Delaire Graff.  In this regard the magazine fails badly.

4.  The magazine is divided into four sections, and the recipes are spread over these.  The categories are “Easy Living”, “Summer”, “Winter Warmth” and “Luxury”, not sounding a logical delineation, and the first and the last of these categories not clearly defining which types of recipes one might expect.   The magazine index does list which recipe is in which section.

5.  Even worse, is the most irritating “talking ad” for Cell C, as one turns the pages.  The spokesperson Trevor Noah never gets to say more than “Welcome to the world of Cell C.  The power is in your hands”. 

Credit must be given for some excellent food styling and photography, and the photographers’ and stylists’ names that are mentioned are Russell Smith, Retha Erichsen, Julia Stadler, and Elsa Young.  Some lifestyle photographs break the monotony of the recipe pages.

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com   Twitter: @WhaleCottage