‘Chopped South Africa’ was launched at Giggling Gourmet Jenny Morris’ studio in De Waterkant yesterday, to publicise the 10 programme Food Network series on DStv channel 175, commencing on Wednesday 23 July at 21h00.
‘Chopped South Africa‘ is the first professional chef reality TV competition in South Africa, based on the American ‘Chopped‘, but with a South African flavour. It is the first international adaption of the programme, and was created due to the series’ very strong following in our country, with 25000 viewers per programme, I was told by Nikki Cooper, the Commissioning Editor of ‘Chopped South Africa‘, based in London and working with programming for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. She said that she was ‘blown away by the talent and graciousness’ of our local chefs. Due to the strong support of South African viewers, Food Network is investing in creating content for our country, but with appeal to its international viewers too.
We were welcomed by Jacques Verster. He introduced the four judges, being Jenny Morris who has hosted programmes on Moroccan and on Mediterranean cooking for Food Network (and who turned out to be a tough judge, explaining that she wanted to be honest with her feedback, and for it to have integrity); David van Staden, the Executive Chef of the Tsogo Sun Group; Siba Mtongana, who has her own ‘Siba’s Table’ program on Food Network; guest judge Rebecca Hurst, who runs the Hurst cookery
school; and guest judge and Chef Lindsay Venn of Tsogo Sun The Cullinan (not in the photograph). We were told how strongly the judges believed in their standards, and fought for their point of view in deciding which chef would be ‘chopped’. Heinz is the main programme sponsor, while Shoprite-Checkers provided all the ingredients for the cooking on the program.
Nikki explained how the series works, with each of the ten programmes having four contestants, 40 selected from many applications received from young professional chefs in South African kitchens. Shot in Johannesburg, hosted by Denvor Phokaners, produced by Sue Nel from Snelco in association with Continue reading →
Three months ago we broke the news that Chef Jenny Morris was to open Yumcious Café in the Cape Quarter. It opened a month ago, and offers a homely and healthy eating place. Located in the former Rocca and then Celtic Cove restaurants, Chef Jenny and her husband David have brought the bulk of the seating outside onto the covered terrace. Tables are a mix of grey concrete, as well as black top ones with silver bases, while chairs are a mix of grey and white moulded plastic. Tables have grey plant holders with a succulent plant, while the sugar stick holders and salt and pepper holders are green ceramic. Plates for the food match the colour too. Paper serviettes are wrapped around cutlery sets. A clever touch is to have laminated A5 copies of the menu on the table already, so that one does not have to wait for it to be brought to the table.
