Durban in MasterChef-making business

Published Dec 19, 2014

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The laid-back lifestyle, the excellent fruit and veg, the spices… these are some of the reasons enthusiasts of the reality television show MasterChef SA believe the winners of the show always come from Durban.

Midlands food fundi and former MasterChef judge Jackie Cameron said she believed the secret lay in KwaZulu-Natal people’s understanding of what eating quality food meant.

“People really understand flavours and getting to the root of the ingredient when it comes to home cooking. A very high level of food is being eaten at home.”

Last year’s MasterChef winner, Kamini Pather, who comes from Glenwood but now lives in Cape Town, said Durban cooking was tops possibly because people tended to eat in more. “I think you get to cook with your family, and food becomes the centre of your life in a personal kind of way.”

Former Bluff train driver Roxi Wardman, who won this year’s competition, said it was Durban people’s “passion, determination and will to change your life” that was their recipe for success in the kitchen. “There must be something in the Durban water as well.”

Deena Naidoo, who won in 2012, the first year of the competition, said Durban was spoilt for choice when it came to ingredients.

 

The trio all said MasterChef had changed their lives.

Naidoo still runs his restaurant, Aarya, at Montecasino, which was part of his prize. “My world has opened up. I’m doing things I wouldn’t have dreamt of before.”

Pather said she had just finished shooting a 10-episode cooking TV programme, Girl. Eat. World. It was shot in 10 international locations.

Wardman said it had been “a rollercoaster of emotion”.

“I cried a lot, I laughed a lot, but it was absolutely amazing.”

On her future aspirations, she said: “I will be opening a café in the new year. I’ll be looking for premises and a team to work with me. I’ve been driving trains just to get by but the prize money will help me realise my dream.” - The Star

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