Durban - Winner of the second season of M-Net’s MasterChef SA, Kamini Pather now has her own TV show, Girl Eat World, on Food Network (DStv Channel 175). It airs on Fridays at 9pm.
First holiday memory?
I was 10 years old and I went on a family holiday to Greece. We went to Mykonos and found ourselves at a nudist beach. There was a man on said beach. Please don’t make me go back!
Favourite place in SA?
I’ve done the drive from Cape Town to Jozi a few times and I love the Karoo. There is such solitude and beauty where people assume there is nothing.
Best holiday?
I went to India in 2008 to do a Yoga instructors course in Kerala. I expected to have this “motherland epiphany” but I experienced it as a place that I saw resemblance in but that was also completely foreign. It was a strange feeling of separate togetherness. I also learned how to do a headstand (which I can still do) which really made this a memorable holiday.
What have you learnt from your travels?
Pack a sense of humour. Things can and will go wrong.
Beach bum, culture vulture or adrenalin junkie?
What about a glorious mix of all three? I spent my day off in Sydney on the legendary Bondi Beach before having lunch at Matt Preston’s North Bondi Fish. I dined with artists in Berlin who used plates and dishes from various European cities from the World War II era to illustrate a work of art. I bungee jumped off the Soweto Cooling Towers and went paragliding in Lima. I’m pretty sure I qualify for the ultimate trifecta!
Greatest travel luxury?
Lip balm. One of my regrets was buying Luca’s PawPaw Ointment in Sydney and leaving it in the front seat pocket of the plane because we had to change aircraft due to a technical issue.
Holiday reading?
I am a fan of audio books; the way to listen to them is to download a puzzle app and do puzzles while listening so you don’t fall asleep. On my travels I listened to Tina Fey’s Bossy Pants, Julie Powel’s Cleaving and Neil Patrick Harris’s autobiography.
Where has seduced you?
I am easily seduced. Give me an accent, a plate of great food paired with the perfect wine and I am porridge! Lima did that to me, so did Milan.
Worst travel experience?
My producer, Michelle Geeringh, always tells the story of how I became evil. There was a travel mix up in Lima and we spent 12 hours in an airport on what was supposed to be an overnight flight to Philadelphia.
Best hotel?
I have been lucky to have travelled with my family from a young age. The best hotel I stayed at was in the Maldives. There was an outdoor shower in this magical place that my brother and I snorkelled with baby black tip reef sharks in water that was knee deep.
Favourite walk, swim, ride or drive?
Chapmans Peak Drive. I have been down that road countless times but the best was on a Harley Davison for a TV commercial. Being on a motorcycle, being that close to the elements, awakened my senses in the most exquisite way.
Best meal abroad?
Again, I can’t pick just one! I adored the Smilie in joburg. It’s half a lamb’s head, served piping hot and braised in a curry sauce. The lamb cheek meat is dark and succulent. All I’ve been after all my life is the face, it seems. I ate a Risotto a la Milanese in Milan (obviously) that is such a simple dish: risotto with saffron, parmesan and the best butter money can buy. It was slouchy and luxurious and absolutely perfect. MasterChef taught me that simple food is the most difficult to cook because you have nowhere to hide. That risotto was the perfect example of that. I ate some incredible street food in Bangkok. The dish that stood out was a deep-fried rice noodle basket with oft fried eggs in it that was topped with a chicken and vegetable broth. It was served on a white hot sizzling plate right there on the street. The textures and flavours of that dish will stay with me forever.
Favourite city?
Stop it! I need more options! Top three were Berlin, Tokyo and Lima. The food was incredible, naturally, but the people felt like friends from the second I met them.
Where to next?
I feel as though the world is my oyster (with some red tabasco, a squeeze of lemon, freshly cracked black pepper and a glass of bubbly). My perfect life would be to shoot another season, write a book and get on to the international demo circuit. I could do that for the next couple of years.
Sunday Tribune