Forty bloggers, 11 challenges, three finalists and now one winner.
Freshly Blogged, South Africa's first online cooking competition, ended in a heated final between Anél Potgieter, Lara Johnson and Sam Taylor, as they battled it out in one last live cook off on Thursday 26 September at Taste of Joburg.
The final task was for the bloggers to cook a selection of dishes from a box of mystery ingredients in a 30 minute challenge, in front of Freshly Blogged judges Justine Drake, Anke Roux and Yvonne Short.
Cape Town’s Sam Taylor, blogger of Pomegranate Days, cooked her way to the title with her seared steak bruschetta with caramalised onions, cherry tomatoes, pea sprouts and red wine reduction, followed by a pear and chocolate spring roll, dusted with cinnamon sugar.
Taylor said: “It is really hard not to feel enormously proud to be the Freshly Blogged winner. Successfully surviving 11 weeks of online recipe challenges as well as the live cook-off final makes this reward feel like an achievement rather than a win. I am of course slightly dizzy at the generous prizes, but for me the opportunity to have my recipes featured in Fresh Living Magazine is by far the greatest thrill.
“My deepest thanks must go to Pick and Pay and for inviting me to enter this competition in the first place, but also for taking on a competition of this magnitude highlighting food blogging, the thing which most of us do simply for the love of food. I am finishing the competition inspired, excited for what comes next and determined to do what I do even better.”
Lara Johnson, runner up and blogger of How To Cook An Elephant said: “I have loved every minute of Freshly Blogged. I have been pushed and stretched every week to come up with something creative and different, and I have thoroughly enjoyed being part of this South African first.”
Anél Potgieter, also a runner up in the competition and Lifeisazoobiscuit blogger, said: “I can honestly admit that this has been the most difficult thing I have ever done in my life. This competition tested every ounce of me as a blogger and me as a person - but now reflecting in hindsight it was one of the best foodie adventures I could have undertaken as a blogger.”
Sam walks away with a selection of great prizes including a return trip for two to Munich worth R40,000 courtesy of SAA Holidays, a three-part recipe series in Fresh Living magazine as well as an Apple iPad and a package for two at Mangwanani African Spa.
Freshly Blogged runners up Anél and Lara each receive an Apple iPad and a Pick n Pay gift card to the value of R5000. - IOL, based on a press release.
Web addresses
Pomegranate Days - http://pomegranatedays.blogspot.co.uk/
Lifesisazoobiscuit - http://lifeisazoobiscuit.com/
How to cook an elephant - http://cookanelephant.blogspot.com/