Foodie, cookbook author and former Bay TV cooking show presenter, Chef Pumla Brooke-Thomae has a new book out.
Born in Worcester in the Western Cape, Brook-Thomae is passionate about simple and wholesome home-cooked food who believes flavour is everything in food or why cook at all.
Her love for cooking started at a very young age as she comes from a family of cooks.
She says both her grandmothers were the magicians in the kitchen and everyone of her siblings is a good cook in their own right.
“My cooking journey has been somewhat of an uphill battle. I have had to prove to those around me that yes I have never been to culinary school, but I was darn good I could make a career out of it. One of the greatest memories I have experienced was being offered a job as a baker at one of South Africa's biggest franchises which I turned down because I wanted to work for myself”
“Making it to the top six on the KFC Taste Kitchen competition was another highlight especially that I was competing amongst great cooks that cooked in pairs and my partner wasn't really skilled in the kitchen but I managed to carry our team all the way up to top six,” says Brooke-Thomae.
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Speaking about her new cookbook, she says the idea of it didn’t really come from her even though it was always something at the back of her mind.
“My social media followers are the ones that inspired the book. After sharing recipes on my cooking page they urged me to write a cookbook as they loved my work that much. What I had in mind when writing this new book was a simple concept. I simply wanted to provide recipes that are enjoyed by families across cuisines but ones that particularly appeal to the South African palate and ones that can be made in minutes to cater to the busyness of modern day living,” says Brooke-Thomae.
Family Food Simplified retails for R290, and for orders you can email Brooke-Thomae on [email protected].