Good morning SA, it’s an honour to cook for you
Zola Nene has become TV’s favourite chef. Nathan Adams met up with her
BEHIND the bubbly personality you see in the kitchen every morning on the SABC3 breakfast show, Zola Nene is a real risk-taker. And it’s not with her recipes and dishes that she’s adventurous, it’s with her passion to succeed and do what she loves.
As a girl growing up in George, Nene was already bucking the trend.
Unlike her peers, she was burying her nose in cookbooks and not in the sand box.
“I would run off to the library regularly to get those kiddie cookbooks where you can see all the pictures and the recipes,” she says.
Nene admits that her maternal grandmother and her mother were natural cooks and hardly ever referred to cookbooks or written recipes. This was passed down to her, and although she was a natural, she followed her head and not her heart and studied for a BCom LLB at Stellenbosch University.
But you can’t keep a good cook down, and Nene smiles when she recalls and recounts the story of how she dropped out of law school before sitting for her second-year exams.
“I enrolled to do law because I considered myself to be an argumentative person and I wanted that challenge,” she says. “My dad always said you should choose a career that you love because it’s what you’ll be doing for the rest of your life. So when I got back home he reminded me of that.”
This is when Nene took one of her many risks and up and left South Africa to relocate to England without the security of a job, but at least with a place to stay.
“In 2005 I left and found myself in Wimbledon South, where I stayed with family acquaintances. I was looking for a job in a kitchen. Of course, an entrylevel job was all I could get, and it was all I wanted at the time, just a foot in the door,” she adds.
She ended up working at Belle Epoque Brasserie and Hotel.
“It was British food, but very upmarket and with a French influence, so you’d make bangers and mash but lots of other things as well.
“It was tough, though. There was only one other female in the kitchen, so it was all men, and you had to learn quickly and execute food perfectly first time,” says Nene.
It was a learning curve that armed her with a wealth of experience, so when she returned to South Africa she enrolled at the Institute of Culinary Arts in Stellenbosch for a three-year food course specialising in patisserie and food media.
“It’s funny that I ended up back at Stellenbosch then, this time to follow my cooking dreams,” she says.
It was just another risk that paid off for Nene, who then went on to join the
magazine team as a food stylist.
This was ultimately the path that led her to joining the breakfast team, who are in the same stable as
“I was never meant to be in front of the camera,” she says.
“Patience Stevens (managing director at Tswelopele Productions) encouraged me to get in front of the camera and cook.”
Nene remembers her breakfast TV debut: “I was cooking with kids and it felt weird at first because I kept on saying to everyone that ‘I’m not here to do this’.”
But it’s a role she has glided into effortlessly, and there are aspects of it she loves.
“So when I’m cooking live in the morning I never go back and watch it because I feel like it’s done and I can’t go back and change anything or do something differently.
“But with the inserts that we pre-record I am a perfectionist and I want to see the editing process and make sure it’s perfect,” says Nene.
At home she’s a lot more relaxed and admits that after a long and busy day she often slips into the kitchen and prepares an omelette or pasta for dinner.
“I eat out a lot, so when I’m at home I try to keep it simple but delicious,” she says.
Another passion of hers is all the food channels and cooking shows on the small screen. “It’s inspiring and you always learn something new or interesting.”
Nene credits chef Chris Erasmus from Foliage in Franschhoek as one of her mentors and constant foodie inspirations.
“He has this wealth of knowledge about a range of things and dishes, and he does it so effortlessly,” she says.
It’s the word “effortless” that Nene says is also her aim when she starts cooking in
Heat the oil over medium heat in a large saucepan with a tight-fitting lid.
Add the onions and sauté until softened and beginning to brown.
Add the garlic and ginger paste, curry powder, coriander and cumin and sauté for a few seconds
Add the lamb, stirring and turning to coat in the spices.
When the lamb begins to brown around the edges, add the tomatoes and sauté until the moisture evaporates and the tomatoes start to break down. Stir in the beef stock and potatoes. Season with salt to taste, reduce the heat and simmer with the lid on for 45 minutes or until the lamb is tender
Garnish the curry with fresh coriander and serve with steamed white rice. the morning for the cameras and everyone at home.
“I feel like when people tell me that I make it all look so easy, that’s when I am doing my job.
“It must look simple and easy and, of course, tasty, because I want people to think: ‘If she makes it so effortless, it can’t be that hard’ and then try the recipes in their kitchen.”
This aspect is one of Nene’s main driving forces, who believes it’s an honour and a privilege to cook for South Africans every morning.