South Africa With Gregg Walllace
Season 1 BBC Lifestyle (*174) 20:00 Lifestyle
“There is nothing like a South African braai,” beams food pro Gregg Wallace, one of the judges on reality cooking show MasterChef UK (2005-now). His new lifestyle series South Africa With Gregg Wallace almost didn’t get made though. “We filmed in late 2019, early 2020, just before the COVID pandemic,” says the 56-year-old. “We wrapped and got back to the UK in mid February and we’ve been in post-production since.”
Gregg has worked with food since he opened grocery chain George Allan’s Greengrocers in 1989 and he’s owned restaurants since 2010. “I love food. A lot of my friends who’ve been to South Africa couldn’t stop raving about the food. So I thought, ‘Let’s make a travel show with a difference: let me eat my way around this country that is famous for its tourism’.” That’s exactly what he did – and Gregg admits that he was stunned by the people and the cuisine. “We were lucky because I believe that the tourism industry was shut down (due to COVID). I met the most amazing people… and the food, oh wow! I loved the skilpadjies (lamb liver wrapped in fat on the braai) and potjies, this stew on a fire. But the ‘fat cakes’, vetkoek I think they’re called – fried dough balls with dips. I had a tuk-tuk driver and we ate them every morning while we went around Soweto in Johannesburg.”
The six-episode series will see Gregg visit everywhere from Cape Town to Durban. “I wanted the full experience, and I definitely got that. Once COVID is over and we can travel, I will be back for Cape Town wines… and fat cakes with dip!” says the foodie host.