What’s cooking, Somizi?
BOOK: CELEBRITY PUBLISHES COLLECTION OF MEMORABLE RECIPES
It is an offshoot from his highly successful culinary show.
Possibly the best model to follow for longevity and staying power in the entertainment industry is celebrity Somizi Mhlongo-Motaung. His career has encompassed acting, dance choreographer, reality star, fitness instructor, Idols judge and now the culinary world.
From his highly successful cooking show Dinner at Somizi’s, it was quite natural for the multitalented star to write a cookbook around his many dinner parties with famous friends.
The cookbook – Dinner at Somizi’s – I Am Not A Chef, is in partnership with rice company Tastic.
The official launch on 26 November in Houghton was attended by, among others, Mihlali Ndamase, Rami Chuene, Lerato Kganyango and Lorna Maseko.
In true Somgaga style, the theme for this vibrant experience was “As colourful as your favourite dish” and dressing to impress.
Somizi himself was in a dazzling green suit.
The cookbook is a must-have as it contains several dishes inspired by the many memorable memories cooking for his friends and family.
The integral partnership with Tastic was a few years in the making.
He says the cookbook also incorporates his travels and the people he has met.
“The first time I had couscous was at Miriam Makeba’s house. The first time I had jollof rice was at D’banj house in Nigeria. The cookbook is my entire journey with food,” he says.
Marketing director of pasta and rice at Tiger Brands, Thembi Sehloho, said Somizi had been a friend of the brand for a long time.
“We have watched him cook with our brand, so for us it was a natural partnership. When he started Dinner at Somizi’s we thought it was the perfect opportunity to assist him in his journey.”
The canapes from the Kota canapes, were served with slamon instead of your traditional polony or Russian sausage.
The atchar in the dish was slightly overpowering, but the salmon was a nice touch. The rice sticks with salami were very ery well done, packed with flavour, as were the rice burgers.
However, we were not served the he starters we ordered – the pork trotter tacos and the angry rice.
After waiting what felt like an hour to order our starter options, the waiter seemingly forgot to actually serve us.
What be- came more frustrating was seeing other her guests eating and the waiters following with requests from the other guests.
Any drink
I ordered also failed to arrive.
This is not the first time I felt somewhat invisible, seeking the attention of a waiter to be served and fed at an event that is my job to cover to do some justice to.
Playing second fiddle to those who we hold higher up is possibly our fault for giving them God-like statuses.
The ordinary person also matters, but sometimes no matter how much you cry for attention – “See me, I have a stomach too” – it doesn’t matter.
Completely frustrated and hungry, I had words with the waiter and told him it was not on.
Apologising profusely, we were told that we would be given preferntial treatment for mains and would be served first.
With Somizi do- ing his thing as host, he announced that ordering mains should be done, a bit surprised by the reaction by the crowd that we hadn’t ordered yet. We couldn’t wait for the mains anymore. Everything good about the event wasn’t as colourful anymore – so we left. It would have been great to taste the rest of food because the man behind them is as charismatic as he is on screen and it shows in the names of his dishes. Unfortunate that a small group of us didn’t.
With plans of opening an eatery in June 2021 – a 30 -seater tapas restaurant – there is no reason to see why it won’t be a success. Come Christmas, Somizi will be waking up around 4am as he does every year to cook for his loved ones.