AT HOME WITH ZOLA NENE

We take a look at the chef and cookbook author’s journey with food, and share some of her recipes.

---

For many of us, Zola Nene is a household name. So much so that it’s difficult to imagine that she almost didn’t grace our screens and bookshelves – she very nearly became a lawyer. It was one phonecall home to her family that changed her life path for good.

It was 2005 and her law exams were looming, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that she wasn’t completely invested in this career. She picked up the phone to discuss it with her father, Michael. “My dad told me that the best thing I can do is to find a career that I love,” she shares. He believed that if that was not the case with her law degree, she should stop it immediately and find her real passion.

But what was her passion? The answer was right in front of her: her family congregated around food, and cooking was their love language. She headed to the UK where she started as a chef intern. She worked her way up through the kitchen ranks as a commis entremetier (working with vegetables), chef de partie (senior chef) and pâtissier (pastry chef), and all the while her determination to be the best in her field grew and grew.

Two years later, back in South Africa and just 22 years old, Zola had an important decision to make. “I knew then that as a woman of colour working in a male-dominated industry, it would not be enough just to have the experience. I needed to study and get my credentials to back it up,” she explains. So she enrolled at the Institute of Culinary Arts in Stellenbosch, and three years later received her diploma in professional cookery and patisserie.

ZOLA STRONGLY BELIEVES THAT CELEBRATIONS SHOULD NOT ONLY HAPPEN WHEN WE ACHIEVE GREAT THINGS. THAT’S WHY EVERY SUNDAY IS SPECIAL TO HER

WHIPPING UP HER FUTURE
In her final year, she chose to specialise in food media. Soon after graduating, her internship as a food assistant at Top Billing, a home and lifestyle magazine connected to the popular TV show, opened her eyes to a whole new side of the food world: you didn’t have to be a chef in a restaurant kitchen to work with food.

Soon, she joined the Expresso Morning Show team as a food stylist. “I remember having to start each day at 3am to do all the prep and cooking. Then, once the show ended, I had to write all the briefs for the guests and do all of the shopping and pre- production for the next day’s show,” Zola recalls.


But Patience Stevens, the producer of Expresso, wanted Zola to be more than just a behind-the-scenes foodie. “She saw something in me that I had yet to discover.” It took about a month of the production team begging and pleading before Zola agreed to step in front of the cameras as the show’s resident chef.

“Thinking back, I can’t believe that I’d been that stubborn, saying no to an opportunity that changed my life forever!” she laughs.

She spent six years presenting on Expresso and somehow found the time to write her first cookbook in 2017.

SIZZLING AWARDS
Much more than a cookbook, she wove her story through the recipes and paid tribute to those who influenced her palate and cooking style. “I don’t think writing a cookbook is the goal of every chef or foodie, but there is that voice in the back of your mind tempting you to dream and try it,” she says.

It wasn’t long before Zola bagged two Gourmand World Cookbook Awards: one for Best TV Chef Book (English) and another for TV Celebrity Chef (English). Her reaction? Utter disbelief. “I remember feeling like it was a prank because there was no way that my first book could win such a prestigious award. I called Beverley Dodd, the publisher at Penguin Random House at the time, and expressed those feelings to her. She laughed and told me that it was true and that congratulations were in order,” Zola recalls.

Just two years later, her second cookbook won Best in the World in the TV Category at the Gourmand Awards. And in 2023, she did it again: her third cookbook scooped up the same award. But Zola’s screentime wasn’t over.

She took the plunge and hosted her own show, Celeb Feasts with Zola on DStv’s Mzansi Magic, bringing South African celebrity guests and their mentors into her kitchen. “I’ve always believed that cooking with someone and making them comfortable in the kitchen is one of the easiest ways to allow them to open up. It’s like being in a therapist’s chair – before you know it, you’ve shared your most intimate life stories while casually frying chicken or folding chocolate into a batter. I loved every moment of it!”

BAKING FRESH FUTURES
Zola reached ‘billboard status’ when she became a judge on MasterChef South Africa, alongside seasoned food writer and editor Justine Drake and fine-dining chef Gregory Czarnecki.

COOKING WITH SOMEONE AND MAKING THEM COMFORTABLE IN THE KITCHEN IS ONE OF THE EASIEST WAYS TO ALLOW THEM TO OPEN UP. IT’S LIKE BEING IN A THERAPIST’S CHAIR

“The production team, Home Brew, were phenomenal. There was so much care taken to look after the well-being of the judges and contestants. It is such a gruelling experience that is mentally and physically challenging,” she shares. Despite that, she enjoyed every moment of judging, particularly because the three judges all had high standards but differed in their thinking and mentorship styles. “I think it created the perfect balance on the show,” she says. “It was an opportunity and experience of a lifetime that I would happily do again.” [The fifth season of MasterChef SA started on SABC3 at the end of July, where she reunited with Justine Drake and new judge, chef Katlego Mlambo.]


This acclaimed chef, writer and presenter strongly believes that celebrations should not only happen when we achieve great things. That’s why every Sunday is special to her.

“I wake up in the morning, check my fridge and freezer, then decide what I’m making for lunch. The family doesn’t even communicate or plan a meeting time: every Sunday without fail, the whole family just rocks up around 12:30pm for lunch with me. It’s one of our unspoken rules,” she says.

“Then the day consists of enjoying lunch together and playing board games with my niece and nephew. My family celebrates every single moment we have together. Celebrating life every day, regardless of the circumstances, is so important to us.”

ZOLA'S BOOKS

Simply Delicious, 2016

Simply Zola, 2018

Simple Seven Colours, 2022

Text courtesy of My Kitchen Magazine