What started as a hobby, assisting her mother to cook after school as a child, has made Grace Telana a winner of the Western Cape Provincial Mzansi Tavern Chef.
The 63-year-old mother of three from Tshawe’s Tavern in D -Section, was crowned on Tuesday 7 February, after dishing up a mouth-watering umleqwa with steam bread and spinach at the fierce competition at Nederburg Wine Estate in Paarl. She walked away with R30 000 cash prize and is now in line to snatch the R100 000 makeover for her establishment.
Telana saw off a highly competitive field representing taverns from Khayelitsha, Eerste River, Gugulethu, Maitland and as far as Malmesbury.
The 15 contestants seared, sauced, sautéed and spiced it out in glorious weather in the welcome shade of the courtyard at Nederburg, producing a mouth-watering array of dishes ranging from chicken tagliatelle to mutton stew, ribeye steak with mushroom sauce, traditional pap and chicken liver, and vetkoek with burger patties, to seafood pasta.
The contestants had an hour to prepare their meals.
The provincial contest was the first event in the Mzansi Tavern Chef Cook-off competition, hosted at Nederburg in partnership with Distell and the National Liquor Traders.
It will be followed by similar events in the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng.
Master chefs Peter Goffe-Wood and Bennie Masekwameng, along with Drinks Federation of South Africa chair Monhla Hlahla, chose the winner.
The provincial winners will then go toe-to-toe in the national contest for the grand prize.
The competition is a campaign to promote food serving in taverns as one of the measures to address binge drinking.
An ecstatic Telana could not believe she was the winner. The judges congratulated her on combining excellent technique with authentic township flavours to create what they dubbed a “delicious, wholesome meal using affordable ingredients, presented with a creative flourish”.
Over the years, Telana has natured her craft and started cooking for her community while donating meals to a local creche.
Telana said winning would go a long way to help her to provide food for the community.
“On the eve of the competition, I slept in the early hours as I had to prepare vetkoek I sell at the local school. So, when I left my house I was very down and not even sure what I was entering,” said a thrilled Telana. “When I saw other contestants, I was shaken because I had brought something simple. Even when they announced my name, they had to repeat it a few times for me to hear it. I was in disbelief.”
The judges kicked off proceedings by briefing the contestants. They then handed over the competition aprons and other cooking instruments.
“We’ve enjoyed a truly enticing array of dishes here today and picking a winner has been hard. I’m inspired by the passion for food we’ve seen from competitors and I hope this competition motivates all of them to keep developing their skills,” said Goffie-Wood.
Hlahla said she was blown away by the determination and standard of cooking on display at the event.
“This competition has sparked such excitement among taverners for cooking and serving food in their outlets and that’s exactly what it’s all about. The joy and pride in their cooking shown by these tavern chefs is a wonderful example of the kind of positive, uplifting and responsible environment we want to promote,” said Hlahla.
Distell Head of Corporate Affairs Southern Africa Jolene Henn said the competition builds on the company’s food-serving campaign through its Bansela customer rewards programme, in which taverners are rewarded with prizes and incentives for serving food and water, as well as complying with liquor license trading principles.