Cooks ready for taste of Kitchen fare

Maritsa Prinsloo, 35, originally from Dordrecht, who will be cooking with her wife Maradine Whitehorn-Prinsloo, 35
Maritsa Prinsloo, 35, originally from Dordrecht, who will be cooking with her wife Maradine Whitehorn-Prinsloo, 35
Image: Supplied

Two competitive home cooks who originally hail from the Eastern Cape are about to don their coveted black My Kitchen Rules aprons, take up their positions at the stove and outcook the opposition in season two of the M-Net reality cooking show which begins tomorrow at 6pm.

East London-born Luyanda Mafanya, 23, who has teamed up with “food buddy” Donald Chipumha, 28, and Maritsa Prinsloo, 35, who is married to Maradine Whitehorn-Prinsloo, 35, and grew up in a small town in the Dordrecht district, said their Eastern Cape roots had influenced their cooking style.

“My country background will definitely influence the kind of dishes I cook during the show,” Prinsloo, an IT store operations manager who now lives in Bloemfontein with her wife, their four Pekinese dogs and a German Shepherd, said.

“I hope people can see and feel the connection between what we present and where I grew up and the respect we have for local produce.”

“I also love doing head-to- tail cooking as I’ve got immense respect for where our food comes from.”

Having grown up in a small town called Rossouw, where her former policeman father was a farmer, Prinsloo spent time making butter and sourdough breads with her granny on her grandparent’s farm, but her signature dish is crispy lamb ribs “just the way my gran used to make them”.

Food blogger Mafanya on the other hand, is a city girl, having spent her early years in East London before moving to Johannesburg with her
mother.

She still has strong ties with the city and visits her father’s Vincent Heights home on a regular basis.

“One thing I can take from visiting East London and cooking during the school holidays is that I can cook with limited ingredients and for a big group of people,” she said. “My dad has a big heart and would allow people to stay with him until they found their feet, so I knew how to adapt my cooking to any amount of people.”

Having become “instant friends” with Chipumha at a cooking class she hosted, Mafanya was persuaded by her food buddy to enter My Kitchen Rules 2.

“I think the judges are cool,” Mafanya, who aims to “call it like it is” when it comes to rating dishes cooked by her competitors, said.

“Chef David Higgs acts tough but deep down I think he’s a softie and J’Something is an all-round nice guy.”

For Prinsloo, entering the show was “a no-brainer”.

“We both loved MKR Australia and said if the show should ever be done in SA, we would definitely give it a go.”

And, while her wife loves making desserts with “intricate components”, Prinsloo is a more fundamental cook.

“I’ve got a more homey style of cooking, without too many doodads.

“I also love doing head-to- tail cooking as I’ve got immense respect for where our food comes from.”

Winning the R1-million is especially high on Mafanya’s agenda and the social media influencer, who has her own YouTube channel, has already figured out how she will spend it.

“The R1-million is really important to me.

“It will allow me to finally get a car and I’d also put it back into my business and build a test kitchen from where I can work and build my business.”

Prinsloo’s plans for the coveted prize-money would include a trip to France, where she and her wife would dine at the Michelin star Jan restaurant in Nice, opened by South African chef Jan Hendrik van der Westhuizen.

“We would also love to open an intimate pop-up restaurant and serve people delicious food,” she said.

l Mafanya and Prinsloo will be seen in the later episodes or the second table of the show, which begins with the first table of five pairs of foodie contestants tomorrow. — barbarah@dispatch.co.za

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