Passion and love surely are the best ingredients in the world. Themba Gwejela’s love for food is evident in every picture that ends up on his social media platforms. This love is what prompted many people to clamour to taste his food and Mr Gwej’s Kitchen was born.
Gwejela hosts sit down Sunday lunches every second Sunday. The menu often features hearty, wholesome meals that come with a story.
“I am a trained marketing professional, qualified and experienced in that space. I had about 12 years’ experience and then ventured out into consultancy in 2014. In 2018, I opened what is now known as Mr Gweje’s Kitchen as a business and started hosting a table of eight at home, where I was serving three- course meals paired with wine, sometimes gin, sometimes beer, depending on the partnership that came on board.
“The idea was a gathering random strangers around a table in the comfort of my own home, a better way to dine than going out to a restaurant,” he says.
Gwejela says his relationship with cooking started in his early years.
“I have always had a passion for cooking, I have been cooking since I was a kid. It was my mother, who was a stay-at-home mom, who absolutely enjoyed making food for us and my grandmother who was a great baker and my aunt. So I was influenced by growing up in a home [where] fresh stuff was always being made for us,” he explains.
The cooking fundi still works his nine to five but he says that his cooking business is a nice breakaway from ‘laptops, offices and meetings’ and that it’s relaxing and allows him to have a bit of balance in his life.
He recently branched out into selling cakes during the national lockdown.
“I have always been baking but now I started selling cakes during lockdown and I have been making a lot of amazing birthday cakes.”
Gwejela will be one of the judges of the #TanquerayFoodie campaign, which is a competition the gin brand launched to encourage all foodies and aspiring chefs to share their favourite food recipes and showcase how they pair it with their cocktail making skills.
Gwejela told SowetanLIVE that he is looking for somebody with natural flair.
“In terms of the competition, what I certainly will be looking for is people with a natural flair for things ... I am looking for people who are going to display passion. I really want to see their passion come to life as they engage with food.”
All South Africans over the age of 18 can enter and stand a chance to win a grand prize of R15,000 in cash to further fund their goals, as well as being crowned #TanquerayFoodie of the year 2020.
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