Chef Zanele van Zyl has two cookbooks to her name.
The 41-year-old former IT technician from Bergville, KwaZulu-Natal, was on maternity leave in 2012 when her love for cooking was kindled.
Her husband, who loves to cook and took culinary classes while abroad in Canada, served as her inspiration.
She loved what he would make and when she had time during her leave, she took to the stove.
“He cooked good looking food, restaurant worthy food and I saw the challenge and I also started developing the love of cooking. I was home then.. I had time to explore, so I started trying to develop recipes and also went on the internet to explore.”
After giving birth and having to go back to work, Van Zyl decided that she’d rather go to culinary school instead.
She was able to go three years later and she hasn’t looked back since. One of the perks of leaving her job behind is that Van Zyl is able to own her time.
“I’m my own boss, I do things at my own time; it gets hectic sometimes because I do a lot of partnerships with brands.”
Van Zyl has recently partnered with frozen vegetable company McCain, she hosted a masterclass with singer and foodie J’Something, to launch their #MadeWithMcCain virtual series, which aims to inspire consumers to do more cooking and they also stand a chance of winning a spot at the Mother’s Day Made With McCain Masterclass with J’Something and Drizzle & Dip’s Sam Linsell.
Of the collaboration Van Zyl says: “McCain is always in our fridge, so it was very easy to relate to the brand… I’ve always loved McCain, so working with them was just pleasant.”
Van Zyl’s books, titled Cooking with Zanele Volume 1 (2018) and Cooking with Zanele Vol.2 (2020), are self-published.
“One of the challenges of being self-published is money, because everything comes from your pocket. The editor, the layout designer, the printing and how to get your book in stores, it’s all about spending money when you are a self-publisher.”
Van Zyl says that British chef Jamie Oliver is one of her inspiration, she loves his approach to food which is to make it nutritious, but not time consuming.
Van Zyl says that her books are also for the foodie that understands that you don’t have to spend time slaving in the kitchen. Her books have chapters for kiddie eats, baking and vegan. She also has recipes for traditional foods such as isijingi (maize meal and pumpkin dish) and umqombothi (traditional beer).
“What I enjoyed about writing the books was doing my own content.”
Van Zyl’s word of advice for foodies who want to make quick convenient meals is this: “Always start with what you have in your pantry or grocery cabinet, put it together, you don’t have to outsource all the time by going to the store. Just cook what you have and everything will just work, if you cook it with love it will work to your advantage.”
She says she fears resuming her cooking classes due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“I’m waiting for it to die down; people are asking me when I am starting again, I’m too scared. All it needs is just one person is to be infected and that’s it.”
She has held cooking classes all over the country.
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