South African Cooking

One day someone said to me: “You are French but you are blond, how comes?!”…Well I’m from the Viking’s region of France, the beautiful Normandy, so I still have a few of their features and the love of food from all the goodies they brought on their vessels: cereals, meats, cheeses and more! I lost the helmet with the horns along the way though!

I spent the first twenty years of my life in a small village not far from Cherbourg, where I developed in my early years a passion for cooking that would never leave me to this day… After building myself strong enough, with the help of my amazingly supportive family, in 2001, I decided to fly away 9000km down South, to Cape Town, taking with me my passion for food, my culture and my roots to share with the people surrounding me in a complete new environment.

The history of South Africa is very rich and I actually realize it while shopping at supermarkets, markets and delis. I’m lucky to live there and enjoy superb ingredients or fresh produces that I can use for my cooking. Yes! I give French cooking classes in Cape Town to whoever is keen on learning about the French classics such as pissaladière, moules marinières, tarte flambée, coq au vin, boeuf bourguignon, lapin aux pruneaux, baba au rhum, tarte tatin, crème brulée… the list is long…very long and I should actually say that you can decide on whatever French dish you would like to learn. Alternatively, I can give you suggestions and we’ll cook it and eat it together at the end of the lesson!

And to add more fun to people’s life and mine (!), for the past few years, from April to September, I organize culinary tours  where I can accompany my clients from 7 to 10 days or the tours can also be self driven. During these tours , you are going to eat, drink and even speak and sing French!!!

For the guided tours, in Normandy, my gentle dad is our chauffeur, my smiling mum is the director of logistics, and on all other tours I am your dedicated driver, host, guide, cooking instructor, translator, friend and chef! Together, we go to daily markets, charming villages, gastronomic restaurants, bistros, shops and most of tours include a cooking class!

These tours are for novice and experienced chefs as my focus is to expose my clients to traditional recipes and…celebrate life together- no specific cooking level required for that!

I hope to see you soon around a finger-licking meal in Cape Town or in France!