Missing video
Sorry, this video could not be found.
Hero types
South African culinary heroes
South African culinary heroes are among our nation’s best storytellers, using the language of food. Their stories are not just about good food, but about doing South African food justice by keeping food traditions alive and according the gastronomic contributions of all communities their rightful place in our culinary history.
more
Renata Coetzee
Renata Coetzee has had an illustrious career as one of South Africa’s most respected food researchers and nutritionists. Inspired by the diverse eating traditions and traditional foods of the different tribal groups in southern Africa, Renata has made researching and documenting their food cultures and customs her life’s work.
more
Lucas Ndlovu
Lucas Ndlovu’s innate talent and outgoing personality allowed him to break the mould at a time in South African kitchens when black staff were relegated to cleaning up after their white counterparts. In so doing, he has become a role model for young aspirant chefs.
more
Dorah Sitole
Dorah Sitole’s culinary pedigree is one few chefs can lay claim to. From magazine food styling to appearing on BBC Food, this multi-talented, highly respected chef has embraced the full spectrum of the culinary arts; but she remains best-known for bringing the food of Africa to the fore.
more
Cass Abrahams
Spices are the words with which Cass Abrahams tells the bittersweet culinary tale of her adoptive Cape Malay community and she is determined that the world should know, and taste, their rich and delicious history.
more
Billy Gallagher
Billy Gallagher will never match the celebrity heights of TV chefs like Gordon Ramsay. His fame is far more lasting and profound. Lauded among the highest echelons of the cooking fraternity worldwide, no one has done more to enhance the chef’s profession in South Africa.
more
Dr Christiaan Barnard
Dr Christiaan Barnard is one of South Africa’s favourite sons. The cardiac surgeon made history by performing the world’s first successful human heart transplant at a Cape Town hospital in 1967. He perfected a medical procedure that has since gone on to save millions of people’s lives around the world.
more
Icons of Fashion
Icons of South African fashion design include rule-breakers, visionaries and business entrepreneurs, who, in flexing their creative muscles, have helped create South Africa’s unique design identity. Some have worked tirelessly behind the scenes, while others have shown their designs on catwalks from Cape Town to New York.
more
Sydney Brenner
Sydney Brenner has produced some of the world’s most pioneering medical research. With a keen interest in genetics, Brenner was responsible for developing a new DNA sequencing technique and demonstrated the cause and effects of genetic mutations, research which contributed to him being awarded the 2002 Nobel Prize for Medicine.
more
Thandi Klaasen
Thandi Klaasen is nothing less than a jazz legend. Her career spans over more than 50 years and it already started as a child growing up in the multi-racial Johannesburg suburb of Sophiatown. Her mother was a domestic worker and her father a shoemaker, but her humble origins did not deter her from dreaming big.
more
Stand-up comedy in South Africa
Comedy nights in South Africa provide diverse comedic entertainment, plus a good dose of fresh talent, too; events often include open mic sessions, providing platforms for the new comics hoping to break onto the scene. They provide an exciting night out as audiences never know what routine they might get.
more
South African Comedy Festivals
South African comedy festivals offer fantastic platforms for the country’s weird and wonderful characters, communities and cultures. A comedy festival is the best way to get it all in one shot, and to experience the country’s cream of the crop, mixing it up with top international comedians. A laugh a minute.
more
South African comedy clubs
Expect the unexpected in South Africa’s comedy clubs, where diverse comedians will shake things up with their radical commentary, scathing satire, colourful impersonations, improv routines, open mic sessions and a whole lot more; anything and everything goes at these eclectic, laugh-a-minute, multi-cultural affairs.
more
Princess Magogo
She is a Zulu legend, a woman of infinite creativity, and an absolute authority on the traditions, folklore, music and history of the Zulu nation. Princess Constance Magogo Sibilile Mantithi Ngangezinye Ka Dinuzulu is also the mother of Mangosuthu Buthelezi, current leader of the Inkatha Freedom Party.
more
Nelson Mandela's humanitarian legacy
Nelson Mandela has been called one of the world’s great humanitarians, but this humble man is not about worldly accolades, he simply lives the ubuntu philosophy – ‘I am because of others’. His many humanitarian efforts continue to feed the world and touch the lives and hearts of those in need as he lives the example of kindness and generosity of spirit.
more