TIME magazine pinpointed 24 November 2010 as the day ‘Woodstock officially became Cape Town’s hottest district… when Luke Dale-Roberts opened The Test Kitchen there.’ Opening a fine-dining restaurant in a warehouse space in the Old Biscuit Mill was a gamble, but after a four-year tenure as executive chef of LaColombe, which culminated in an amazing 12th place on the S. Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants list, Luke was up to the challenge.

The Test Kitchen, as the name implies, afforded the dynamic chef the opportunity to innovate, and the resultant dishes were a reflection of his creativity with flavours and ingredients. His vision eventually expanded beyond the food to encompass the whole dining experience – and the world loved it.

Heralded as a founding pillar of the vibrant South African fine-dining landscape, The Test Kitchen operated for eleven years, won numerous local and international awards, and moulded the careers of many talented chefs, leaving an incredible and lasting legacy.

In The Test Kitchen, Luke celebrates this legacy and shares his story, as well as some of the restaurant’s most beloved and iconic recipes. With a foreword by Heston Blumenthal and incredible colour photographs throughout, The Test Kitchen is a stunning visual keepsake as flavourful as Luke’s spectacular dishes.

Building a healthy lifestyle can be daunting, especially with the level of confusion that exists about health and wellness. As low-carb high-fat diets have increased in popularity, a wealth of information has proliferated on the internet and in print media. The problem is knowing what works, and differentiating between sound advice and opportunistic entrepreneurs whose primary aim is to monetize ‘solutions’.

In 2017, Hendrik Marais founded Keto Lifestyle South Africa with the aim of providing the information needed to build a healthy, sustainable lifestyle based on the ketogenic diet and intermittent fasting. He believes that while nutrition is important, a healthy lifestyle must find the right balance between sleep, stress management, exercise and nutrition. By making keto accessible and approachable, Marais has inspired thousands of people to adopt simple, healthy eating habits and stick to them.

Living the Ultimate Keto Lifestyle incorporates a comprehensive introduction that sets out his principles and practices for following a keto diet, and explains how to achieve your weight-loss goals. This is followed by a selection of delicious, healthy recipes, as well as sample meal plans and ideas for effortless entertaining.

Izelle Hoffman is on a mission to change perceptions about food and to increase awareness of the benefits of eating the right foods and choosing a life of health and wellness. Did you know, for instance, that the humble sweet potato contains anti-inflammatory properties and regulates blood sugar levels? And that raw honey isn’t simply a sweetener – it has antifungal and antiviral properties as well?

In Mindful Eating, Izelle encourages you to rethink what you put in your body in a fun, healthy way, and demonstrates that living a healthy lifestyle doesn’t mean that your diet needs to be boring and restricted, especially where vegetables are concerned. By sharing her recipes for energising breakfasts, quick weekday meals, sweet baked goodies, classics with a healthy (Izelle-approved) twist and family favourites, among others, Izelle aims to help you take back control of your wellbeing.

Packed with delicious, nutritious and deceptively simple recipes, Mindful Eating is more than a cookbook; it is an inspirational and motivational guide to leading a healthy lifestyle through good eating.

Let's ban boring!

Neo Nontso, Instagram sensation and queen of having fun in the kitchen, will take you through the basics and show you how cooking for the whole family can be budget friendly and lip-smacking good! Filled with Neo's most requested recipes and her top tricks and treats,@dinewithneo also features her go-to grocery list, bake vs grill option, perks of lockdown, and recipes from some of the most watched food videos in South Africa.

From corn dogs to oxtail, every single one is a must try. Pasta la vista baby!

Fatima Sydow is the Cape Malay cooking queen. Fatima Sydow Cooks is an ode to her authentic self and the delicious, flavoursome family food she loves to cook.

Think mussel curry, home-baked bread to mop up the creamy sauce, slow-braised, soft-as-butter short ribs, a real-deal masala steak sandwich and a hearty, wholesome oxtail stew.

A book for everyone, with a bit of Fatima magic – and a few novel twists to some of the classics.

The third cookbook from Zanele van Zyl. Based on the isiZulu phrase, which means ‘have you eaten yet?’, a question asked by every mother, aunty or grandmother when you enter their home, Senidlile Kodwa? is an expression of Zanele’s identity, her love language, and the joy she finds in preparing food for other people.

Filled with 100 simple yet tasty recipes, the book is a celebration of food, whether you’re cooking for yourself or the people you love. Expect everything from bright and cheery breakfasts; wholesome veggies; meaty mains with heart; a signature Sunday spread; traditional village favourites; simply delicious sides; and, of course, something sweet to round it all off.

And, in true Zanele fashion, these recipes all show that cooking beautiful food can be fun and unintimidating!

This comprehensive guide contains everything you ever wanted to know about meat: the cuts, nutritional value, ageing, factors that determine tenderness, cooking methods, freezing, terminology – to name just a few aspects.

Most people enjoy a bit of meat, so the lip-smacking, finger-licking deliciousness of Meat: The Ultimate Guide is sure to whet the appetite. Annelien Pienaar, the bestselling author, builds on her winning concept of combining a recipe with a lesson, but this time her focus is on meat.

With recipes for beef, lamb and mutton, pork, poultry, offal and game to marinades, flavoured salts and oils to complement the cuts, this book will more than hold its own on your kitchen bookshelf.

When Karen Dudley closed her iconic restaurant, The Kitchen, in Woodstock, Cape Town, there were tears all over for the beloved establishment. Since then, Karen has found that connection does not necessarily reside only in bricks and mortar. She has found that she can carry that deliciousness onwards. This book is all about how she has done just that.

In Onwards, Karen Dudley weaves a compelling narrative of how her life changed after the Covid-19 pandemic forced her to close her restaurant, The Kitchen. The book is about how these bleak circumstances gave rise to something beautiful, offering the time and space for inspiration to take root, to rediscover her connection with food, and to shift her perception of what it means to cook, for oneself and for others.

Onwards is a book about the way forward, filled with wholesome, nourishing and indulgent recipes, with a story of hope and happiness threaded throughout.

The South African Keto and Intermittent Fasting Cookbook gives you all the tools you need to make the positive switch to a healthier you.

In this book, Rita and Natalie guide you through every step of your ketogenic journey, explaining the reasoning behind the keto diet and intermittent fasting, and how easy and accessible a ketogenic lifestyle is.

Complete with:

• A 12-step programme
• A list of carb levels per foodstuff
• Shopping lists and delicious recipes
• 7-day meal plans including dairy-free, budget, carnivore, camping, and intermittent fasting
• Nutritional information, testimonials and tips
• Keto Q & A

Say hello to low-carb, high-fat eating and goodbye to carbo-loaded bread, pasta, grains and starchy veggies!

The love language of the Cape Malays is food, and author Cariema Isaacs says tramakasie (thank you) every day that she gets to express herself in this way.

Modern Cape Malay Cooking, Cariema’s fourth cookbook, is a celebration of food and feasting, providing a contemporary view of Cape Malay cuisine and simple home cooking. The recipes showcase a blend of flavours that redefine the Cape Malay palate through modern ingredients and global influences. Though traditional Cape Malay cuisine and recipes have stood the test of time, adaptations have given rise to a culinary fusion. This is especially thanks to the Cape Malay millennial generation that craves popular dishes from the East and West, such as a comforting pasta or a quick stir-fry, but with a Cape Malay twist – this means it must be spicy, it must be saucy and it must be packed with flavour!

In Modern Cape Malay Cooking, Cariema shares the recipes and influences that have inspired these modern dishes, with simple ingredients and vibrant aromatics for anyone who is curious and courageous enough to create flavour.

The highly anticipated new cookbook from South Africa’s award-winning and bestselling cookbook author and chef.

Here she presents a brand-new cookbook full of delicious and easy-to-follow recipes from the African continent. Mogau shows readers how to host any occasion with stylish and tasty food, from soul-warming one-pot dinners, hearty plant-based dishes, and irresistible easy bakes to signature seven-colour meals, decadent desserts, and a vibrant cuisine. Patiently and with the exuberance her social followers will know well, she explains how to cook her incredible Oxtail stew, her savoury rice-stuffed chicken or her mouth-watering blueberry malva pudding.

Hosting with the Lazy Makoti is the food cookbook for every occasion - even if it's just a party for one.

Veganism is a growing phenomenon on the culinary scene. The South African Vegan Cookbook is the first of its kind locally.

In it you will find everything you need for a vegan lifestyle: from basic information such as the definition of veganism, why it’s good for you, answers to common questions, the essential equipment, vegan alternatives for everyday products, the pantry essentials and resources to learn more. The family-friendly recipes are easy to make and are made from locally-sourced products. This cookbook includes recipes for breakfast, snacks, lunch, tea time, the braai, entertaining and late-nights feasts.

Think decadent chocolate granola and overnight oats, kale chips and cauliflower bites, easy-to-make couscous salad, lasagne and stir-fry as well as South African favourites like milk tart, banana loaf, macaroni-and-cheese and chicken burgers. And to top it all: chocolate mousse, date balls and truffles.

Vegan 101 – good for your health and the planet.

Food and memory are inextricably linked; flavours and dishes evoke emotion, rooted in nostalgia or specific experiences. The Hungry Table embodies this idea. For Fatima Saib, food exists as a backdrop to her childhood memories, intertwined with her precious relationship with her late father. Derived from this culinary inspiration, the book expertly weaves story and memory through a journey of over 90 contemporary recipes, most with a nod to the author’s South African-Indian heritage.

With this in mind, the book is divided into five chapters, each one tapping into a feeling. The Basics offers an array of chutneys, sauces, pickles and flavour-enhancers to round off any dish. Togetherness is an ode to food that is best shared among friends and family, like hot honey fried chicken and fragrantly layered biryanis. Comfort covers those recipes that warm the body and soul from the inside out, like dhal and rasmalai. From Fast, expect deliciously quick-and-easy dishes like chilli crunch toasted cheese or yoghurt and cardamom potato curry. And for those slower days, when time is best used to explore and enjoy, look to Relaxed, for dishes like parathas, sticky BBQ lamb ribs or creamy cabbage and corn bake.

The Hungry Table ignites the senses, telling a story of time and place, reminding readers to slow down and enjoy food and the way it makes us feel. It is an invitation into the kitchen, to enjoy the catharsis of cooking and the dishes that result, and, perhaps most importantly, to be nourished by the memories created in the process.

For all keto lifestyle followers, this 52-week planner is the ultimate guide to planning your meals and tracking your progress! It guides you on your keto diet pathway, with or without intermittent fasting, in an easy and fun way right from starting a keto diet, and throughout maintaining the lifestyle.

Using a practical, visual and affirming approach, this stand-alone journal offers blank, customisable templates to help you plan your meals and track your progress as you embark on your keto journey.

As both a journal and planner, this book does not include any recipes or meal plans, and so it is also the perfect companion to author Hendrik Marais’ Living the Ultimate Keto Lifestyle: A South African Guide & Cookbook.

In a world where allergies and food intolerances are becoming more and more common, The South African Guide to Gluten-Free Baking will make your time in the kitchen a little sweeter. This cookbook will teach you how to seamlessly pivot from ‘normal’ baking to gluten-free baking, so you can enjoy your favourite baked goods and sweet treats without the guilt – or any unpleasant side effects. As a go-to guide for baking all things gluten-free, the book includes a section on how to stock your pantry for gluten-free baking (including a breakdown of the best gluten-free flours to use, and which combinations work best for different recipes), what ingredients are safe to use for a gluten-free diet, as well as the equipment and tools you’ll need to become an expert gluten-free baker.

Gluten-free baking can seem daunting, but The South African Guide to Gluten-Free Baking will inspire readers to learn how to make their favourite baked goods gluten-free – without being able to tell the difference! – so they can walk into the kitchen with confidence. Expect recipes for everything from decadent triple-layer celebration cakes, cute cupcakes and one-bowl brownies, delicious doughnuts, decadent cheesecakes, comforting pies and easy pizzas, South African favourites like malva pudding, as well as a chapter on easy air-fryer bakes.

The Great Marula Menu  is a delicious collaboration between Amarula and passionate home cooks from across South Africa. A curation of the best Amarula-inspired recipes shared by devoted Amarula fans, the book is a true reflection of community and a shared love of great flavours. With contributions from renowned culinary figures The Lazy Makoti and J’Something, who bring their unique talents to the table, The Great Marula Menu promises a cultural journey through diverse South African home cooking.
 
From tasty lunches to moreish mains, scrumptious desserts and inspired cocktails, each recipe contains either a splash or a generous pour of this world-famous liqueur. But more than this, the book is a tribute to the land where the marula trees grow. Gathered within these pages, you’ll find a representation of this nation’s vibrant imagination – all brought together in the spirit of generosity. It’s a delightful blend of Amarula’s spirit, culinary expertise and the warmth of home cooking, inviting everyone to savour the rich tapestry of South Africa’s food culture.

Mexican cooking, Mzansi-style!

In Mexico in Mzansi, chef Aiden Pienaar brings local flair to some traditional Mexican favourites. Like the ubiquitous taco, this cookbook is filled with a surprising array of flavours and influences to excite even the most experienced chefs and exhausted home cooks.

By thinking a little outside the box, and using South African ingredients and cooking techniques – boerie tacos and braaied corn, anyone? – Chef Aiden gives Mexican cuisine a Mzansi-style facelift.

From classics such as mole, refried beans and nachos, to innovations including Mexican chakalaka, chilli con carne vetkoek and sosatie tacos, these are recipes to inspire and delight. All are easy to follow and require minimal prep.

In addition, Chef Aiden will teach you to make your own tortillas and salsas, show you how to present tacos, enchiladas and quesadillas, as well as introduce you to different cooking methods, from braising and grilling to air-frying. That’s not to mention the array of delicious desserts to round off your meal, or the collection of margaritas to tantalise your tastebuds.

Cape Mediterranean food/cooking is a South African style of cooking and entertaining influenced by one of the oldest and arguably also the healthiest cuisines in the world. It has developed naturally from within the Western Cape due to its Mediterranean climate and the abundance of classic Mediterranean-style local produce.

This book features more than 75 delectable recipes, from breads, dips and tapas, to lavish salads, succulent roasts, freshly made pastas and heavenly desserts. The recipes bring seasonal produce to the fore and the balance of dishes and ease of preparation will have you inviting friends and family over in no time to share in this veritable bounty.

It never hurts to be prepared. This is also true of cooking for yourself or your family. Clever Cooking shows you how to easily plan and prepare nutritious meals free of harmful preservatives, chemicals and additives, not only to ensure your family eats healthily, but to save you some time and money, too!

In Clever Cooking, Vickie shares her survival strategy for cooking and eating nutritiously when you lead a busy lifestyle – meal prep. She offers some of her family’s favourite dishes, from soups and stews to oven bakes and one-pan dishes, as well as sauces and ‘flavour starters’, that can be prepared ahead of time, so you can quickly prepare a wholesome meal from scratch on busy nights.

What’s more, Vickie knows that all South Africans are faced with the unique challenge of loadshedding, which can disrupt our time in the kitchen. Meal prep is a clever way to work around those annoying blackouts – making wholesome meals in advance, when you have electricity available, is a great way to ensure you and your family can still eat well, even with limited resources.

Whether you want a hearty lamb shank bobotie; creamy fish pie; Moroccan meatballs; or chicken, leek and mushroom pies, your family can enjoy healthy and delicious meals every night. And, you’ll be satisfied knowing that by spending time in the kitchen on one day, you’ll be giving yourself a night off in the future! Vickie includes tips for freezing and defrosting food, batch cooking, as well as a sample seven-day meal plan to show how you can combine advance prep with dishes made from scratch on the night.

Trakteer jou gesin op ou familiegunstelinge soos lewerkoekies, bobotie en skaapboud in die Toe-gedeelte en geniet weer die liplekker lekkerte van melktert, gemmerkoekies en gemmerbier.

As jou tyd beperk is, wend jou tot die kortpad- getoetste resepte in die Nou-gedeelte, soos 'n sjokoladekoek wat in slegs 7 minute gemaak word, en beproefde, gesonder geregte soos spinasiegebak, pampoenmuffins, bobotie met 'n appellaag en eiervrugslaai.

’n Keur van al Marinda se toekatyd-resepte, die goue gunstelinge waarmee sy grootgeword het! Vier die lewe en dek ’n feestafel wat kreun van oorvloed: beesstert, pasteie, kerrieafval, skaapstertjies, varkribbetjie, doeksagte lamstjops. Brode, patees en nostalgiese slaaie sorg vir bykos. Vir weeksaande is daar lipaflek-pastas en vir suikertande outydse Cremoratert, poffers en vele verassings. En as bonus–konfyte, souse, blatjang en ander inmaaksels staan nou ook hul plek vol in haar reseptespens.

"Die resepte in hierdie boek het ek fyn uitgekies. Dit is kos wat ék sien as onthoukos."

Marinda se koskas maak voorsiening vir ontbyt, sop en voorgeregte, brood en beskuit, slaai, seekos, vleis, groente, pasta en bygeregte, nageregte, terte, koeke en ander soetigheid. Lipleklekker kos wat jy in ’n japtrap kan berei sonder fieterjasies of vreemde bestanddele. Die resepte is in eenvoudige taal geskryf vir elke dag se gebruik, vir elke kosliefhebber. Nou kan jy die gewilde aanbieder van Marinda Kook op VIA, se eerste kookboek geniet.

The inspiration behind Restaurant Klein JAN did not come from a desire to create a fine dining experience in the middle of the Kalahari. It came from the heart – from the tables of my childhood – memories that I have taken with me into an unknown land. Although I hadn’t been to the Kalahari before visiting Tswalu for the first time, I instantly connected with this place. I felt my grandmother’s presence at Boscia House, I fell in love with the people of the Northern Cape and was overwhelmed by their hospitality, and the more time I spent in the Kalahari, the deeper my roots spread through the endless red earth. This book is my homage to losing your heart to a special place, and making your dreams come true.

Creating Klein JAN has been Chef Jan Hendrik van der Westhuizen’s great homecoming project. Growing up on a farm in South Africa’s rural Mpumalanga province, he felt an instant connection to the vastness of the Kalahari and knew that the time had come to return the spirit of JAN – his Michelin-star restaurant in Nice – to home soil.

Klein JAN is situated on one of South Africa’s leading private game reserves, Tswalu Kalahari, a refuge – untamed, untouched, unspoiled – that celebrates the simple, authentic splendours of this magical region.

Klein JAN tells the story

With this great new book, The South African Air Fryer Cookbook 2, you can delight friends and family at breakfast, lunch, supper or any special occasion with delicious takes on classic South African dishes.

Best-selling author Louisa Holst knows what the air-fryer market wants and has brought local flavours to the fore once again! Recipes include springbokkie cheesecake, brandy-and-coke chicken wings, snoek and apricot filo samosas, and a fish-finger Gatsby for the hungry kids that they can whip up themselves. Chicken peri-peri pie, gammon (yes – it can be done in the air fryer), roast lamb, buttermilk rusks, pavlova and mini fruit cakes are yet more of the mouthwatering dishes in the book.

The air fryer is a versatile kitchen gadget that has grown in popularity over the last few years. Essentially it is a small countertop convection oven that cooks food quickly and efficiently. While many people only use their air fryers to cook pre-prepared food like crumbed chicken, or frozen fish or chips, it can actually be used to prepare many tasty dishes, even for baking!

In The South African Air Fryer Cookbook, we focus on all things local, with favourites such as malva pudding, bobotie, apricot snoek with sweet potato, milk tart, and boerewors with chakalaka, all prepared in the air fryer.

You’re sure to find your most cherished South African dish in this fabulous collection of recipes.