Evita's Bossie Sikelela, by Evita Bezuidenhout

Evita's Bossie Sikelela, by Evita Bezuidenhout. ISBN 9781415201565 / ISBN 978-1-4152-0156-5

Evita's (Bezuidenhout) Bossie Sikelela is lovingly mentored by my dear friend Linda Vicquery, the expert behind the dishes and illustrations, with a foreword by none other than the pride of our nation, Charlize Theron.

Pieter-Dirk Uys  Evita Bezuidenhout  

After the success of my first cookbook, Evita's Kossie Sikelela, there was no way of avoiding the next step: another book focused on what I do best, and that is cooking for reconciliation. Very few people have asked me to explain this, because so many understand that putting people round a table and feeding them with love, can only lead to better things. Imagine how enemies have to change their plans. No fighting round the dinner table; too many knives and forks. I am proud to be a terminal optimist who is prepared to reinvent the definition of hope. In these dark and dangerous days, my optimism means that I sometimes expect the worst, while hoping that the worst will never be as bad as I imagine. So far, so good. But when I'm in my kitchen preparing a unique and original treat for those I love - and even those I don't even like - my glass is always half full and never half empty. First rule of cooking: pour a lovely glass of wine to be your friend. (Except if you have to drive - then your glass stays empty!). So from 'kossie' to 'bossie'. I decided to leave the safety of my kitchen for a world tour of South Africa's unique recipes, tastes, foods, feasts and firesides. And so I used whatever time I could muster (running a country does sometimes leave you some Time, especially if it's African!) to travel from the Swartland, via the Klein and Groot Karoo, into the Lowveld, past the Bosveld and towards the Highveld, then across the plains of the Free State, into the glow of Golden Gate to beyond the Garden Route through the Overberg. (Look at the inside of the dust jacket for some impression of my route.) I hope to expose the tasty, soft underbelly of our rainbow culture in all its diversity. There are different tastes in Paternoster compared to Polokwane, and what is eaten in both is often foreign to those in the Gamtoos Valley Oudtshoorn is not just famous for ostrich feathers and the Cango Caves, but a perfume of the veld that stays with you forever. So join me in celebrating the culinary art of our multi-talented nation. As you page through this beautiful book, you will go from the San to the suave, from the bush to the baroque, and from the braai-boma to the beautiful beach. I have added lifesaving tips on various essential treatments and medications I discovered en route during my adventures in veld and vlei. You will find sensible hints on recession-budgeting and allergy-control, even how to make your own salt -the gift of Ocean. Everything made yours with a focus on hope, optimism and my 'yes-we-can' passion. Once again, here is a book full of personal photos of the one they call 'the most famous white woman in South Africa' (if not Africa!), as well as panoramas of our beloved country. As with the first cookbook, Evita's Bossie Sikelela is lovingly mentored by my dear friend Linda Vicquery, the expert behind the dishes and illustrations, with a foreword by none other than the pride of our nation, Charlize Theron. Unfolded, the dust jacket is a full-colour poster, backed up by a roadmap of many a delicious culinary journey.

This is an excerpt from the cookbook: Evita's Bossie Sikelela, by Evita Bezuidenhout.

Book title: Evita's Bossie Sikelela
Author: Evita Bezuidenhout
Imprint: Umuzi
Type: Cookbook
Publisher: Random House Struik
Cape Town, South Africa 2012
ISBN 9781415201565 / ISBN 978-1-4152-0156-5
Hardcover with dustjacket, 18x26 cm, 128 pages, throughout colour photographs