Speaker 1: It's time to celebrate now a huge win for local
Speaker 1: creativity and conscious cooking. Food stylist, home cook author and
Speaker 1: all around creative Isabella Niehaus has once again wowed the
Speaker 1: global stage by taking home Best Cookbook in a World
Speaker 1: in the World at the twenty twenty four Gormand World
Speaker 1: Book Awards for the second year in a row. This
Speaker 1: time it's for Earthling Food, co authored would with artist
Speaker 1: Louis Jansen van Furen and featuring ten other culinary creatives
Speaker 1: from around the country, and it's a really rich tapestry
Speaker 1: of plant based recipes, visual art stories and also deeply
Speaker 1: personal moments around food. It's published by Naledi and it
Speaker 1: invites readers into a world of flavor and connection. I'm
Speaker 1: delighted that we're joined by Isabella, who's actually in Turkey,
Speaker 1: so we're speaking to via Zoom about this incredible project,
Speaker 1: the power of collaboration, and of course the award. Isabella,
Speaker 1: good afternoon, Good to have you with.
Speaker 2: Us, Hi, Sarah Pain. Thanks. Yes, from a very very
Speaker 2: hot Turkey.
Speaker 1: Send some this way, Send some this way, please, we're
Speaker 1: reeling from a very cold and wet weekend. Listen Isabella,
Speaker 1: an enormous congratulations to you. Two years two international wins.
Speaker 1: How are you feeling about the win?
Speaker 2: Well, I must admit in twenty twenty three when we
Speaker 2: won the first award for a vegan book, the best
Speaker 2: vegan book in the world, you obviously don't think by
Speaker 2: doing a second book that you'll get the award again.
Speaker 2: So I mean it was that the most amazing feeling.
Speaker 2: You're sitting among representativeships from eighty three different countries and
Speaker 2: all of a sudden your book is up there and
Speaker 2: it's number one in the world, and you don't know
Speaker 2: whether you should laugh, whether you should cry. I think
Speaker 2: you even forget your own name. You forget that you've
Speaker 2: got to say thank you in English and not donkey, donkey,
Speaker 2: donkey in Afracans. So it really it's fabulous, and I
Speaker 2: think it only hits you the next day when you realize.
Speaker 1: Wow, yeah, yeah, I imagine it's probably still sinking in. Honestly,
Speaker 1: what was the vision behind Earthling Food is wella how
Speaker 1: did this idea idea come together? And also maybe you
Speaker 1: could speak a little bit to Louie's contribution as well.
Speaker 2: Yes, well, Louis is a vegan, he's been a vegan
Speaker 2: for twelve years, and we've been friends for absolute ages,
Speaker 2: so even the first book was inspired by him. At
Speaker 2: that stage, I'd already published my own book, which was
Speaker 2: also a best in the world. God has sound as
Speaker 2: if I'm so cute, so we it was. It was
Speaker 2: a novelty for me to have to actually cook vegan,
Speaker 2: and I was so inspired by how easy it is
Speaker 2: and how healthy and how beneficial it is for a
Speaker 2: lot of people. So after the first book, obviously after
Speaker 2: winning the World Award, we decided we have to do
Speaker 2: a second book. And it was actually the president of
Speaker 2: the Gourmand Awards when I told him that we were
Speaker 2: going to do a second book. He said, it's very
Speaker 2: difficult to do something in the same genre that is
Speaker 2: completely different, and that is why we decided to get
Speaker 2: some of our most favorite food people, chefs and writers
Speaker 2: to be part of the book, just to make it
Speaker 2: completely different. So we asked eight of our favorite people
Speaker 2: the ten chefs includes me and Louis, to each give us,
Speaker 2: even though they're not vegan, to give us three vegan recipes,
Speaker 2: and then we filled their chapters with seven additional recipes,
Speaker 2: so it had a completely new take to the previous book.
Speaker 2: We also used three different photographers with different styles, and
Speaker 2: I think the most favorite part of the book for
Speaker 2: me and Louis was I called it putting together the Bible,
Speaker 2: where you have everything printed out and you almost do
Speaker 2: a layout which picture should go where, and do a
Speaker 2: beautiful mixture of the work of the three photographers. Yes,
Speaker 2: so how did.
Speaker 1: You decide who you were going to feature outside of
Speaker 1: you and Louis? Of course, how do you? I mean
Speaker 1: that must have in and of itself been quite a
Speaker 1: painstaking process.
Speaker 2: It was, but in the beginning we basically had categories
Speaker 2: and we thought someone like Quibbers from a Maratha from Wolfrat,
Speaker 2: because he does a lot of foraging, he would be perfect.
Speaker 2: Then Sola Nane and Ruben Ruffelow Labs of Mine. I
Speaker 2: absolutely adore those two people. Vicky de Bierre, who is
Speaker 2: a very very well known South African. She used to
Speaker 2: work on a magazine as a food editor, which he's
Speaker 2: written a whole lot of books on low cobs. So
Speaker 2: Vicky was a nice, a lovely person to bring in.
Speaker 2: Arena from Lumpa course, it's someone that we both absolutely
Speaker 2: adore and her food is wholesome. So everyone that we
Speaker 2: brought in that we pulled in had had a speciality.
Speaker 2: Lazelle from from Serendeputy in wilderness grows her own mushrooms
Speaker 2: and things. So yes, everyone we brought in had had speciality,
Speaker 2: and we are fond of all of them. So it
Speaker 2: was our food, like our food. Heros do you think?
Speaker 1: I wonder, Isabelle? I mean, it is a vegan cookbook
Speaker 1: in that it features vegan recipes, but it's not just
Speaker 1: for vegans. How do you hope that it speaks to
Speaker 1: all of us, even the carnivores amongst amongst us, you know, everybody,
Speaker 1: no matter what people's food philosophies are, all their particular
Speaker 1: diets or food choices.
Speaker 2: Well, I'm not a vegan. I mean I love I
Speaker 2: specialize in cooking fish so and love red meat, a
Speaker 2: little bits of chicken. So I'm not a vegan. But
Speaker 2: the book is there. Actually it is actually perfect for
Speaker 2: everyone because all you would do is you can substitute
Speaker 2: where where for instance, that they talk about or we
Speaker 2: talk about a plant based butter, you can use normal butter.
Speaker 2: A plant based egg replacement, you use normal eggs. So
Speaker 2: the entire book basically can be used by anyone. There
Speaker 2: are the most most fabulous recipes in the book and easy.
Speaker 2: Nothing is there are no odd ingredients, nothing about it
Speaker 2: is weird. So I think most people, without realizing, eat
Speaker 2: vegan quite a few times in a week. I mean,
Speaker 2: if you put a tray of vegetables with olive oil
Speaker 2: into the oven, that's vegan. People just when they hear
Speaker 2: the word vegan, they want to run to the mountains.
Speaker 2: Louis always says it, Just give me a butternut that's
Speaker 2: been cut in half, put some olive oil in it
Speaker 2: and stood in the oven, and that's meal. And a
Speaker 2: lot of us eat like that.
Speaker 1: Anyway, it's true what you're saying. I mean that there
Speaker 1: is an on both counts, and that often when people
Speaker 1: start talking about vegan recipes, if you don't, if you
Speaker 1: are not necessarily somebody who experiments in the kitchen or
Speaker 1: has a wide cooking repertoire. I'm concluding myself in that
Speaker 1: the thought that, the thought that, the thought that the
Speaker 1: number of my ingredients may may be restricted by turning
Speaker 1: vegan a vegan dish sends me into hives. But I
Speaker 1: realized that actually that's not true at all. Michelle has
Speaker 1: actually sent a message in on the WhatsApp line saying,
Speaker 1: has anyone noticed how vegetarian and vegan food disappears first
Speaker 1: at functions? Everyone loves it, says Michelle, And you're right,
Speaker 1: and she's asking me to please say the name of
Speaker 1: the book again. It's called Earthling Food. And if you
Speaker 1: are just joining us, I'm delighted to be joined by
Speaker 1: the author, Isabella n ee House, who has just one
Speaker 1: the best cookbook in the world at the twenty twenty
Speaker 1: four Gorman World Cookbook Awards. And that's true. Add vegetarian
Speaker 1: food is always very quick off the plate at various functions,
Speaker 1: isn't it, Isabella.
Speaker 2: Yes, because it's also light. You know. That's the one
Speaker 2: thing when you know when people say to me, but
Speaker 2: you're not a vegan, and I'll say, but I probably
Speaker 2: eat vegan four times a week because I love just
Speaker 2: putting a tray of veggies in the oven, cooking some
Speaker 2: or just getting some bulgar wheat and mixing it with
Speaker 2: the veggies, and you have this absolutely amazing meal. You know,
Speaker 2: you can add, you can add, you can make a
Speaker 2: sauce with yogurt or whatever. I mean. Those I think
Speaker 2: the biggest thing for me if I had to go
Speaker 2: vegan that I really really would miss is cheese and
Speaker 2: cream and butter.
Speaker 1: Exactly the butter, the butter, I wonder. So the African
Speaker 1: cuisine isn't always associated with plant based food. We're known
Speaker 1: as the Briers, the nation of meat lovers. Did you
Speaker 1: see that the book as an opportunity or both books
Speaker 1: that you've done that vegan books as an opportunity maybe
Speaker 1: to sort of shift perceptions and also to celebrate just
Speaker 1: what is possible and not only possible here, but possible
Speaker 1: with amazing local produce as well.
Speaker 2: The big thing is that people think when they do
Speaker 2: a brie, and it's right, they can have their meat.
Speaker 2: But how many of us when you do a brie
Speaker 2: you put potato intantfoil, or an onion int and foil,
Speaker 2: or a buttonnut or cabbage. There is nothing better than
Speaker 2: a cabbage put on an interant foil and on the fire.
Speaker 2: So those things have already been been done for so long,
Speaker 2: but people don't think of that when they When you
Speaker 2: say there's a vegan coming and you're doing a bri,
Speaker 2: you think, oh, dear lord, what are we going to do?
Speaker 2: But you're already putting those veggies. I do when I
Speaker 2: do a brier. I love putting the vegetables on the coals,
Speaker 2: so it is nice to think that you can actually do.
Speaker 2: You can do a barbecue with meala's and potatoes and
Speaker 2: onions and red peppers, and you can do the most
Speaker 2: magnificent barbecue like that. So yes, it is a more
Speaker 2: healthy way. And I think with especially with Louis Way,
Speaker 2: and I'm speaking on his behalf because he's in France,
Speaker 2: he doesn't. It's not a question of saying to people
Speaker 2: you must stop eating fish or any animal product. It's
Speaker 2: just to be conscious of where your products come from.
Speaker 2: And it's the same with our vegetables and things. Be
Speaker 2: conscious of where our products are coming from. Try and
Speaker 2: get the best possible produce. That was basically the main
Speaker 2: focus behind doing two vegan books is to make people
Speaker 2: aware of what we're putting in our bodies.
Speaker 1: It's rather serendipitous that we're talking to you and what
Speaker 1: has become known as meat free mondays, I go other
Speaker 1: around the world, so folks maybe rush out, go and
Speaker 1: buy go and buy earthly food. Still up something today
Speaker 1: for meat free Mondays and then let us know tomorrow
Speaker 1: what you cooked. And maybe you've already got Maybe you've
Speaker 1: already got the cookbook. What's your favorite recipe from the book?
Speaker 1: Maybe you could let us know if you are just
Speaker 1: joining us. I'm absolutely delighted that we are joined by
Speaker 1: Isabella nie House. We're talking about her latest win at
Speaker 1: the twenty twenty four Gommand World Cookbook Awards, taking home
Speaker 1: Best Cookbook in the World for Earthling Food, which she
Speaker 1: co autered with Louis Jansen Fanfuren and ten other culinary
Speaker 1: creative South Africans. Really a rich tapestry of plant based recipes,
Speaker 1: visual art, stories, and deeply personal moments around food and
Speaker 1: food is deeply personal, isn't it, Isabella? There is there
Speaker 1: are stories around food that we passed through our families,
Speaker 1: through generations.
Speaker 2: Do you know, Sarah? I think that food is love
Speaker 2: and food is joy, and I always are used to
Speaker 2: do whenever I cook, I always for a lot of people.
Speaker 2: I always say that I love creating moments of magic
Speaker 2: and joy for people, and food does exactly that. I mean,
Speaker 2: there is nothing better in life than preparing a wonderful
Speaker 2: meal for me and actually seeing how people really enjoy it.
Speaker 2: So so much love and passion goes into cooking that yes,
Speaker 2: I think food and food is like a common denominator.
Speaker 2: It's something that pulls people together. That strangers can become
Speaker 2: friends over a plate of food.
Speaker 1: For sure. What's next? It's always awful, is it when
Speaker 1: when you celebrate something and you're experiencing your own magic
Speaker 1: and joy and just and having that moment, and then
Speaker 1: somebody like me comes along and says, right back to work,
Speaker 1: what's coming up next?
Speaker 2: I've actually I've just completed a manuscript for a next book.
Speaker 2: When I go back now, I'm just going to put
Speaker 2: the final touches to it. It will be published next year,
Speaker 2: and it's called Bella's Kitchen and it is just well,
Speaker 2: it's a cookbook with loads of memories of growing up
Speaker 2: in the pre state of living in Langabah and I
Speaker 2: used to open my house for long table lunches. Now
Speaker 2: I live in Rebecca Steel. And it's also celebrating the
Speaker 2: years that I because I really started cooking very late
Speaker 2: in my life. I found the fashion very late in
Speaker 2: my life, in my mid fifties, so I'll be turning
Speaker 2: seventy now almost. So it's also my years as a
Speaker 2: fashion editor of traveling the world and then being subjected
Speaker 2: to the most amazing, amazing meals all over the world,
Speaker 2: and how those memories stuck, and how I give interpretations
Speaker 2: of those wonderful meals that I enjoyed, how I kind
Speaker 2: of do those meals now?
Speaker 1: Well, we cannot wait, so I'm sure it's likely to
Speaker 1: be another award winner for now though, from all of
Speaker 1: us here at Cape Isbella, congratulations on your win folks.
Speaker 1: The book is called Earthling Food. Why not go and
Speaker 1: pick up a copy and make something for meat free Mondays.
Speaker 1: It's four minutes to two o'clock