Absolutely fascinating the amount of food blogs out there.  Delish.com recently published their tastiest, most delectable, most must-read food blogs, with recipes, kitchen stories, and mouthwatering photos – all 5 pages of them.

In South Africa there are a number of annual awards acknowledging  food bloggers in our own country.

• Food and the fabulous was voted best food blog for 2011  in the annual SA Blog Awards, a great site lots of interesting snippets and recipes and some very good photo’s.

• This year Eat In DStv Food Network Produce Awards will recognize for the first time the role that local food bloggers play in growing the local food industry. They have the shortest of what they regard to be the 10 best food blogs in South Africa on their website, together with links to each site.

Wickedfood cooking school subscribes to a number of food websites to keep abreast of food trends from around the world. All those websites listed below have a newsletter that you can subscribe to, as well as mouth-watering recipes and food ideas. Our favorite sites include:

• BBC Food – With the selection of easy-to-prepare recipes, many of them from featured celebrity chefs.  Each week the newsletter carries a pertinent theme, this week it is Valentine’s recipes, including a great selection of cocktails.  See our recipe of the week.

• Saveur - Regarded by Wickedfood cooking school as the best food magazine and web site in the world.  Apart from a wide selection of scrumptious recipes, the web site also has interesting articles on cooking techniques and food travel.
• JamieOliver.com – Jamie’s official web site, again with a superb selection of easy to prepare recipes and food tips.  See is delicious romantic  dinner for two menu ideas for a special valentines feast.

Wickedfood Cooking School runs cooking classes with a minimum of 8 participants and a maximum of 12 as this gives everyone hands-on experience and keeps the cooking class small enough for maximum learning. These cooking classes are conducted by our senior instructors who have extensive experience in the food industry and share a variety of additional cooking tips throughout the cooking class.

South African cuisine is a reflection of the immigrants who make up the population.  It is a melting pot of Afrikaner, Cape Malay, British, Indian, Jewish, Greek, Italian, Asian, Portuguese  and more recently, immigrants from across Africa. Each wave of immigrants, in their own particular way contributed towards the makeup of the mod and South African table.  It is the young yet vibrant culinary culture that started in the mid sixteen hundreds with the colonization of the Cape by the Dutch, who introduced the savoury spices of the east and the exotic fruits and vegetables from the Americas to the African continent.

In her book, South Africa Eats leading South African foodie and bestselling author Phillippa Cheifitz provides a tempting sampler of the rich variety of our culinary tradition. She has asked 13 of SA’s leading foodies, from Dorah Sitole to Mariana Esterhuizen, about their family history, roots and influences – and, most importantly, for a few of their favourite recipes – Chraime (see our recipe of the week), chicken pie, fish curry, Denningvleis, and Phutu, to name just a few.

The second half of the book expands on these flavours with a great selection of additional recipes.

The book reflects memories of our diverse cultural heritage and the many people that have formed South Africa’s culinary home. It is a great reference point, complemented by some stunning food photography.  A great gift, portraying SA’s rich and diverse cultural  heritage.

Interested in buying this book? Visit - Red Pepper Books – The South African online bookshop, is able to offer you great prices on any book you are looking for, and they deliver to your door. Pay only R282 for this book (Recommended Retail Price = R345)!  Red Pepper Books is offering Wickedfood Cooking School subscribers an EXTRA 10% off this book. Simply type in the promotional code WICKEDFOOD on the shipping page of the checkout process and your purchase will be reduced by a further 10%, a total saving of R63.

Wickedfood Cooking School runs cooking classes throughout the year at its purpose-built Johannesburg cooking studio. Cookery classes are run in the mornings and evenings 7 days a week (subject to a minimum of 12 people). The venue is also popular for corporate events and private functions – teambuilding cooking classes, birthdays, kitchen teas, and dinner parties with a difference.

Our cooking lessons are hands-on, where every person gets to participate in the preparation of the dishes. They are also a lot of fun where you not only learn new skills, but get to meet people with similar interests. For corporate groups and team building cooking classes these events are a novel way of creating staff interaction or entertaining clients.

River Cottage has become synonymous in Britain for food with conscience. Here they practise the art of growing fruit and vegetables as naturally as possible. Mark Diacono leads the Garden Team at Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s River Cottage – running the garden courses, giving talks, hosting events at River Cottage HQ and appearing in the River Cottage TV series. Mark is known for his commitment to sustainable, ethically produced food. As well as having a unique take on growing food, Mark champions climate change growing, an approach to producing food that takes sustainable advantage of the new weather conditions. Diacono’s sense of humour is a rare gem in books like this, and his passion and enthusiasm come through in these two books that he authored in the River Cottage Handbook series:

Veg Patch: River Cottage Handbook No.4

Named as the Practical Book of the Year at the Garden Media Guild Awards 2009, this book draws directly from Mark’s experience as an acclaimed climate-change gardener, and of setting up a kitchen garden from scratch for River Cottage.

Mark explains the practical aspects of organic growing, introduces the reader to a whole world of vegetables they may not have previously considered, and does away with alienating gardening jargon. He begins with a catalogue of vegetables, explaining each of their benefits, what varieties to go for, dos and don’ts, and popular culinary uses.

Next, he explains how to turn this diversity of vegetables into a coherent kitchen garden plan appropriate for your space, whether it be a patch of acidic soil, a roof-top garden or an allotment.

Included in the book is a section showing how to look after nutrients in the soil, how to resist pests and diseases, and how to make the garden sustainable and organic. Learn about seed trays, supporting plants with climbing structures, mulching, composting, companion planting, irrigation and promoting pollination

About thirty recipes finish the book.

Fruit: River Cottage Handbook No.9

Growing fruit at home is a delicious and altogether more enjoyable alternative to buying it in the shops. Mark offers a practical and accessible guide to making the most of your garden and what it has to offer. The first part of the book is an A-Z of the different varieties of fruit, with old favourites like apples, cherries, plums, blackcurrants, white currants, redcurrants, strawberries, blueberries, gooseberries, raspberries and rhubarb as well as more exotic species like figs, grapes, cranberries, Japanese wine berries and apricots. Each is accompanied by a photograph, with detailed advice on when and how to grow and harvest.

In the second part of the book, Mark gives straightforward guidelines on techniques like pruning and training, as well as how to deal with problems or pests. There is a section dedicated to growing under covers and in containers. Introduced by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and with 30 delicious recipes, beautiful, full-colour photographs and a directory of useful addresses, this is the ideal reference for any aspiring fruit grower.

Interested in buying this book? Visit - Red Pepper Books – The South African online bookshop, is able to offer you great prices on any book you are looking for, and they deliver to your door. Pay only R236.80 for this book (Recommended Retail Price = R296)!  Red Pepper Books is offering Wickedfood Cooking School subscribers an EXTRA 10% off this book. Simply type in the promotional code WICKEDFOOD on the shipping page of the checkout process and your purchase will be reduced by a further 10%, a total saving of R59.

Wickedfood Cooking School runs cooking classes throughout the year at its purpose-built Johannesburg cooking studio. Cookery classes are run in the mornings and evenings 7 days a week (subject to a minimum of 12 people). The venue is also popular for corporate events and private functions – teambuilding cooking classes, birthdays, kitchen teas, and dinner parties with a difference.

Our cooking lessons are hands-on, where every person gets to participate in the preparation of the dishes. They are also a lot of fun where you not only learn new skills, but get to meet people with similar interests. For corporate groups and team building cooking classes these events are a novel way of creating staff interaction or entertaining clients.

Over the past few years, every British celeb chef has done a Great British recipe book. Is this one any different?

Jamie’s Great Britain explores much of the makeup of what contemporary British food is today.  Through the millennia Britain has survived invasion, exploration, colonisation and immigration, all contributing to what is great about modern British food in the home today. Curry has replaced roast beef as the national dish and these trends are reflected in the book.

Jamie grew up in one of the first true British “gastropubs”, which his Mum and Dad still run today. For him, the heart and soul of real British cooking is food that puts a smile on your face. And that’s what this book is all about.

The book includes over 100 of Jamie’s favourite British recipes: some are indisputable classics, some are his versions of the classics, some may become classics with time – from scones, and Bubble and Squeak, to Yemeni lamb recipes from Wales, scallops with black pudding, roast veg vindaloo, and rabbit bolognese.

Don’t expect  just familiar comfort food like old-fashioned bangers and mash and a ultimate shepherds pie recipe, you may well be disappointed. In this book Jamie provides a new twist on the British national cuisine.

Interested in buying this book? Visit - Red Pepper Books – The South African online bookshop, is able to offer you great prices on any book you are looking for, and they deliver to your door. Pay only R304 for this book (Recommended Retail Price = R380)!  Red Pepper Books is offering Wickedfood Cooking School subscribers an EXTRA 10% off this book. Simply type in the promotional code WICKEDFOOD on the shipping page of the checkout process and your purchase will be reduced by a further 10%, a total saving of R65.

Wickedfood Cooking School runs cooking classes throughout the year at its purpose-built Johannesburg cooking studio. Cookery classes are run in the mornings and evenings 7 days a week (subject to a minimum of 12 people). The venue is also popular for corporate events and private functions – teambuilding cooking classes, birthdays, kitchen teas, and dinner parties with a difference.

Our cooking lessons are hands-on, where every person gets to participate in the preparation of the dishes. They are also a lot of fun where you not only learn new skills, but get to meet people with similar interests. For corporate groups and team building cooking classes these events are a novel way of creating staff interaction or entertaining clients.

Born in Egypt, educated in Paris, and now based in the UK, Claudia has written several award-winning cookbooks including Arabesque, A Book of Middle Eastern Food, The Book of Jewish Food and The Food of Italy.

She is one of the foremost authorities on Mediterranean, Middle Eastern and North African cooking, and in The Food of Spain she brings her incomparable authenticity, vision, and immense knowledge to bear on the cuisines of Spain.

Spanish cuisine is at a critical moment. Claudia claims that Spain has transformed itself into the world’s effervescent centre of gastronomic creativity. Standing on a precipice, unsure of what lies ahead, is perhaps the best time to look backward. “You have to look into the past to understand Spain’s complex gastronomic map.” This book certainly captures that flavour, and will be a constant reference at Wickedfood Cooking School, when developing new Spanish cooking classes.

Other books on Spanish cuisine that we have reviewed include:

• Seasonal Spanish Food
• MoVida Rustica
• The Book of Tapas
• Jamie Does…
• 1080 Recipes
• A Day at elBulli
• Moro
• Arabesque
• The Food of Spain

Interested in buying this book? Visit - Red Pepper Books – The South African online bookshop, is able to offer you great prices on any book you are looking for, and they deliver to your door. Pay only R358.20 for this book (Recommended Retail Price = R398)!  Red Pepper Books is offering Wickedfood Cooking School subscribers an EXTRA 10% off this book. Simply type in the promotional code WICKEDFOOD on the shipping page of the checkout process and your purchase will be reduced by a further 10%, and therefore pay just R312, a total saving of R86.

Wickedfood Cooking School runs cooking classes throughout the year at its purpose-built Johannesburg cooking studio. Cookery classes are run in the mornings and evenings 7 days a week (subject to a minimum of 12 people). The venue is also popular for corporate events and private functions – teambuilding cooking classes, birthdays, kitchen teas, and dinner parties with a difference. Our cooking lessons are hands-on, where every person gets to participate in the preparation of the dishes. They are also a lot of fun where you not only learn new skills, but get to meet people with similar interests. For corporate groups and team building cooking classes these events are a novel way of creating staff interaction or entertaining clients.