I love cooking with Asian flavours, but making these little pockets of goodness from scratch myself is not something I’ve ventured into. And with HOME.BAO, I don’t have to! I met Tina when I visited the MasterChef set. We quickly got talking and realised we had a lot in common: we are both foodies -of course- but also entrepreneurs.

It is that time of year again! Recently, this year’s Food&Home Awards judges were announced, and it is about time I introduce them to you. These judges have both the privilege and the responsibility to taste South Africa’s leading brands’ food and drink products and determine which are the best of the best. 

I have fond memories of myself, as a child, going around then neighbourhood with sticks in pots with soil, dragged around on a little cart, selling my ‘plants’ to any willing neighbour willing to part ways with a few coins. In my later years, I had many different ventures, and selling Marie Biscuit Fudge was one of them.

I eventually grew up, and became an entrepreneur. And to this day I wonder if my early childhood memories of sales and entrepreneurship are what shaped me to become who I am today.

“Why did you not start a restaurant after winning MasterChef?”

This is probably one of the question I get asked most often. I started my Instagram account The Roasted Dad during the Covid-19 lockdown. After winning MasterChef South Africa, The Roasted Dad became more than just a passion project. I became more serious about food and cooking. I started running events, from cook-with-me demos, to pop-up restaurants, restaurant takeovers, and food and wine pairings. I designed a menu to be enjoyed onboard LIFT Airlines. But I never started a restaurant.

“Can you make on that says ‘The Roasted Dad’?” I asked tongue-in-cheek.. but low and behold, the next day Ronel de Jager, the power house behind the BAARD & Co brand…