Prue Leith has announced that she will be returning to South Africa for two weeks in February 2020. One of the world’s most well-known restaurateurs and culinary experts, Prue was born in South Africa and will be here to promote various projects, including her cookbooks, novels and spectacle range.
After a week in Cape Town, Prue will visit the Prue Leith Chefs Academy in Gauteng, where she will spend time with students and alumni. The Academy, established in 1997, has become the go-to college for chefs looking for interns or apprentices in the kitchen. “The Prue Leith Academy is my dream of a chefs’ school with that proper mix of professional training, practical experience that engenders a life-long obsession with, and real love of good food,” says Prue.
Prue will be promoting her latest cookbook while in the country. Titled PRUE, it’s a compendium of her all-time favourite recipes, from modern vegetarian ones developed last year to classical dishes she learnt 50 years ago. “I stopped writing cookbooks and food columns in the fifties to give myself time to write novels,” she says. “But then, TV shows like Great British Menu and The Great British Bake Off pulled me back into the foodie world. Food has changed so much, I couldn’t resist publishing again. PRUE is full of modern, undaunting, original and quick-to-do recipes.”
“It will be wonderful to celebrate my 80th birthday back in South Africa,” says Prue. “I am looking forward to seeing family and friends, [as well as] reconnecting with business associates and meeting new ones while I’m there. There is nothing like South Africa for warmth, hospitality, beautiful scenery and lovely people.”