Cape Town cookbook scoops international award

The “Oscars” of the cookbook world, the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards, was recently hosted in Macao, China, and Cape Town-based chef Zola Nene walked away victorious.

Chef Zola Nene, the star of Celeb Feasts with Zola, first received a Gourmand World Cookbook Award in 2017 for her debut book, Simply Delicious.

Her second book, titled Simply Zola, was awarded the world’s best English cookbook by a celebrity TV chef. “Wow… That’s two books both winning international awards … Whew, no pressure for the third book, hey?!?” Nene joked on Instagram.

 

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SIMPLY ZOLA – BEST IN THE WORLD! ? . It’s official, we won! My second cookbook has won an International Gourmand Cookbook Award… I’m so happy! ? . Thank you to my awesome cookbook team who helped put this awesome book together – @penguinbookssouthafrica @beverleydodd @bas_new @matannakatz @tobymurphy_photography WE DID IT (again)! ?? . Thanks to everyone who was rooting for me for this win! Wow…That’s two books both winning International awards… whew, no pressure for the third book, hey?!? ? . . #zolanene #cookbook #simplyzola #winner #gourmandworldcookbookawards #gourmandbestintheworld

A post shared by Zola Nene (@zola_nene) on Jul 3, 2019 at 6:18am PDT

Mogau Seshoene, another South African celebrity chef, also won an award in what she describes as the “Olympics” of cookbook competitions. Her book, titled The Lazy Makoti’s Guide to the Kitchen, snagged the second place in the Best First Cookbook category in the Gourmand World Awards.

Other local cookbooks that won at the awards include: