Hello! Thank you for visiting :-)
I am originally from South Africa but currently reside in the United States with my husband, where a wonderful platform called "Instagram" occupies most of my time as I develop recipes, style and photograph food.
My goal for this website is to share just a few recipes per month, ones that really mean a lot to me and this usually has something to do with my heritage. It's still a work in progress but I thank you for your patience while I try to make it work - I'm convinced that I have to do it by myself and learn a new skill in the process.
How did I get into all this? I ask myself that question quite often. After graduating from Stellenbosch University in South Africa with a degree in Social Work I asked myself whether working as a social worker in South Africa would bring me more joy, or more sorrow. Those four years studying put me in a position to see the hardship of so many in my country, and even then it had started to weigh heavily on my mind. I thought about taking a year off to do something completely different, to find myself and decide what it was I wanted to accomplish in life. A friend suggested that we teach English in South Korea and after a quick search on a map I threw all caution to the wind and applied. I spent six years there - It was magical and opened my little world up to things I could never have imagined before. The food, the culture and ability to use cooking as a way to teach students English was my idea of heaven.
In my last year I met a soldier from Mississippi and we fell hopelessly in love. We decided to move back to the United States and bought our current home, a charming gingerbread-style Victorian, where I started to experiment with both Korean and South African flavors, along with all of the Southern dishes that I was now being introduced to. Sharing on Instagram was a natural progression. One of the best things about it was that my adjustment to small town Mississippi was made much easier because borders were eliminated online...I could talk with people from all over the world who had similar interests as me. It grew from there and even allowed me to quit teaching and persue this passion full-time.
I do not consider myself a "social media influencer" - Those words make me cringe. I am just a home cook who is passionate about food, about the love shared between people at a table, about how to make a plate of food look beautiful and the stories behind it all. To keep my passion alive I sometimes work with brands here and on Instagram, but they are always brands that I believe in. You can read more about me here, and visit my Instagram. My work has been featured by Martha Stewart, Cooking Light Magazine, Taste of the South Magazine (People to Watch in the South, 2022), Food & Wine, TheKitchn, Eat & Drink Mississippi, Bake From Scratch Magazine, and more.
My cookbook, South of Somewhere: Recipes and Stories from My Life in South Africa, South Korea & the American South (A Cookbook) was released in September of 2023. It was an honor to write this book and now that I’m updating this about me section, one of the accomplishments that I’m most proud of. You can find it at your local bookstore, on Amazon, or there’s a link with other options on my publisher’s website, Simon & Schuster.
If you'd like to contact me, please use the form below. Now that the book is done, I’m happy to discuss travel opportunities and television appearances. Still sad I had to turn down being a contestant on Next Level Chef in 2022! Ha!
Thanks again!
Dale