Marlene van der Westhuizen is a chef and author who divides her time between Cape Town, South Africa and Charroux in the French countryside.

Her passion for food and ingredients started when tutored in the kitchen of chef John Jackson. After many wonderful food journeys starting in the Alsace on the Rhine river, doing endlessly exciting and challenging food and wine pairing lunches for wine estates in the Western Cape, as well as food demo’s at The Food Studio in Green Point, Marlene now cooks to her hearts’ desire during her Cook’s Tours at Bagatelle, Charroux and her home in Green Point, Cape Town, where she gives private cooking lessons.

Marlene is all about the joy of wholesome memorable food, sourcing it, cooking it and sharing it with friends and fellow food travellers.  She shares the understated glamour of French country cooking, eating and living and teaches her students how to cook and present glorious meals.

Marlene van der Westhuizen is the author of seven cook books and currently she is working on her eighth called Plate featuring the best of her main dishes ever compiled.  Her successful Afrikaans TV food show ‘Van Skaapstert tot Camembert’ is currently being repeated on the VIA channel.

WEEKEND ITINERARY

FRIDAY 

12:00 Arrive at African Relish and settle in to accommodation.

13:00 Light lunch prepared by Marlene and our resident chef Camilla Comins. Meet the team and discuss schedule.

14:00 Cooking session 1. What makes French cooking accessible to home cooks? The class is built around selection of fresh ingredients sourced from local food suppliers.

18:00 Ghost walk and village ramble – Ailsa Tudhope, historian and story teller, takes you on a journey back in time with tales of ghosts and village rogues from the past.

20:00 Celebration dinner at African Relish.

SATURDAY

 08:30 Visit to Saturday market for some local flavour.

09:00 Breakfast at African Relish

10:00 Cooking session 2. The elegance of of French entertaining and execution of recipes.

13:00 – Light lunch at African Relish

14:30  Cooking session 3. Creating a 3 course meal with food styling tips and table decor.

17:00  At leisure.

20:00  Dinner at African Relish where we enjoy the fruits of the day’s culinary endeavours.

SUNDAY

09:00 Cooking session 4. Breakfast, hands-on cooking session with chef Camilla Comins and demo of a recipe from Marlene’s new recipe book Plate to be published later in 2018.

 11:30 Depart on onward journey.

Price: R3950 pp for the course inclusive of all meals, recipe handout, listed excursion and a special African Relish apron.

Book Now

For more information about this course, send us a message.