Article by: Tian van Taak
From selling art to tantalising our taste buds on MasterChef SA ….
She does not just smile, she invites you in with her eyes and bubbly personality. I met Didi Stols at her house in Langebaan and a few hours later was forced to leave as our simple interview became a long conversation about our love of life and the amazing area, we stay in.
Didi was born and raised in Pretoria, she started her working career in Auctioneering on cruise ships and soon moved on to become one of the most sought-after auctioneers in her industry. Then as many stories go these days, Covid hit and people returned home. Didi now had the option to choose where she wanted to live and had always been in love with Langebaan. She immediately felt at home on the West Coast as people always told her she was a sea baby born on land.
She embraced her life-long passion of cooking and started to explore the local cuisine, food community and environment. This led her to meet Isabella Niehaus, fellow food goddess, who has now become one of her food mentors. She and Isabell share the food philosophy that as far as you can, always cook from scratch.
She was encouraged by friends to try out for the most recent season of MasterChef South Africa (season 4). She immediately made an impact on the program and won her very first challenge. She was known for her creativity as she consistently reinvented some of the simplest dishes.
I asked her about her experience on MasterChef,”it is as nerve-racking and fast passed as it appears on television, if they say 20 minutes then you only have 20 minutes”. The producers at one time asked her to slow down the running around the kitchen as her poor cameraman could not keep up.
The hard part was to keep everything a secret from my friends and family while we were shooting and in post-production. She is happy with the progress she made and says that she received great support from the locals once the program was on television. Even though she is not born and raised here she has become one of our phenomenal women on the West Coast.
Didi stated that the concept from “farm to table” has become the current trend on the food scene, and this is a common and well-used concept here on the West Coast as we always know a guy that went fishing or someone that is producing something. This also supports our trend of supporting local small businesses as it provides more than just economic growth, but a sense of community that cares for the environment and the people around them.
Didi is now in the first chapter of her food career, she is launching her website that will offer at-home chef services menu inventions and so much more. She wants to reach out to the community and teach children to love food as much as she does.
This young dynamic woman calls her kitchen her “happy place”, an Old-Fashioned cocktail her favorite drink, and the yellow field flowers of the West Coast her inspiration of beauty. We want to embrace her and invite all our readers to try out her recipe for Pumpkin bread and Bokkom Butter she will also be contributing more recipes in future issues of our magazine.
Please find and like Didi on all her social media platforms Instagram, @happididi, and webpage www.didistols.com
Thank you to the photographer Yvette Jordaan – www.yvettejordaan.com.
#didistols
#foodprincess
#Sloepwesfood
#sloepwesinspiration
#masterchefsa
