Lorna Maseko | |
|---|---|
 Maseko in 2020 | |
| Born | 3 July 1983 Alexandra, Gauteng, South Africa |
| Education | |
| Years active | 2005–present |
| Spouse | Gcina "GC" Lukhele (m. 2010; div. 2016) |
| Children | 1 |
| Culinary career | |
Previous restaurant(s)
| |
Television show(s)
| |
| Website | www |
Lorna Maseko (born 3 July 1983), is a South African chef, media personality and former ballet dancer. [1] [2]
Maseko was born and raised in the Johannesburg township of Alexandra. Her mother was a receptionist and her father was a taxi driver. She has an older brother and two younger sisters. [3] Maseko took up ballet at the age of nine under the tuition of Martin Schonberg and qualified in the Cecchetti method. She pursued a Bachelor of Communications at the University of South Africa and later completed a year-long culinary course. [4] [5]
Dance was Maseko's primary profession until around the age of 25. She toured as young as 16 and competed in the Prix de Lausanne. In 2005, she was crowned the premiere black ballerina in South Africa. [2] In 2007, she was cast as Kitri in the Pretoria production of Don Quixote . 18 months after leaving the South African Ballet Theatre, she returned to the stage in 2009 to star in the titular role of Carmen . [6]
Maseko began working in television, presenting and producing Afro Showbiz News and The Weekender for SABC. She was a finalist on the 2006 season of Top Billing , which she returned to present in 2010. [7] She was named November Woman In Action by True Love Magazine in 2007. [8]
She was a judge on the South African version of So You Think You Can Dance in 2013, a contestant on the e.tv series I Love South Africa in 2014, and appeared in season 2 of the music talk show Zaziwa. [9]
In 2015, Maseko competed in the Celebrity edition of MasterChef South Africa and discovered her passion for cooking in the process. She hosted the 2016 cooking reality series Top Chef SA and landed her own series The Hostess with Lorna Maseko on SABC3 the following year. [10] Maseko opened The Bread Basket in Morningside Shopping Centre, although she no longer owns it. [11] [12] In 2018, she began posting videos on her YouTube channel Lorna With A Pinch Of Salt. [13]
Maseko took her cooking to the international stage in 2019, making the cover of Women's Health . [14] She hosted the World Restaurant Awards in February in Paris [15] and became the guest speaker at TEDxKedgeBS at KEDGE Business School's Marseille campus. [16] She then went to Stockholm in April to contribute to EAT Forum, a non-profit organization combatting world hunger. [17] She participated in Taste of London and Taste of Dubai. [18]
Maseko signed a book deal with NB Publishers and published her first cookbook Celebrate with Lorna Maseko in September 2019. It won best celebrity chef cookbook and best international cookbook at the 2020 Gourmand Awards. [19] She was made an ambassador for the beauty brand Justine. [20] [21]
Maseko married Gcina "GC" Lukhele, a sales executive, in December 2010 at the Memoire in Muldersdrift. They divorced in 2016. In 2020, it was confirmed Maseko is in a relationship with EFF politician Floyd Shivambu; they have a daughter. [22] [23] [24]
Edna Regina Lewis was a renowned American chef, teacher, and author who helped refine the American view of Southern cooking. She championed the use of fresh, in season ingredients and characterized Southern food as fried chicken, pork, and fresh vegetables – most especially greens. She wrote and co-wrote four books which covered Southern cooking and life in a small community of freed slaves and their descendants.
Najmieh Khalili Batmanglij is an Iranian-American chef and cookbook author. Born in Tehran, she fled the Iranian Revolution in 1979, moving first to France, then the United States, building a career as a cookbook author as she went. Her first book, published in French, was called Ma Cuisine d’Iran (1984), followed by eight cookbooks in English, from Food of Life (1986) to Cooking in Iran (2018). The Washington Post hailed her in 2018 as "the grande dame of Iranian Cooking."
Ching-He Huang (Chinese: 黃瀞億; pinyin: Huáng Jìngyì; Wade–Giles: Huang2 Ching4-i4;, often known in English-language merely as Ching, is a Taiwanese-born British food writer and TV chef. She has appeared in a variety of television cooking programmes, and is the author of nine best-selling cookbooks. Ching is recognized as a foodie entrepreneur, having created her own food businesses. She has become known for Chinese cookery internationally through her TV programmes, books, noodle range, tableware range, and involvement in many campaigns and causes.
Anissa Helou is a London-based chef, teacher, and author. She specializes in cooking and writing recipes for Mediterranean, Middle Eastern and North African cuisines. Her cookbooks have won numerous awards. She currently lives in London and runs a cooking school, "Anissa's School."
Irena Chalmers-Taylor was an author and food commentator/essayist, teacher and culinary mentor. Named "the culinary oracle of 100 cookbooks" by noted American restaurant critic and journalist, Gael Greene, Chalmers was recognized as the pioneer of the single subject cookbook. Her life story revealed an unlikely journey to becoming a James Beard Foundation "Who's Who" of Food and Beverage in America 1988 Award Recipient.
Ravinder Bhogal is a food writer, restaurateur, British chef, journalist and stylist. She opened her first restaurant Jikoni in Marylebone, London in September 2016.
Catherine Fulvio is an Irish TV chef, food writer, author, and the owner of Ballyknockan House and Cookery School.
Shipra Khanna is an Indian celebrity chef, restaurateur, author and television personality. She is best known for, at the age of 29, winning the second season of the Indian television show MasterChef India (2012) which aired on Star Plus.
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) is a South African communist and black nationalist political party. It was founded by expelled former African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) president Julius Malema, and his allies, in 2013. Malema is president of the EFF, heading the Central Command Team, which serves as the central structure of the party. It is currently the fourth-largest party in the National Assembly.
Barbara Abdeni Massaad is a Lebanese-American cookbook author, photographer, food consultant, and TV host. She is the author of several cookbooks, including Man’oushé: Inside the Street Corner Lebanese Bakery and Mouneh: Preserving Foods for the Lebanese Pantry, which have been translated into French and Arabic, respectively.
Nyiko Floyd Shivambu is a South African politician serving as a member of parliament for the Economic Freedom Fighters. He was born in Malamulele, Limpopo. He is the Deputy President and lieutenant commander-in-chief of the Economic Freedom Fighters, its Parliamentary Chief Whip in the South African Parliament, who serves in the Trade and Industry Portfolio Committee and the Standing Committee on Finance. Shivambu is also a Member of the Pan African Parliament, serving in the Rural Economy, Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environment Committee.
Nadia Rui-chi Lim is a New Zealand celebrity chef, entrepreneur, food writer and television personality. Lim is known as the self-proclaimed "Nude Cook" as an advocate of natural, unprocessed foods, and for creating healthy, nutritious recipes by putting a health focus behind food, which is influenced by her background as a clinical dietitian.
Bethany Kehdy is a Lebanese-American Chef, cookbook author, presenter and beauty pageant titleholder. She specialises in the cuisines of the Mediterranean, Middle East and North Africa.
Patricia Jinich is a Mexican chef, TV personality, cookbook author, educator, and food writer. She is best known for her James Beard Award-winning and Emmy-nominated public television series Pati's Mexican Table. Her first cookbook, also titled Pati's Mexican Table, was published in March 2013, her second cookbook, Mexican Today, was published in April 2016, and her third cookbook, Treasures of the Mexican Table, was published in November 2021.
VBS Mutual Bank was a South African mutual bank. In 2018 it was declared insolvent and bankrupt and placed under curatorship, with South African citizens and taxpayers defrauded out of roughly R2 billion.
Nompumelelo Mqwebu is a South African chef and author. In 2018, her book, Through the Eyes of an African Chef, was named the world's best self-published cookbook at the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards which took place in China. The Gourmand World Cook Awards is an international competition that honours the best food and wine books.
Rachel Goenka is an Indian restaurateur, chef, author and the founder and CEO of Mumbai based The Chocolate Spoon Company. She runs a chain of restaurants such as The Sassy Spoon, a European restaurant, House of Mandarin, a Chinese restaurant, Baraza Bars and Bites, a beach shack themed pub, Wicked China, an Asian resto-bar, and Sassy Teaspoon, a chain of patisseries and bakeries.
Kamini Pather is a South African chef, food blogger, and television and radio personality. She won the second season of MasterChef South Africa in 2013 and hosted the food travel series Girl Eat World.
Lesego Semenya, also known as Les Da Chef, was a South African chef, media personality, and writer.
Chef Nak is a Cambodian celebrity chef, culinary author, and entrepreneur.