Dijo, My Food, My Journey Review

There is always food when South Africans are celebrating, unhappy, mourning and crying, because there is indeed a connection between food and us.

In this long awaited cookbook, yes long awaited, Chef Lesego Semenya finally shares his special recipes with us.

The man has finally delivered. He takes us through the different types of dishes he grew up eating in his home township, Soweto. Semenya does this by sharing recipes his mother used to cook for him and his siblings, however, the talented chef adds a new twist to those recipes. Ledombolo with Mogudu, Mageu, Makipkip, and Magwinya with Liver pate are some of the African cuisines that chef Semenya includes in this cookbook with a few special tricks to them, though still keeping it distinctly Kasi/African.

Dijo is also about chef Semenya’s personal life and career journey. His story is one that many young South Africans will relate with. He made a career switch in his adulthood. Semenya switched from being an engineer to follow his passion, which is playing with food in the kitchen. The move paid dividends, as he went on make a pie that was named the official pie during the 2010 FIFA World Cup, but most importantly he went on to cook for powerful and rich individuals such as Warren Buffet, Alicia Keys and Bill Gates among others.

Going through this cookbook a few things are expected to happen to you. Firstly, you will keep salivating at the array of wonderful dishes. Secondly, you will want to try some of chef Semenya’s recipes in your kitchen.

The use of pictures and giving background to the recipes makes this cookbook very insightful.

Chef Semenya really did his homework with every recipe. I will not give a rating to this cookbook, because it is just brilliant.

Many readers, especially those in townships and villages will definitely relate with some of the recipes.

Some of these delicacy’s continue to be religiously devoured at weddings, funerals and family gatherings.

Chef Lesego Semenya not LesDaChef, as he is affectionaly known, has put fun into food with his cookbook.

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