MOSSEL BAY NEWS - Despite her age and a long recovery from a stroke, Muriel Komani is still passionate about preparing good food, which she serves with absolute gusto.
Muriel grew up in JCC and later on, after she married, made KwaNonqaba her home. Here, she runs her own guest house in Bokwe Street, where the Mossel Bay Advertiser visited her this week.
She opens the door with a warm laugh, dressed in traditional garb apart from an apron with her nickname, Kammama on it.
"My mother worked in town at a house and was a good cook. She taught me too. She also learnt a lot from the cookbooks that were available in the house where she worked."
Muriel presents her golden brown scones with pride and says that she can make koeksisters too. She worked as a cook in Mossel Bay in several well-known kitchens. The vetkoek and mince she offers to sample, she proudly says she learnt to make at the Park Café, a name that now only lives in people's memories.
She is an expert when it comes to preparing traditional isiXhosa food, so much so that in years past, she was selected to cook traditional food at the annual Tourism Indaba in Durban, where she met former President Thabo Mbeki. As an experienced caterer, Muriel also worked for PetroSA.
She is used to catering for large weddings and to doing the decor, but she also prepares special meals, even for couples.
About 15 years ago, her path crossed with Carole Spiers' from the United Kingdom. They met through the Dreamcatcher outreach charity, headed by Anthea Rosseau, another close acquaintance of Muriel. Carole's company is a partner of the charity, that helped Muriel and others in various townships over the years to learn basic business skills such as marketing and presentation of their small businesses.
"Mossel Bay is our base every year when we come out to SA for a month in December," Carole told the Advertiser upon enquiry in an email this week. "Muriel is an excellent cook of authentic South African dishes. My favourite dish from Muriel is her famous chakalaka."
Muriel says that the secret to good food, is to simply love cooking. "I cannot sleep unless my cooking is done and in the morning, I am up at 04:00 to knead my bread dough." She shows off homemade bread and buns prepared for a regular customer at the KwaNonqaba Police Station.
"And I sing, I sing when I cook. My mother always said, you must be happy when you make food, then the food flows easily." Muriel's wish is that all the people of Mossel Bay will experience the unique taste of traditional isiXhosa food. "I want people to taste our food."
Maybe in 2020, Muriel's wish will come true.
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