This year sees the launch of a brand new fundraising initiative by The Darling Trust Dinner; a dinner and auction where Tannie Evita joins forces with Jenny Morris to bring guests a night of the wittiest entertainment combined with the best food imaginable and a chance to bid for some fabulous, generously donated auction lots.
Morris – aka the Giggling Gourmet – is one of South Africa’s most-loved food personalities, who expresses her passion for food through many different vocations; multiple cookbook author, magazine writer, radio broadcaster and TV presenter, celebrity chef, teacher, caterer and culinary tour guide, both locally and internationally. And if that wasn’t enough, Morris also runs her own much-lauded restaurant – Yumcious – with husband David in Cape Town’s Waterkant district.
Morris also often gives of her time and energy to raise funds for charity, a trait that started at a young age and which ultimately kicked off her love affair with food when, as a small girl, she prepared mouth-watering treats for fundraisers at her school.
We managed to corner Morris long enough to ask her a few questions:
Tell us a bit about your journey to achieving your goals of becoming South Africa’s Giggling Gourmet?
I always wanted to be chef but my late father was against it saying what kind of a job was this for a woman and would not pay for me to study cheffing. I decided when I left school I would “spite my father” by joining the Post Office Telecom division (now Telkom ), and trained as a telephone electrician and constructed exchanges. But I was determined to find a way into the food industry and approached a hotel so I could get into the hospitality industry knowing that If I started on the ground floor I would be able to work my way into the kitchen.