Chef Xoliswa Ndoyiya - Mandela's Private Chef For 22 Years

Cooking From a Place of Love and Connecting People

By Shumirai Chimombe

Umphokoqo Porridge

• 15 minutes Serves 4 30 minutes + cooling

Ingredients

• 2 cups water

• 1 tsp salt

• 3 cups maize meal

• dried fruit and nuts, to garnish

Method

Put the water and salt in a medium-sized lidded saucepan over medium-high heat and bring to the boil. Add the maize meal, cover, and bring back to the boil.

Once the maize meal is boiling, stir it with a fork until the water is absorbed and the maize meal is crumbly and not sticking together. Cover again, reduce the heat, and cook until it is soft and fluffy, about 25 minutes.

Source: Daily Maverick

For 22 years, award-winning chef and cookbook author Xoliswa Ndoyiya was Madiba’s personal and family chef, from his presidency to his retirement and until his passing.

She was born in a small town called Queenstown, now renamed Komani, in the Eastern Cape. A child of a domestic worker, she could not have imagined that her life trajectory would take a sudden and extraordinary turn; and she would become one of the most important figures in the life of South Africa’s first democratically elected president.

“I was raised by my parents, and my mother ended up being a divorcee but she raised me to be humble and to respect people. This has helped me a lot because now I know that when you are humble and respect people, they will respect you back,” she said in an interview with the lifestyle programme Afternoon Express on SABC3 earlier this year. Xoliswa learned to blend love, memory, and identity on a plate from her grandmother.

They were at the legendary Sanctuary Mandela Boutique Hotel in Houghton, Johannesburg where she is the Chef de Tournant in the fine-dining restaurant Insights.

The restaurant serves dishes inspired by Madiba’s favourite meals. As a tribute to the icon, the menu is created around dishes that Xoliswa, or Sis’Xoli as she is affectionately known, made for Madiba but with a contemporary modern touch. While giving a special tour around the hotel she shared some rare stories and personal memories of Madiba’s time in this historic space. Before the building was refurbished it used to be Madiba’s personal residence.

Standing in the formal lounge, Xoliswa explained that this room was very important and memorable for her because this is where she saw Madiba for the first time. He had been on the look out for a chef who could cook his favourite traditional meals.

“It was in 1992 when a friend of mine, Gloria Nocando, introduced me to him. Trusting my cooking and trusting me she told him about me. But I didn’t know that I was going there for a job interview. When I saw Tata in his lounge he asked me if I could cook for him. I didn’t hesitate, I just said yes immediately because I was already happy that this was the icon I was going to serve. When I served that day everything on the plate was finished; the only thing that he couldn’t eat was the rice. Then he told me ‘Don’t worry about the rice, I don’t like rice at all.’ That’s when I started knowing that he loved his vegetables and his proteins.”

In another walk down memory lane, Xoliswa led the way into Madiba’s former bedroom. “I used to wake up early in the morning and serve him his first cup of coffee. He would take that cup of coffee to go downstairs into the garden to do his push-ups. That was an encouraging thing for me because when you look at that energy early in the morning you feel that I should have the same energy.”

Another aspect of Madiba that endeared him to Xoliswa and the rest of his team who served him was that he made his own bed every morning. “When you entered Tata’s bedroom early in the morning you’d find that this bed was made neatly, nice and clean. Out of the values and the principles that I have taken from Tata I chose four - the love, the sharing, the caring, and most of all, the respect that all of us received from Tata. So you could see the respect that he was showing us by indicating that ‘I don’t need somebody else to do things for me. I always do them even if you can come in and make them the other way around. But I have done it because I’m not a lazy person.’

A Culinary Tribute To Tata Madiba - Dishes From his Roots

With ingredients grown in the hotel gardens chef Xoliswa cooks up many dishes that Madiba and his guests enjoyed the most. She explained that when she travelled with Tata and his wife Graça, three dishes were closest to his heart - oxtail stew and samp and beans were his favourite dishes. Then there was uphuthu (a staple, traditional South African dish that is made from maize meal) or umphokoqo (a creamy maize meal porridge or pap made with fresh milk) . “Umphokoqo was one of those dishes that he grew up eating at home,” she said.

Sharing Tata’s Favourite Meals With The World Through Storytelling

In an interview with MyKitchen, she said: “Food brings people together and helps them create memories. It is a centre of celebrations where love is shared. I cook from a place of love and my food connects people. It is my way of honouring my guests. Since I can’t be everywhere, a cookbook allows me to share my recipes as a gift to people to make and be joyful. Essentially, it gives me an opportunity to spread love.

Xoliswa has published two cookbooks to share the experience of cooking, eating and enjoying the food that Mandela, his family and guests enjoyed, including visiting heads of state, celebrities, and politicians.

Ukutya Kwasekhaya: Tastes from Nelson Mandela’s Kitchen (2011) Real African Publishers (2011)

‘Ukutya Kwasekhaya’, which means “Home Food” in isiXhosa, the home language shared by Xoliswa and Madiba, contains more than 60 recipes for the meals she cooked for him. In the book she serves up a simple, delicious, nourishing and visually appealing set of recipes for easy to prepare dishes.

These include samp and beans, farm chicken, tripe, as well as paella, peri-peri chicken, and prawn curry. Handwritten notes from Mandela and Oprah Winfrey are also included.

Made With Love - Recipes and Memories from Nelson Mandela’s Personal Chef (Blackwell and Ruth Limited - 2023)

Paying homage to Tata Madiba’s legacy through food, prepared and cooked with love, this cookbook is a collection of 50 unique recipes accompanied by Xoliswa’s personal recollections and anecdotes of the time she spent with Mandela. It also includes a foreword by Nandi Mandela, Nelson Mandela’s granddaughter.

Recipes she holds close to her heart which are in the book include umsila wenkomo or oxtail stew. “He couldn’t go a week without samp and beans and oxtail stew.”

Another one is umphokoqo (mielie meal porridge). “Tata loved this dish so much I once had to arrange for it to be smuggled into England. Tata was visiting London and I got a call to say that Tata was not himself - he was missing his umphokoqo. So I cooked some up and we wrapped it nicely and wrote on the outside ‘The President’s Medication’ which is how it was able to be smuggled into Tata’s hotel!”

Nourishing Food For Thought - Honouring Mandela’s Legacy

Xoliswa was the winner of the Food Icon Award for her lifetime achievement and contribution to South Africa’s food industry at the Food XX Africa 2024. Food XX Africa spotlights women working in food-related sectors across the continent. The movement is best known for its biennial award, the Food XX Africa – Women in Food, which celebrates the outstanding contributions of women in the food and hospitality industry.

“When you talk about Matiba’s legacy you cannot stop talking about it because there’s a lot that he has done for the children of South Africa. And when Tata looked at the youth of South Africa he said that he wants everything to be in their hands because he could see the potential in the young people, and he could see that everyone could live to their full potential. Watching Tata giving out to people and expecting no reward, I think this is how I would love to leave a legacyif I could give without expecting any reward from anyone. Once Tata told me that in life you must never give up, and that’s what I intend to do - to never give up.” - Chef Xoliswa Ndoyiya

Source: Afternoon Express lifestyle show 22 April | Sanctuary Mandela boutique hotel | Daily Maverick | Nelson Mandela Foundation | Positive Mayo | MyKitchen