Celebrity chefs to spice up National Nutrition Week

Celebrity chefs Reuben Riffel and Margot Janse are used to preparing sumptuous meals for the who’s who of South African society at their Franschhoek restaurants, but the ingredients used for a special fundraising dinner on October 9 will be very different from the usual.

On the menu will be dishes made from soya relish, pilchards and breyani lentils: the staple fare of the more than 235,500 children in more than 630 schools in the Western Cape who are given a hearty daily meal by the Peninsula School Feeding Association (PSFA).

As Margot Janse, Executive Chef at the renowned Le Quartier Français explains, “This night is so important. We spend most of our time cooking for the fancy, but we can’t ignore the fact that there are hungry children out there.”

The restaurant already feeds 65 children from a local crèche, but the fundraising dinner is going to help ensure that children across the Western Cape are given a good meal at school each day.

“Our guests are going to get a great meal, but more importantly the R370 they pay for a single night out will be used to feed a hungry child for a year,” says Reuben Riffel, owner and executive chef at the award-winning Reuben’s Restaurant.

The fundraising dinner marks the start of the National Nutrition Week campaign from 9 – 13 October. PSFA is using this opportunity to highlight the plight of hungry school-going children in the Western Cape.

“Being in this industry sometimes makes us oblivious to what is going on with kids in poorer communities,” Riffel says. “I come from a poor community as well, but never had a shortage of love or food and find it sad that even in todays supposedly advanced world, kids still go to school hungry. I wish that more people can get involved in this project and hopefully with our involvement the issue will get more attention.”

Janse and Riffel will each be “adopting” five children and are challenging all their guests to do the same.

On October 12, Hoofweg Primary School in Belhar will have rather unusual staff in their kitchen. This kitchen, donated by PSFA, will be visited by Janse and Riffel as well as Overture and Genot Restaurant’s Bertus Basson who was recently voted one of the top chefs in South Africa.

The three chefs will be in competition as they prepare one of PSFA’s standard menus and augment it using low cost and readily accessible ingredients. The results will be judged by a panel of judges including some kids. The children at the school and the voluntary preparers will all get to sample the different options.

PSFA’s 2010 Nutrition Week campaign is sponsored by Bizbox, a company which has been supplying soya mince and other products to PFSA for many years.

The Department of Education generously provides a subsidy for 90% of the children fed by the PSFA.  The difference is covered from funds which must be raised, which costs the PSFA approximately R9 million annually to maintain.

“We invite people to make a real and practical difference in the lives of our children,” says Andy Du Plessis, PFSA Director.

If you would like to help feed our province’s hungry school children, donating is easy.

“There are two ways to help. You can adopt a child for just R370 a year. That's the full cost of feeding a child every school day. Or companies may be interested in adopting a school: the costs vary according to the number of children who need feeding in each school,” Du Plessis said.  And don’t forget you can also buy your ticket for the dinner!  Contact the PSFA office for more information.

Du Plessis is quick to point out that “100% of the money you donate goes to feeding the children. Our administration costs are paid from our investment reserve.”

If you want to help, call the PSFA office at (021) 447 6020, email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or visit www.psfa.org.za for details.