Jenny Morris has made a household name for herself by putting the fun back into food. And the Rude and the Nude, as the title of her bestselling cookery book reminds us. But for Jenny, who accurately calls herself the Giggling Gourmet, crafting meals that seduce the senses and satisfy the appetite is very serious business indeed.
She’s cooked and catered for royalty, Presidents, and Hollywood movie stars, but her down-to-earth goal is to bring the joy of good, hearty food into even the most humble of homes. Funnily enough, Jenny has no formal qualification as a chef or gourmet, and her first choice of career was in the rather different realm of technical work for the Post Office.
She was a telephone electrician who helped build exchanges, a job she loved for its hands-on, get-down-and-get-dirty approach to getting things done. Then she answered her true calling, beginning by whipping up delicious dishes for school fundraisers, and moving on to a buffet of roles and opportunities that have established her as a celebrity chef, author, radio host, caterer, and teacher of the culinary arts and crafts.
“I dream of food every night,” Jenny tells Ruda in this lively, entertaining interview, in which she reveals her recipe for living life to the full, and relishing every moment of change that comes along.
R: Hello, and a very warm welcome, once again, to the Change Exchange. My guest for this session, Jenny Morris.
J: Hi Ruda.
R: Cook par excellence. Writer of half a dozen cookbooks …
J: Yes, I’m busy with number six.
R: Has a restaurant in Cape Town called Yumcious. Has a cookery school. Has done radio for the past 20 years … There’s nothing Jenny hasn’t done in food. And you say that your first influence was your parents’ vegetable garden.
J: Absolutely. I always … People say where did it all start, and it did start from there. I always say … I was not born in there, but my mom could have dropped me there because she spent so much time gardening. But I grew up in a veggie garden … I learned to count, I learned colours from the garden. She’d say go and pick six carrots for supper or go and get me so many spring onions. And it was lovely to have that lovely fresh stuff just plucked from the earth … It was … Ja.
R: So your mother cooked.
J: She cooked. My mom was a very …
R: With great joy?
J: She cooked with joy, and she cooked with passion, but she wasn’t an adventurous cook like my father. He was a messy one, but he would cook really delicious, adventurous food. She cooked the sustenance, and the nurturing dishes, and he made a mess … A delicious mess.
R: And the first time someone paid for something you made, was when you were still at school?
J: You know, I used to cook … We used to have fundraising at school, and if I do something, I do it big. Look at the size of me! And each class would get a chance to do fundraising and I used to feed the teachers in the staff room, I used to make sandwiches. And they used to love my mock crayfish sarmies, it was with monk fish, and they would take orders and I raised lots, and lots of money for that school.
R: And yet, when you left school, you first became a phone technician.
J: That was only because my father didn’t think that cheffing was a dignified lady-like job. And unfortunately you need funds from your parents to do any kind of studying, and I thought I’ll show you what’s not dignified and lady-like, and I applied to the Post Office. They … I worked on construction. The actual position is called a TN5. And I was a telephone electrician. I would go back today, and I would do it over, and over, and over. I loved it. Absolutely loved it!
R: Why? What about it?
J: You know what I loved about it was … I’m a nurturer. I like taking things from the ground up, and if you look at the studio, it’s a big vast room. And that’s what you would move into, in an exchange. It’s this big room, we’d pull these huge, ginormous racks, get them bolted to the ground, big barrels of cable, and you would stand there with two pieces of muttoncloth and you would be pulling it and cleaning it, bringing it all the way up the rack, all the way down … I love skinning the wires, I love pairing them off, and I was better than the boys with it. I never had one dry joint when I soldered those wires to that little tag. I loved it! And I really would do that again.
R: So why did you leave?
J: Because it’s not a ladies’ job! But at that point in time there were quite a few girls doing it. Women. Doing it. Nancy, and Bibi, Irene … There were a couple of girls … Bernie – a mad one. We used to ride motorbikes in the exchange. Had wonderful fun … But that wasn’t my calling. I wanted to cook, and as much … I mean, my father’s shock and horror when I came home with a toolbox … He thought it was a gift for him. And I said no, it’s mine. And then he thought ja, you’ve got a sense of humour, you’re pulling my leg. And I said it really is mine, and then he opened it. There was the long nose pliers, wire cutters, a big roll of solder, soldering iron, screwdrivers, and when I told him, he was mortified and horrified because in those days a woman didn’t do that kind of thing. So I would have stayed, I’d probably have gone on to do power or something like that … I had a Canadian chief tech, he was on power – that’s where you, like, connect everything and kill yourself if you touch those buzz bars, but I wanted to cook, and we would even make food on a Friday – all the girls – and we would take money from the boys and we’d all compete with our different dishes … It’s in my blood.
R: So how did you get into that?
J: How did I get into that? It started with friends. You know, cooking for friends. I actually went into the hotel trade first, once I left there. Because a friend of mine said you know what, I know your dad doesn’t want to spend money on training you, but go to the hotels and tell them you want to be a manager, and what will happen is you will go and you will do all the different … You’ll do front of house, back of house, they’ll put you in the kitchen, they’ll put you in the bar … And if there’s an off sous it will happen. And then eventually you’ll be this fully rounded … But when you get to the kitchen, stay. And I have a man that I always say thank you to. His name is Lee Hall. And he used to manage the Los Angeles Hotel in Musgrave Road in Durban. And he allowed me to come on board and do this thing, and I really did stop once I was on the kitchen. And I wasn’t welcome in the kitchen, because I had all these huge big birdy men, there were no women, with these big, steamy pots, to me, I’d hate food like that because it’s like just klap everything in the pot and cook it, you know. And I said to him … We had this ladies’ bar, the King Cotton, you have such potential. Why are you not selling lunches? Every day you could have a different, lovely refined food in here? And he said how on earth are you going to get that right? And I said give me the opportunity. He says if you can get those ones in the kitchen to listen to you, then I would. Then you can do it. And I made him get me a CB Radio, and put a huge, big aerial on top of the hotel … My CB name was Love Child. But no-one ever knew it was me, Ruda. And I would say okay, we’re having this and that and that and that at King Cotton, and everybody would come and Love Child was never there, because they never knew it was me. But to get those chefs in the kitchen to allow me to do what I did, I would go and say ooh, it smells so delicious in here, can I have a taste? And it wasn’t … It was, like, really ….
Ruda: Koshuiskos?
Jenny: Koshuiskos. And I’d say ooh, this is so nice. But what would happen if you added this or put this or put this and they would say hamba nkosazana and kick me out of the kitchen. The next day they would say izapa nkosazana and call me, and they’d done it. Maybe I have a way with men and pots! I don’t know, they started changing the food! So Lee Hall gave me that wonderful opportunity, so every day there would be a fish on this day, and a curry day, and an Italian day, and a la la la la la. And I knew then, that now … I can never go back. I have to go forward, so I started with that, and then I moved to Cape Town to be with my husband – my second husband – and I suppose the rest is history. I run up an electricity bill, all that water … Friends would bring ingredients and I would cook for them, basically. And not charge! And he said you’ve got to turn this into something viable.
R: But the first time you … Shall I say … Pretended to be a caterer, you weren’t yet?
J: No!
R: But someone asked and you just said yes? Tell the story?
J: You know what, a friend of mine said to me – one of the friends that I used to cook for – she said there’s a kiosk going in St. Georges Mall … Would you cook for me? So I said I don’t know if I really want to commit to cooking every single day for someone unless I take a financial interest. And then she said okay, we can be partners. We went down and we had a look at it and it was very tiny. It had a microwave and nothing. So the man selling it said … I said but who are you supplying here? And he said no, we do BMW catering, and we do this and I said really, I’m not one to just take things on face value and on surface and I went to BMW and I said, you know, I believe that the catering comes out of this kitchen? And they said actually, well it’s only really pizza … Who are you? I said, I’m a caterer. And they said, oh, can we have your number? Have you got a card? And I had nothing. I was nothing! And I gave the number and literally three, four days later they phoned and said we’ve been let down by our caterer, so I phoned my friend and I said, listen, do you want to be a caterer? And she couldn’t cook, she could drive and she meticulously packed, she was a very good organiser. So she said ja, let’s do it. It’s amazing! I phoned back and I said yes, I can do it, but I need time, how much time have I got? And they said we need it at six. This was roundabout quarter to four, and I thought oi, god. And I said okay, yes, we’ll do it, but we’ll be ten minutes late because Buitengracht Street traffic, as you know, is not very easy, and then …
R: For how many people?
J: That was only for about twelve people, but still, it was lots of food. You see, I’m a … I never learn. I want lots of things, instead of saying I’ll give you three dishes, I give them like 20. So ten days later, they said could you do us a boardroom lunch? Which we did. And then they kept using us, and then the third job was an art exhibition for the Dutch Embassy, and from that it just grew. Prince Charles came out of that, Sir David Wilcocks first came out of that …
R: Prince Charles came out of that. Explain.
J: Well, the British High Commissioner happened to be a guest at that function, and they called me in and said would you consider doing the Sir David Wilcocks, it’s swan song, and we’re having this thing at the …
R: Was he the consulate general?
J: No, it was Move … I can’t remember her surname, now. It was a lady high commissioner, but it was for the conductor, Sir David Wilcocks and he was in South Africa and it was a lot of people. I was working out of my home kitchen with a little Bosch oven … I’m telling you, that oven cooked for Prince Charles, it cooked for Thabo Mbeki … No, not Thabi Mbeki … Yes it did! It cooked for Thabo Mbeki as well until I moved out and got a professional kitchen. But just one thing just rolled on to the next. Kenneth Kaunda came … I treat them all the same, though. The money is the same. Kenneth Kaunda was not easy to cook for, though.
R: Why?
J: Because I made this … He’s vegetarian. And once again Jenny goes big, I made this huge big platter with all kinds of the most delicious vegetarian food. I did Mediterranean, I did Boerekos, I did African … I did everything on this platter, and the central part was these huge big mushrooms, this size, with the most delicious sauce, Ruda. And I even got porcupine quills, which, let me tell you, I did sterilize because I know they can give you rabies, and I popped them in the middle and I was smiling and they looked at it and they could see the steam coming off it, and they said we can’t eat this food, it’s too hot. And I said excuse me? And he said put it in the freezer. I wanted to whack him! I had to freeze that food, put it in a box in the freezer, because he had some kind of tummy problem and he only ate cold food. Like cold, cold food.
R: And he never told you?
J: No. I was so disappointed.
R: You had said that the most difficult thing for you to overcome was always the feeling that you don’t have a formal qualification.
J: It’s been the biggest drawback in my life.
R: But it sounds as if you just stepped into the void every time?
J: Can I tell you, Ruda, because I like challenges, everybody wants that piece of paper … I’m not saying that children today shouldn’t go to a chef school, because I highly encourage it, because there’s so much more that you can learn there and then. It’s taken me all those years to hone my skills. I sit on the board of the Hearst Campus and I mark the children’ exams. I never had lecturers, I had to go out and find out for myself and work alongside people, but nothing is impossible. Impossible becomes I’m possible. Just give it a little … You know what I’m saying? I’m possible. You always feel that one’s got a piece of paper and I don’t. But I’ve analysed it, and I’ve realised how on earth do those kids learn? They take a recipe book, they’re lucky because they’ve got someone showing physically how to do it, but theory is theory is theory. Do you know what I’m saying? So if you don’t have money to go to a chef school, I would say to anyone out there that wants this career go into a hotel like I did, and wash dishes if you have to. Don’t let anything hold you back. And I think I’ve kind of slowly, slowly, my husband hasn’t beaten it out of me because he wouldn’t be alive to tell the story, but he’s knocked that nonsense out of my head – I’m as good as anyone else. I’m a judge – I judge food competitions around the world. I know what’s good!
R: Other people think so. How did you get into television?
J: Also just by accident. Isn’t it strange how things come to you and you say to yourself, why me? It’s weird. I think my first foray into television was Takalani Sesame. It was a children’s show. And I took vegetables and made them look gorgeous and interesting, because kids need … You know, children have to taste things several times before they decide if they really hate it or you keep introducing it. And I did things like little sweet potatoes and called it a goggo, like the legs were beans and on to the bean were like the baked bean shoes, you know, that kind of thing. So I think it started with that.
R: Yes, but how did you get in front of the camera?
J: They came … I think … I don’t know? My food. It’s from the food. And I’ve been told I have a personality. And I’ve always said no to that kind of thing. And I think it started with that and I think if someone does see you on the screen, then they think that you are this person that does TV, you know?
R: How did you experience being in front of the camera for the first time?
J: I nearly died! I just pretended that everyone, like the cameraman and the director had no clothes on and I had a good laugh at them in my head. I don’t know. I just … I think I was very lucky that the crew … I think crew makes a big difference, and they relaxed me and they said fine, just be yourself. And I can’t be anything but. I would never be an actress and I just was Jenny, and then I think that as you get into it, you forget who you are.
R: You just focus on the job.
J: You just focus on what you’re doing, and then little interviews came and extra things, and then a lady called Susan Nel gave me my first sort of series – it was advertorial with Robertson Spices and it was with Bill Flynn. He was amazing to work with, and it was a quiz show and it was fantastic, it was a thirteen week. And then I did a thing with Yvonne Chaka-Chaka, it was with Tastic rice at the time, because a lot of these things are driven by products, and it was called Murphy’s Meals, and she was so delicious – we’re still great friends to this day. And it started with that type of thing. If you work with … I mean, you’re gorgeous. I feel so comfortable in your company, but you know what I’m saying? I don’t feel intimidated, I feel very comfortable with you. And it just went, and then this big break that I’ve got now with Food Network came from … They were at a food show, my name had popped up with a couple of people that came and found me, and they filmed me without me realising what it was all about, and the next minute I got a call.
R: So you were doing an audition without knowing it. Well, it’s the best way.
J: Well, they have got their hands full.
R: And then you did … Was the first one … What was it called? Jenny Morris Cooks Morocco? Why Morocco?
J: One of the other things that I do is … And this stems from my father-in-law, from my first marriage, uncle Tony Esposito. Being involved in that Italian family made me have this wonderlust. I wanted to travel, I wanted to taste new things …
R: How old were you when you were married the first time?
J: Oh, very young. Like 18. But in those days girls did that – you left school, you got a job and then you got married.
R: So did this kick open a new world for you?
J: Well it opened my vision of what I though the world was all about, and it made me want to … You must remember, this was my first romance, my first boyfriend, and I married him. So I’d known uncle Tony since I was the age of 11, so this man – spaghetti Bolognese, gremolata and things that I never knew in my family … A caper, an artichoke … He sort of opened that up for me and as I got older, I started to travel and when you travel, you have this confidence and I thought if I’m so loving all these beautiful flavours and these wonderful experiences – because I do good food tours from foot rubs to hair washes to living the life of the people. I thought other people would sure enjoy this, and that’s how the Jenny Morris tours began, and I’ve always wanted to go to Morocco and I went to Morocco and loved it. So when they said what country would you like to film first, I said Morocco. And it was amazing.
R: I spoke to Nataniel the other day, and he said the best moment was when there was a real budget. Do you experience that?
J: Absolutely! I have to say that Food Network are so professional – they pull out all the stops. What I love about them as a … Not a station, but what do you call …
R: A platform?
J: They want things to authentic, they want their presenters to be happy, so they let you do things that you’re comfortable with, and then they pull out all the stops to connect you with the right people on your crew, and I had the most amazing crew in Morocco. It was stunning. Six and a half weeks, driving six thousand kilometres … It was hectic, but it was such fun.
R: Your first cook book … You called?
J: Rude Food, Nude Food and Good Food.
R: Why that? What did you want to say?
J: I wanted to put the publisher off with the title. I didn’t have the confidence to write a cook book, and when I started my first cooking school, I was overseas and my husband got hold of me and I was taking people on a trip to Thailand … One of those tours. And he said when you get back, you’ve got one week and you’ve got your first cooking class. And I was like, what are you talking about?! He says I’ve hired the domestic science kitchen at Jan van Riebeeck High School, and you’re going to start cooking. And people just came.
R: Why did he do this?
J: Because he said I’m sick and tired of people saying I want to cook with you at your school. He’s that kind of man – just say it a few times, and he makes it happen. So what happened was, one of the girls that came cooking there was a publisher, and she was with Human & Rossouw, and she said I really would like to do a cook book with you, and I thought aaaaw … And I put it off and put it off and eventually David said you’re being really stupid. You know what? You can, people love your food! Just translate what you’re cooking into words? So when she eventually asked me again, bugged me, I said I tell you what. I want to call this book Rude Food, Nude Food and Good Food. You go back to your office and if they say I can have that title, I’ll do the book. Now, Rude Food … I like eating with my hands. So this is Rude Food. Nude Food is when you take an ingredient – having grown up in a garden, I understand the flavours of just something that’s so fresh and beautiful. So it would be that ingredient and you just layer the flavours on top, but everything has its own. And when you bring it together in your mouth, it’s just so delicious. And so it was Rude, it was Nude and it was Good! You hope people would enjoy your recipes, and she came back and said yes. And I thought oh, Human & Rossouw, they’re a quite conservative publishing house, and then more Rude Food followed.
R: And what was it like holding the first copy in your hand?
J: I can still cry now thinking about it. Because you never think you’re good enough. I thought why would they want my book, when there are so many authors out there? Sorry … It’s still so special.
R: Jenny, but this, I think, is such a lesson for so many people. That you … Sensibly you have this confidence, that’s the personality you project, and yet inside, there’s this insecurity that you have to overcome all the time.
J: To have that piece of paper to say I was a qualified chef. And that has held me back … Please God, I hope it doesn’t hold other people back, because you’ve got to believe in yourself, you know.
R: So you want to say to young people, who are insecure, maybe …
J: Never give up. Because you know what? I know people want to see that piece of paper – you’ll get it eventually, but just work towards it. Keep getting that experience, because you know what? You can’t pay for experience. You cannot pay for experience. I have chefs that come to me and work with me … I’m teaching them all the time. They’ve come out of school … How can you expect anybody to know everything at once? So life is a learning curve, you’re never too old to learn. Don’t think that you’re clever and too smart. You’re never too old to learn.
R: You’ve been doing radio – live radio – for close on 20 years now. What do you want to do with your show? What is the …
J: I’m a teacher. I love sharing, and I like to teach. I mean, I was with Cape Talk Radio, with Primedia for 19 years – as long as the station has been open. In fact – I’m lying – two months short of 19 years with them. And it was the most happiest time of my life, and I loved it. And they gave me Carte Blanche to do what I wanted. I like to impart information, I like to share. I have recently left, and I’ve gone to Heart Radio, and I’ve got … Because I was given a bigger platform. 800 000 more listeners, Breakfast Show … I mean, who would say no to that? But once again, I haven’t changed what I do, because … I did a show the other day where people were sort of coming on Facebook and on social media saying … But I didn’t know that about a potato. I love it! When you can share something and when someone tells you something you don’t know, you can add it to your repertoire. So for me radio is a wonderful platform, it’s to share, I do it very light-heartedly … I believe in edutainment, so I will educate light heartedly and entertainingly and people love it. I love it! Makes me comfortable.
R: And now you’ve opened a restaurant. Is this your first one?
J: I had the little coffee shop in the museum, and then I had many, many years’ break. And that said to me when I had the museum coffee shop I said never again – I could never. How can you work off a menu that is so boring? Do you know what I’m saying? And we had to relocate our cooking school – it’s called The Cook’s Playground – which is just opposite the Cape Quarter. The building was being demolished and we needed somewhere to go, so we thought why don’t we buy a property – it’s an investment in the future, things like that. Couldn’t find anything that ticked all the boxes. Beautiful space, but it wasn’t safe for ladies to come on their own at night – do you know what I’m saying? There’s lots of empty boxes there that couldn’t be ticked. So we thought we love our landlord – I really had a wonderful landlord – let’s see if there’s something. They didn’t want to lose us, so they said can we create a space for you? We took passages and turned all that dead space into a cooking school. And while we’re about it, the landlord said well we have this space over here. There was a restaurant here before. It hasn’t done very well. It’s been standing empty … How about it? And I nearly killed my husband, I said I’m not doing that! And he was like, why not? I said because it will bore me to death. I don’t want … A 140-seater, for goodness sake! And I must work off this menu? I’ll kill myself!
R: And they’ll come for something tonight and then want the same thing next week?
J: Forget it! They want the same, same, same! But I tell you what. Because I don’t want arguments … If you give me a big fridge that my body can fit in – twice – and I can put anything I want in there, and I’m not working at nights – so it was breakfast and lunch – then I’ll consider it. And I have a very light menu on the side.
R: Why the big fridge?
J Because Ruda, I want to put my dreams into that fridge. I dream food every night. I dream about food every night of my life. Take my cellphone out of my bag now and go and have a look on my one note – it’s full of recipes. I’ll wake up and I write. It drives him mad! And how many recipe books can you publish at once? So I have all these recipes and nowhere to go with them. I can use some of the Cook’s Playground with our team building – we do corporate team building there, and we have lots of repeat customers, so I’m developing all the all the time so they don’t get bored with it. But I have this arsenal of recipes and what can I do? And he said okay. And it was coming to the end of the year – if we open that restaurant in two weeks … I’m like a nutcase! And I said if you don’t get that fridge, we’re not opening. And he got that fridge and they said we closed our orders in October already and I said if we don’t get that fridge we don’t have a restaurant! And we got the fridge. And we call it the Kilo Table, and we have a hot section and we have the fridge with everything in, and it’s absolutely overloaded with the most beautiful salads, and the whole thing about that is it’s fresh – it’s my garden that I grew up in. It’s seasonal – we make just enough, and too bad if there isn’t because I don’t recycle food to the next day.
R: And it will be different tomorrow?
J: It will be as different as my customers will allow me. This is the problem! Because our belly pork is the talk of the town. There are certain salads that I will never be able to take out of that fridge, ever again. But I keep adding to it … So those same people that come … Ooh, there’s something different! Yesterday there was Angelfish, now you’ve got Sole. So we change it up all the time. I like it.
R: How do you run … I almost want to say your life as a business? Because there’s so many strands in it? And in many cases you need to be there personally on radio, in front of the camera for television shows, and the cookery school and the restaurant and you have children?!
J: I do, but they’re big now. It’s time management, really. I turn so much work away because I believe if you can’t do it properly, you don’t take it on because you can spoil and ruin everything.
R: Can one delegate the kind of thing you do?
J: Yes, I do. Not everything, because I’m such a control freak, but the cooking school I’ve started to leave. I haven’t left it alone, but I have delegated. I’ve got someone who knows this is my way and this is the way I like it and they do it. At the restaurant, my staff know that don’t be offended if I turned it and send it back to the kitchen and reject it, so they know exactly what I expect. I make them taste and eat everything that is on that menu so that they know this is what the taste is. Not all of us have the same taste buds or diet or background. And I’ll never forget – the one young lady took the fish sauce and she was throwing the fish sauce into the seaweed salad and I thought that’s not going out! You know what fish sauce – it’s pungent and overpowering! So I just took them all in the kitchen and gave them a little plastic teaspoon and I said eat! You have to eat – you have to learn the ingredient. They nearly died, but that never happened again, do you see what I’m saying? Because they learn by example. So they know what is acceptable and what is not, so I’ve been able to travel. Lindsay, who is my future daughter-in-law, is just … I proposed to her. She’s definitely who I want in my son’s life! And he loves her and adores her and they will get married. But Lindsay left the world of finance to join the family business – ultimately the children will run that business, it’s for them and I’ll go on to the next thing, but she knows exactly what to expect, how it should be done, so I can delegate. But I do poke my eye, I never stop! I cook, I was cooking this morning before coming out to meet with you.
R: So how did you put this family together? You were married briefly when you were young.
J: Yes, I was young. I married my first childhood sweetheart, and then David who is my current husband of 33 years. I have two sons with him.
R: How did you and he meet? And how did you decide …
J: In the hotel!
R: How did you decide that he was the right one?
J: I didn’t at the time – I didn’t even like him!
R: How did he convince you?
J: I don’t know. It just happened. I think love grows out of friendship. It really does. If you like someone, you can so easily fall in love with them, and I think you need to like the person you’re in love with, because when they get old everything else goes out of the window, and if you don’t have friendship, what are you going to talk about? So I met him at the Los Angeles Hotel. His business is electronics and he was an importer of sound and lighting and he actually revolutionised the discotheque industry in South Africa because he worked overseas for many years, brought back light lab and all kinds of different … I don’t know if you remember if you were in Johannesburg … There was a club called Queues … It was a supper club, and he built that. And he put in, in those days, in 1982, like R700 000 worth of equipment. Can you imagine what that is today? And he was busy fitting out some of the places there and we would just eat that horrible food at supper time when all the staff got around the table. I liked him as a person, I met him again after my divorce, funnily enough – he wasn’t the reason for my divorce. I met him a year later when I was poached by an ex-boss at a hotel and he said this is David Morris, he’s putting in Ruby Tuesday, this club. I said I know him. And all the staff got together one night, and we invited him to join us and we just picked up this friendship where it had left off and it developed from there.
R: And over the years he has now become part of the business.
J: He has – it’s so funny because this business has grown. He’s always been such a wonderful support and always interested in what I do and in supporting me, but it just has grown and flourished that he had to stop what he was doing and join me! So it’s our business – it’s not my business, it’s a family business.
R: And the boys? You have two sons?
J: I have three. I have one in the UK – his name is Wayde, he’s 41, he’s got a little girl so I’m a grandmother, I’ve got my first granddaughter – she’s too bright as a … Oh, she’s like a bright little little star, that one. And then I have Darren, who is the middle boy – he’s in IT. And then I have Ryan, who does medical and security. And we’re a very close family. The kids actually like going out with us and being with us – aren’t I lucky!
R: Yes, you are. But it’s also what you put in, is what you get out.
J: Absolutely.
R: And how did you manage it when they were little and you were so busy?
J: When they were small … You know the thing is once again you need a good support system, and their father, the most wonderful daddy on earth, was there. And the children funnily enough, they all can cook, and Ryan, the youngest one – you must see that kid! I could phone him and say make me a pasta dough, or make me a bread dough, shall we have pizza tonight, and I’d say make the dough! If you want it, you make it. Make me a Tarte Tatin … We’ve always brought him into the business. Darren, who is my middle child … When we had the museum cafe, we worked six, seven days a week. We never had a day off, and we were invited to the table of unity, and I said I can’t go.
R: What’s the table of unity?
J: The one that … In the old days we used to have it on Table Mountain, and then the money would go to charity … It was that long table. And they said no please, we really want you up there. And Darren said mommy, I can run the restaurant? He was 12 years old and I was like … He said trust me, I can do it. And I said well, we’re just up the road, I can always come down again. And that child ran that restaurant.
R: For how long?
J: For the whole day. I wouldn’t have expected more from him, but what I’m saying is they’ve always been involved in our business.
R: To keep a restaurant going for a day is a thing!
J: It was a huge thing. But they were always at work with us. At the cooking school, Ryan never missed one radio show. Can you believe it? For all the years I was at Cape Talk, until he was about 15. He came every single Saturday to the radio station … It’s not because we forced them – they wanted to be involved in what we did, and I think it’s been good for them. I think it’s been very good for them.
R: And you’ve also lived in the same house for … What did you say? 31 or 32 years?
J: Ja, 33 years.
R: What binds you to that house?
J: I suppose it’s the land! It’s everything around it. I need space, I mean … I could live in an apartment, I suppose …
R: Is it big?
J: We’ve got six bedrooms – it didn’t start off like that. There was only two bedrooms, but we went up and we went down, so it’s got six bedrooms and six bathrooms and it’s just the two of us now, and three cats and two dogs and two African Greys.
R: And a vegetable garden?
J: Oh yes. And fruit trees and flowers and … Ja.
R: Where is it?
J: It’s in Tamboerskloof, so it’s in a lovely position. And the kids sleep at home often, come for supper and don’t go. I think it’s being able to have that lovely garden – it’s not as big as what I grew up with, and animals and my kids and I like space. I love space, so yep.
R: Sounds like a happy, wonderful place to live.
J: It is a beautiful place to live, and you know what? I think everybody needs to own a home – it’s an investment. If you don’t have a pension, you can sell it.
R: Jenny, thank you so much. It was most pleasant and all of the very, very best for you.
J: Thank you very much.
R: Until next time, goodbye.
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