Westville hosted some of the greatest chefs in the world recently when Marco and Kerryne Nico threw open the doors of La Storia to Antonio Carlucchio, Reza Mahammed, Cyrus Todiwalla, George Calombaris and the crew from the Good Food and Wine Show.
Story Liz Moore (In the photo: Liz with Antonio Carluccio and Liz’s son Tommy Moore at the Good Food and Wine Show)
In a showcase dinner celebrating the local specialities of Natal, Marco showed he could forage with the best of them, and what an extraordinary range of foods he came up with! It was such a joy to bring friends from London and South Africa together in such a setting. What a lovely job I have!
There was a seafood platter of prawns, cuttlefish, clams and mussels straight off the rocks, home-cured charcuterie, a frittata of wild spinach, imfino, wild boar and Italian sausages, roasted lemons stuffed with goats cheese, mushroom risotto made with makowe mushrooms, suckling pig, loin of reedbuck, amadumbe… A feast! It was all that we grow best right here, and the chefs were impressed.
The pudding was chocolate made by a friend of Marco’s, which was out of this world.
Antonio Carluccio identified some of the more obscure herbs that grow in our province, and a lively discussion between all the chefs was in full swing by the end of the meal.
There was a tricky moment when in the excitement of standing over Antonio with his sausages, Marco covered Signor Carlucchio in broccoli sauce from the platter, but the veteran chef took it in his stride, saying: “In Italy it is an honour to be covered in the oil, so tonight I am very honoured.”
It was the end of a long week for everyone there, and Christine Cashmore, the founder of the Good Food and Wine Show spoke about how well the show had gone, while Antonio gave some of his impressions of Africa.
He is a great lover of people, and originally had ambitions to become an anthropologist, so he was fascinated by the different cultures, and how they have blended, overwhelmed by the beauty of the countryside, but still concerned about the gaps between the haves and have nots. It was an intimate speech, where he spoke of travelling the world, and how much he was enjoying his time in Africa. It was an honour to be there.
Reza spent most of his evening in conversation with Renzo Scribante from Remo’s Fratelli, and that part of the table rang with laughter as Reza outdid himself with anecdote after naughty story.
George Calombaris listened and added the odd juicy fact, while Cyrus Todiwalla, a charming and very intelligent man, had something to bring to every subject, from curry leaves to the Persian Empire.
The wonderful food was balanced by the amazing array of wines that Marco put on from South African winegrowers, followed by a large array of Grappas, Limoncellos and Fernet Branca. We laughed so much, happy to be together in this beautiful province and, as the chefs headed off to their hotel in the early hours, the last thing they said was: “We’ll be back!”
We should all be very proud that our chefs here in KZN and the chefs from television land had so much to say to each other, and so much to learn from one another. I can’t wait until next year!
