After a week in Cape Town, Prue will visit the Prue Leith Chefs Academy in Gauteng, where she will spend time with students and alumni. The academy, established in 1997, has become the go-to college for chefs looking for interns or apprentices in the kitchen.
“The Prue Leith Academy is my dream of a chefs’ school with that proper mix of professional training, practical experience that engenders a life-long obsession with and love of good food,” says Leith.
In what is sure to be a treat for foodies, Leith will also be promoting her latest cookbook while in the country. Titled Prue, it is a collection of her all-time favourite recipes – from modern vegetarian ones developed last year to classical dishes she learnt 50 years ago.
“I stopped writing cookbooks and food columns in the ‘50s to give myself time to write novels. But then TV (The Great British Menu and the Great British Bake Off) pulled me back into the foodie world. Food has changed so much, I couldn’t resist publishing again. Prue is full of modern, un-daunting, original and quick-to-do recipes.”
Continuing with her literary ventures, Leith’s latest novel, The Lost Son – the third book in the Angelotti Chronicles – is now available. The three books are stand-alone stories, each covering a generation of the Angelotti family.
As in the first two books (The House of Chorlton and The Prodigal Daughter), the new book is a tale of love and secrets against the fraught background of the restaurant industry.
Leith says: “Like all my novels, this is a love story and somehow a lot of food has crept into it. It is also about adoption – a subject that has fascinated me since I adopted my Cambodian daughter Li-Da, 40+ years ago. Li-Da now has adopted a baby boy and my new-ish husband John, also adopted, searched for his birth mother when he was in his 50s – a storyline I stole for The Lost Son.”
Leith also hopes to meet the stockists of her range of greetings cards. “I am an inveterate businesswoman,” she says. “I just love trade, whether in the food world, books, fashion or homewares. I just can’t resist putting my oar in.”
“It will be wonderful to celebrate my 80th birthday back in South Africa,” says Leith. “I am looking forward to seeing family and friends and reconnecting with business associates and meeting new ones while I’m there. There is nothing like South Africa for warmth, hospitality, beautiful scenery and lovely people.”
