is going to get snared by some awful
woman from the golf club, and she’s
going to become your stepmother;
then you’re going to have to cook for
her, so you better learn to cook to
keep your father safe.” Taking all this
very seriously, eight-year-old Su-yen
went bolting downstairs to find a
cookbook. She flicked to chocolate
cake, pizza and Bolognese recipes,
and proceeded to feed these to her
father for the weeks that followed.
It turned out he was allergic to both
chocolate and cheese. Luckily, in
the nick of time, her mother made a
miraculous recovery, rose from her
bed and exclaimed: “What are you
doing? You make such a mess of my
kitchen!” All was well again, and Su-
yen has loved cooking ever since.
At the University of Edinburgh
in Scotland, where Su-yen studied
medical microbiology – and passed
with first-class honours – there was
a dinner-party culture, so it was there
that she further honed her skills.
She went on to do an MSc Science
Communication at Imperial College
London, where she met her South
African husband-to-be, SimonDavis.JOBURG DINING