Bridget Mangwandi is the youngest finalist at this year's MasterChef SA competition. Picture: bei.szn/Instagram
It only made sense for Consumer Science in Food Biochemistry graduate and MasterChef South Africa contestant Bridget Mangwandi to test out her studies while competing on the cooking show.
“On the show, I tried a lot of times to actually implement it but the MasterChef kitchen is a lot different from your kitchen at varsity,” Mangwandi told The Citizen.
The University of the Free State alumni is one of the three finalists of Season 5 of MasterChef SA together with Nabila Shamshum and Chanel Brink, the winner of the season will be announced on Saturday.
“On the show, I tried to do those bubble dome glass thingies and it wouldn’t work because things are just different and the pressure is different, you might even get a measurement wrong”
But there were times when Mangwandi’s qualifications shone on the TV show. “For example, the food science episode where I did excel in that round,” she shared.
Mangwandi said she uses her qualifications to do a lot of product development testing. “Basically testing these techniques on food; it’s not exactly cooking but you use cooking methods.”
The 20 year-old said she studies a lot as a way of absorbing as much as she can to better her skill.
“In terms of the cooking, I wanted to perfect the techniques that I learnt and just do the best of my ability when it comes to cooking.”’
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It’s as though Mangwandi brought Canadian rapper Drake’s song Started From the Bottom to life in her journey on MasterChef SA.
At the first Top 15 challenge, Mangwandi was at the lowest, and viewers were certain that she would be heading home. But she quickly redeemed herself and was in the Top three in the following challenge.
“Once you’re in that bottom three you really are feeling your heart in your throat, like it’s not fun at all. But when you don’t hear your name it’s like ‘Okay, great we can move on’.”
“In your head, you’re like ‘whose mistake is worse’ literally. The raw dough or my overcooked prawn, that’s what you’re thinking.”
The adrenaline junkie has a tenacious spirit. Before entering MasterChef SA she had tried her luck on other smaller cooking TV shows without any luck.
“I was just like ‘Okay, it doesn’t matter let’s just try it anyways’ and I submitted and we were in and I was like ‘oh I can actually do this’.”
This year’s finalists are not only an all-women affair but the trio of chefs are young, with Mangwandi being the youngest at 20 years old.
Shamshum is 23 years of age and Brink being the oldest of the three at 34.
“I had to recognise that throughout the competition that, yes I am the youngest but at the end of the day it is anybody’s game. You can get the prize if you do what you need to do and understand what you need to do,” said Mangwandi.
Not only are the finalists young in age but there’s also a common thread of ambition among them. Shamshum has a podcast called The Table of Perspective, Brink has a huge following on her Instagram page where she shares classic recipes with a distinct South African twist.
In her teens, she launched her own catering service, Bei.Cuisine.
During her studies, Mangwandi created recipes for branding agencies and meal plans for students.
“I think it’s a motivation to the young chefs, especially the youngest type of chefs. I mean I had the dream at 18/16-year-old that I wanna [sic] be on a cooking show, I didn’t know where, how or which, but I had that dream,” said Mangwandi.
The motivated chef said being on the show has shown other young chefs that it’s possible to compete at this level with such ambition.
“It’s somewhat of a motivation that you can also do it, if you decide to put your focus on something and you work hard and you don’t let anything deter you from that dream, you can get your foot in the door then from there it’s literally anyone’s game,” said the young cook.
Mangwandi’s passion for all things food started when she was just a little girl – at the age of seven, driven by her desire to help her mom, who worked multiple jobs.
Thereafter, she drew inspiration from television shows, cookbooks and online platforms.
She was especially inspired by local chef Siba Mtongana’s innovative cooking techniques and dedication to her craft.
MasterChef SA final will be broadcast on S3 (formerly SABC 3) on Saturday, 23 November at 8.30pm.
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