Top chefs at Good Food & Wine show

These have included Queen Elizabeth II, Nelson Mandela, film star Julia Roberts and talkshow queen Oprah Winfrey whose personal chef, Art, was Stuurman’s neighbour in Chicago.

He also met former Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson, with whom he had a lively discussion about football, as well as musical icons Quincy Jones and Mariah Carey.

Stuurman will be one of the top South African chefs contributing to the Johannesburg Good Food & Wine Show. It’s his third appearance at the annual event at the Coca-Cola Dome (held this year from September 21 to 24) and he will showcase some dishes that have made him one of the city’s top chefs.

He’ll be in good company, appearing with international celebrities such as Gary Mehigan, one of the MasterChef Australia judges; Hayden Quinn, a popular contestant from MasterChef Australia Season 3 and British master baker and The Great British Bake-Off judge, Paul Hollywood. The winner of the current season of MasterChef South Africa will also be at the show.

Stuurman is delighted to be playing host to the celebrity chefs and personalities who will be staying at the Palazzo Hotel during their Joburg sojourn.

“We love it when the Good Food & Wine Show comes to town. We have the opportunity to meet chefs who have made their mark on the culinary landscape and get to exchange ideas and concepts.”

Trained in South Africa, Stuurman has worked in several world-class international hotels in London, Egypt, and Chicago. In 1995, he travelled to Norway with the SA Junior Chefs Team and two years later he was recognised as the Young Chef of the Year.

Stuurman, who has been executive chef at The Palazzo for the past three years, began his love affair with food when he helped his grandmother in the family kitchen. “I’ve always had a love for cooking,” he says, “and you soon realise that you would never be able to survive in this industry if you don’t have a love for it because it takes over your life.”

Asked where he thought food trends were going he says: “There is a strong movement towards sustainability and a lot more focus will be put on that as people want to know where their food comes from. Chefs are always pushing the boundaries, but for me it has always been about good quality ingredients and simplicity.”

Stuurman, who spends his free time fly-fishing, running and playing with his Labrador, Bono, has sound advice for wannabe chefs: “Don’t be disillusioned. It’s not the glitz and glamour that is portrayed on the cooking channels. It’s a lot of blood, sweat and tears to get to the top and it needs perseverance, initiative, an ability to learn and to value the discipline of hard work early in your career.”

Tickets for the Good Food & Wine Show cost R95 for adults and R55 for children. There is a family price of R250 which covers two adults and two children under the age of 12 years.