What do you get when you mix top chefs, hospitality pros, and mystery ingredients? A recipe for connection!
On 22 May 2025, FEDHASA Cape, in partnership with SA Chefs and The Restaurant Collective, hosted a memorable evening at Food Jams in Woodstock: The Ultimate Cook-Off Challenge. Part networking event, part culinary showdown, this high-energy experience brought together hospitality professionals from across the sector for a night of collaboration, creativity… and seriously good food.
Guests arrived to welcome drinks and warm introductions before donning aprons and diving into their team assignments. Guided by some of South Africa’s leading chefs (and fuelled by friendly competition), each team took to fully stocked kitchen stations to prepare inspired dishes using secret ingredients and a sprinkle of imagination.
Once plated and presented, everyone gathered around shared tables to enjoy their creations, proving once again that nothing connects people quite like cooking and eating together.
“In the Cape, we know that true connection happens around good food,” said Lee-Anne Singer, Chairperson of FEDHASA Cape. “Cooking is one of life’s great equalisers, and this event reminded us just how powerful it can be to break bread together as colleagues and collaborators.”
The event also had the honour of hosting Her Excellency Ambassador Elsa Caposso Vicente, Consul General for Angola in Cape Town, further highlighting hospitality’s role in connecting cultures through shared experiences.
Feedback from guests has been overwhelmingly positive:
“A cook-off at Food Jams was something I didn’t know I needed,” said Janet Pillay from MLT Car Hire & Tours. “It was so much fun – the group was lovely and vibrant. I met some amazing people!”
Jacky Lourens from Get the Picture echoed this sentiment: “It was such a fun experience filled with great company, laughter, and delicious food. A perfect reminder of how powerful shared experiences around food can be.”
And it wasn’t just about fun. Meaningful networking took place, too. “Great contacts were made,” wrote Briggett Smit from THACSA following the event.
A big ‘thank you’ goes out to all our generous sponsors who helped make this evening possible: Food Jams | Cape Fish | Urban Foods | Ocean Jewel Seafood | Wild Peacock Fine Food Merchants | Eureka Mills | MLT Car Hire & Tours | Aperol Spritz | Allee Bleue | Wild Kalahari | AGT Foods Africa | Bestinvestin
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Please CLICK HERE for pics and memories of the event
