Lifestyle

SA's first Michelin-star chef wants your granny's recipes

Nathan Adams|Published

Jan Hendrick van der Westhuizen. Picture: Facebook Jan Hendrick van der Westhuizen. Picture: Facebook

South Africa's first Michelin-star chef Jan Hendrik van der Westhuizen needs your help and possibly your granny's recipes.

The published author and celebrity chef is on a mission to "preserve our South African heritage by collecting as many South African cookbooks" as possible.

He's put out the call to action on social media and if you want to get involved you can contact his team directly or follow the hashtag  #janinnovationstudio #JAN #kleinjan #janthejournal

Dividing his time between SA and France - where he still has his restaurant JAN in Nice - he has still found time to indulge his passions.

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I’m kicking off a BIG project to preserve our South African heritage by collecting as many South African cookbooks as I can for my library at JAN Innovation Studio in Cape Town to share with the next generations of culinary students! I’m talking about those old classics you can’t find anymore, the ones your grandmother cooked out of, or her grandmother for that matter. Please don’t throw your old cookbooks out, I’d love to have them. Once the library is complete, I’ll do a draw and the former owner of the winning book will win a dinner at the Studio! Contact retha@janhendrik.com for details about where to send your treasures. #janinnovationstudio #JAN #kleinjan #janthejournal

A post shared by Jan Hendrik van der Westhuizen(@janhendrikvanderwesthuizen) on Jul 5, 2019 at 7:47am PDT

In his call to action Chef Jan says: "I’m kicking off a BIG project to preserve our South African heritage by collecting as many South African cookbooks as I can for our library at JAN Innovation Studio in Cape Town to share with the next generation of culinary students!"

He adds: "I’m talking about those old classics you can’t find anymore, the ones your grandmother cooked out of, or her grandmother for that matter. Please don’t throw your old cookbooks out, I’d love to have them. Once the library is complete, I’ll do a draw and the former owner of the winning book will win a dinner at the Studio! Contact retha@janhendrik.com for details about where to send your treasures. #janinnovationstudio #JAN #kleinjan #janthejournal."

Heritage and history has always been front of mind for Chef Jan.

"Jan The Journal" is a project of his and is described as a "300-page volume of over 50 tried-and-tested recipes, informative stories and tips, I share some of my grandmother's favourite recipes, we visit Japan, Vietnam, China and Pretoria".