10 questions with Food Trail: South Africa’s Warren Mendes

Australian chef and food stylist Warren Mendes is on the hunt for South Africa’s unique food cultures and dishes, as he cooks his way through the country in the first season of his series Food Trail: South Africa.

It’s a story that began with his own roots growing up in South Africa before leaving the country at the age of 13 … and conducting food experiments with his cousin, Jeannie, who would grow up to become TV presenter, Jeannie D.

“I remember microwaving cheese a lot with her. Microwaved cheese on top of almost anything, even, I think, All-Bran flakes,” admits Warren. “We'd just be doing weird things while the rest of our cousins were busy doing other stuff. We've remained extremely close as cousins and friends and we’re very similar in a lot of ways, although she isn't a great cook. But she's absolutely fine about that.”

Mzansi street cred established, we asked Warren a few questions about making the show when he returned to South Africa this March to film Season 4.

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Watch Food Trail: South Africa Season 1 from Sunday, 26 April at 11:30AM on Food Network Channel 175.

What’s been your favourite background animal while shooting? In Season 1, the penguins are intriguing because they're like the endearing, awkward cousin of all other birds, the way they waddle along. And it seems like we've set up these moments where there's an animal behind me, but the more time you spend in South Africa, you’ll see that those moments happen. It seems like a dream when you show people from overseas.

You shoot outside a lot. Did you have monkey trouble? We've had a few! In another season, one stole a whole pineapple cake. We had turned around for a second to get other shots. Someone screamed, and this monkey was sitting on top of this pineapple cake with a beautiful cream cheese icing that I’d just made. The way that it was shoving it into its mouth was just fascinating. Luckily, there was a second stunt cake that we could shoot.

Which food and snacks does your crew get excited about? We have a blend of Australians and South Africans in our crew. Finding that you like something for the first time, like a chakalaka, is awesome. We always have our little stops to get padkos. Every time I'm at the Wimpy at the airport, I have a burger and smother it with that yellow mustard. And when we're on the road, it's NikNaks, it's Ghost Pops. And Dewet (Second AD Dewet Uys) gets his Chappies.

Which South African food did you struggle with? I don't want to get cancelled in South Africa, but I'm not a huge fan of livers or kidneys. But if you cook me a meal, I will absolutely try it! In Season 1 (episode 6), we go to a market in Durban with Thoko, who got me to try a full, boiled cow’s head (aka smiley/skopo). I think the bit she gave me was kind of some gland in the neck? It was delicious. But if you open your eyes, it might not be as attractive.

How did you plan for your first season? I planned a lot of the recipes more in advance than I do now. Then we'd arrive, and I'd realise in the middle of the bush that I can't get something like puff pastry! Very quickly, I adapted to rather arrive at a place, meet the chefs and chat. It works a lot better, because it tells the story of the place. In the Kalahari (episode 4), we made a honey and pistachio tart, because pistachios grew on a local farm.

How did you coordinate three different locations, each with celeb chefs and guests, for every episode? I produce the show with Mattie Roberts. Prior to each location, there are a billion emails and at least two or three zoom calls. We try to meet as many of the people as we can beforehand. We cover what the episode could look like. What are the flavours? I look at what type of food is cooked at a certain place. Multiply that by 10 episodes and it takes a few months.

What was time on the road like in Season 1? It was the original big deal! It was my first-ever experience on TV. We were in South Africa for just under six weeks. It took three to four days to shoot each episode. And we were travelling to all corners because of the availability of where we're going to stay, since Easter can be tricky to shoot around. We took every mode of transport and generally it was a full travel day between each location.