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INLSA<\/p>\n
Durbans culinary hope for the Master Chef SA title, Deena Naidoo, is most at ease in the custom-built kitchen of his Queensburgh home. Picture: Jacques Naude<\/p>\n
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As D-Day looms for Master Chef SA finalist Deena Naidoo, you could be forgiven for expecting him to be a bundle of nerves. <\/p>\n
Being in the competition has seen Naidoo\u2019s stress level peak, but after spending time at home with his family recently, he says that when viewers tune in to tomorrow night\u2019s finale, they will see a relaxed Deena who is back to his old self. <\/p>\n
Having grown up in a traditional Indian family, Naidoo says that food has always been a big part of his life, and childhood memories are of kitchen table conversations and helping to prepare meals. He credits his mother, the late Gonum Naidoo, an avid cook, as his main source of inspiration. <\/p>\n
He is not short of support. <\/p>\n
\u201cWords cannot express how proud I am of my husband,\u201d says wife, Kathy. She quips that their youngest daughter, Aarya, 10, is riding on her father\u2019s coat-tails, having become a celebrity at school. <\/p>\n
Friends and family are close to Naidoo\u2019s heart and he looks forward to entertaining again when the show is over. <\/p>\n
He likes experimenting with new flavours and techniques in small quantities before making a meal out of them. His \u201ccan\u2019t live without\u201d ingredient is garlic. <\/p>\n
Naidoo is excited at the prospect of winning, which he says \u201cis definitely there\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been focusing on acquiring the title. Now it\u2019s so close, I can almost touch it,\u201d he said yesterday. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhile I\u2019m touched by the public\u2019s support, I think it gives Sue-Ann (Allen) the upper hand because she\u2019s under less pressure than I am.\u201d <\/p>\n
Should he win, Naidoo wants his restaurant to be truly South African and to celebrate the country\u2019s diversity. While he would love it to be in Durban, he will have to wait and see if this is possible as Southern Sun is offering the winner a Gauteng-based restaurant. <\/p>\n
Regardless of tomorrow night\u2019s outcome, this is not |the end of Naidoo\u2019s culinary career. <\/p>\n
\u201cBeing a father is my first priority, so I couldn\u2019t just run off and follow my dreams without considering my children\u2019s well-being. That said, I\u2019ve been given an amazing platform to inspire people and I intend to continue doing that.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
INLSA Durbans culinary hope for the Master Chef SA title, Deena Naidoo, is most at ease in the custom-built kitchen of his Queensburgh home. Picture: Jacques Naude As D-Day looms for Master Chef SA finalist Deena Naidoo, you could be forgiven for expecting him to be a bundle of nerves. Being in the competition has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[8275,953,2143],"class_list":{"0":"post-12670","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-durban","8":"tag-newspaper","9":"tag-the-mercury","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12670","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12670"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12670\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}