Fabulously fun and enjoyably entertaining! The launch of Nataniël’s new cookbook, Gatherings, was everything you wished it would be at Exclusive Books Clearwater Mall earlier this week.
The launch featured a festive, petal-bedecked table of this gorgeous new cookbook and a buzzing air of expectation as the guests awaited Nataniël’s arrival.
He was introduced by Marga Collings from NB Publishers as a “national treasure” and “style icon”. Speaking in both English and Afrikaans, Collings described Nataniël as “besonder veelsydig” – a “successful singer, writer, lyric writer, composer, artist, stage personality, playwright, chef and businessman”. She praised him for fitting all this in to his life and yet finding, “time to enjoy gatherings with friends and colleagues, making each one a beautiful occasion in which he combines his favourite things – cooking, eating and friendship”.
She said Gatherings is about “Memorable celebrations and magical get-togethers at Nataniël’s house and garden over the course of a year”.
Bouncing forward, Nataniël had guests laughing within seconds with his opening comments, which included “It’s very strange to do a speech about good cooking within walking distance from the Spur!”. Saying he was born in “the wrong country at the wrong time”, although he has tried rugby, politics and sport, he has come to realise that he “only likes food” and is “obsessed about the culture of eating”.
Describing how he spends time reading books on the history of food “while other people breed”, he took guests through the human journey of discovering a knife and fork. Painting a picture of how we have moved from communal eating out of shared bowls to set places for individuals he said, “the modern way of eating changed everything”.
He joked that eating, and the culture thereof, had changed quite a lot down the generations: “in the 21st century I can have a weight problem!”. He spoke of the pleasurable joys of eating at home. “Before the crime will kill us all, my message is to stay at home and eat!”.
He delighted guests by sharing how his mother was never a good cook – “she will just kill you with her cooking” – but how life was “cholesterol heaven” with his grandmother. She believed “Tomorrow the war will start so let’s eat everything today!”. He told how they ate with open doors at her house. “The entire town was welcome”.
Talking about Gatherings specifically, Nataniël mentioned that it is not a book about how one should cook but about how he ate for a year. He included all the special events in his year – except for a funeral. He tried to inspire people with simple food: “If you can’t cook, dim the lights and drink more!”.
Gatherings is about how you present the food and who joins you at your table, it’s about using “your best every day” and enjoying “your stuff!”
And his final gem of the evening: “Who the hell wants to watch TV if you can eat?”
Gallery of gathered guests
Book details
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