Dinner Divas Food Blogger Competition

The aim of Dinner Divas was to find the best food blogger from among those bloggers who entered into this competition. The first 6 episodes saw 2 bloggers going head to head with the best one going through each round. This was followed by the semi final round which had to be a 3 course meal. The semi finalists were awarded points and the top 3 then went into a 3 round challenge to decide the overall winner. Here food bloggers were encouraged to up their game and bring food bloggers into the limelight. The ultimate aim was to increase attention from big brands, and to this end, Dinner Divas was an advertising funded program. This was not supposed to be a cooking competition, but rather a blogging competition. The judges were tasked with tasting the food, reading the blog, and making a decision based on both components. Dinner Divas was meant to garner exposure for the bloggers who entered.

Here is a synopsis of each episode.

Episode 1:

• Nina Timm vs Kristy Snell
• Nina made orange and peach punch, tortilla shells, Mexican meatballs, refried beans, Mexican corn salsa, guacamole, ricotta cheesecakes
• Kristy made fillet steak, rosemary oven potatoes, watercress and baby spinach salad, peach and almond pudding, lemon and raspberry cooler
• Judges: Aubrey Ngcungama, Caro de Waal, Leila Padayachi – who does not eat pork
• Result: both contestants go through to the next round

Episode 2:

• Sue Green vs Tami Magnin
• Sue made pork meatballs, lemon cupcakes, egg fried rice, sweet and sour sauce
• Tami made baked chicken, potato wedges, BBQ dipping sauce, brownies, bread rolls
• Judges: Aubrey Ngcungama, Leila Padayachi, Fernando Roman – who does not like food bloggers
• Result: Sue Green goes through to the next round

Episode 3:

• Anél Potgieter vs Barry Gerber
• Anél made roast chicken, green leaf salad, cinnamon pastry twirls, milk tart custard
• Barry made waterblommetjie bredie, pumpkin cakes, corn bread
• Judges: Fernando Roman, Leila Padayachi, Caro de Waal
• Result: Anél made it through to the next round

Episode 4:

• Thuli Gogela vs Janice Tripepi
• Thuli made red velvet lava cakes, tomato, onion and peanut dip, cow heels, butter beans, mifino, butternut chips
• Jan made involtini, tomato and brinjal bake, insalata di rucola, panforte pastries
• Judges: Leila Padayachi, Fernando Roman, Andrew Lieber
• Result: Janice made it through to the next round

Episode 5:

• Zirkie Schroeder vs Candice Le Noury
• Zirkie made pork fillets, baked broccoli and chocolate crunchies
• Candice made green bean and chickpea salad, Gruyere crusted fishcakes, watercress pesto, chocolate fondant, honeycomb
• Judges: Andrew Lieber, Aubrey Ngcungama, Caro de Waal
• Result: Zirkie made it through to the next round

Episode 6:

• Kate Liquorish vs Usha Singh
• Kate made tomato tart tatin, fish in blankets, chocolate pear and lavender cakes
• Usha made spinach bhajia, soji, channa masala and puri
• Judges: Andrew Lieber, Leila Padayachi, Fernando Roman
• Result: Usha made it through to the next round

Episode 7:

• Usha vs Zirkie
• Usha made mixed vegetable and mashed potato fritters, lassi, kheer, burfee, yoghurt soup, sprouted green mung beans, curried baby potatoes and baby brinjals, nuts and saffron pulaw and roti
• Zirkie made babotie squares, avocado and cottage cheese profiteroles, baked baby marrow fries, tempura baby vegetables, sticky boneless pork ribs, cheese bites with biltong, creamy passionfruit stars
• Judges: Andrew Lieber, Leila Padayachi, Fernando Roman
• Result: Usha scored highest

Episode 8:

• Sue vs Anél
• Sue made beat and bake cake, crumbed chicken, monkey gland sauce, balsamic sticky chicken, chilled vichyssoise soup, easy cheesy damper, salmon and cucumber jellies, strawberry rolled pavlova
• Anél made flat Indian bread, goat and bean curry, minced chicken balls, pineapple lassi, savoury lassi, tomato chutney, fresh apple chutney, saffron egg basmati rice, semolina halwa with peach puree
• Judges: Leila Padayachi, Fernando Roman, Caro de Waal
• Result: Anél scored highest

Episode 9:

• Kristy vs Nina vs Jan
• Kristy made spinach and butternut rotola, spiced duck breast, dauphinoise potatoes, pork and peach stuffing, apple tart tatin
• Nina made granadilla mousse cake, mini quiches, meringue roulade, smoked mackerel and watercress sandwiches
• Jan made insalata di frutti di mare, calamari ripieni, dorado,sugo di scampi, fragole al Cinzano con zabaglione
• Judges: Leila Padayachi, Fernando Roman, Aubrey Ngcungama
• Result: Kristy and Jan score higher than Nina

Episode 10:

• First of three episodes where Anél, Kristy and Jan battle it out
• Mystery Box Challenge to come up with a weekday family meal in 45 minutes
• Judges: Andrew Lieber, Aubrey Ngcungama, Caro de Waal

Episode 11:

• Challenge is to make buttermilk crumpets, eggs Benedict and guava sorbet using the same given recipe
• Judges: Andrew Lieber, Aubrey Ngcungama, Caro de Waal

Episode 12:

• Challenge is to make a 3 course meal
• To see what each contestant made, click on their name: Jan, Anél, Kristy
• Judges: Andrew Lieber, Aubrey Ngcungama, Caro de Waal

And the winner was Anél Potgieter of Life’s A Zoo Biscuit

Disclosure: I was invited to the launch of Dinner Divas and I was not asked to write about the program. This post is in line with my blogging policy.

What I blogged:

• one year ago – Tuna Green Curry

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