JHB South East - Dec 21-Jan 22

Behind the legacy of love scenes
Putting a cookbook together is a labour of love. And writer Tayla Blaire and
photographer Roelene Prinsloo enjoyed every (delicious) minute
he first recipe in Our Italian Legacy of Love
is for Café del Sol’s famous mayonnaise. And
the last is for a Bellini. And in between. Oh
gosh ... avocado al-ritz and Nona’s basil pesto
and limoncello risotto. Fresh mussel pot and
double-cooked chips and stuffed calamari. TPanna cotta with lemon curd topping and chocolate tart
with pistachio crust and Mamma’s pavlova. Recipe after
recipe after delicious recipe from the Café del Sol family
kitchen, each a memory Chiara and Ryan Viljoen have
of dishes from both their nonnas, as well as their mama,
Luciana Treccani.
And while the collection of recipes is a legacy of love, the
same could be said for putting it together ... the behind the
scenes planning, tasting, writing, tasting, photographing,
and tasting!
The first seeds of the book were planted in 2019, when
freelance lifestyle writer Tayla Blaire was commissioned to
write an article about Cafe Del Sol for the end-of-year issue
of Get It magazine. “I was thrilled, having been a fan of
the restaurant since 2008. Luciana and Chiara showed me
how to make limoncello gnocchi and then we sat down
to interview for the magazine. The interview ended up
lasting almost four hours, as we started reminiscing about
our respective travels to Italy - I had just come back from
a three week backpacking trip there. I have a passion for
Italian food, passed on to me from my mom, which came
across, and they asked if I would be interested in helping
them write a cookbook, something that had always been
a dream of theirs. That December we put together a pitch
for Penguin. It got approved. And boom! Suddenly I found
myself in the role of ghostwriter for a cookbook.”
So what is it like behind the scenes? “A whole lot more
chaotic than the gorgeous glossy pages let on! Firstly,
Chiara got way too enthusiastic with recipes ... I don’t think
I’m exaggerating when I say that about 50 had to be cut
from the first draft to the final book. That was probably the
worst part – knowing how many exquisite recipes wouldn’t
make it to print due to page limitations. The family also had
a habit of saying that everything was their favourite family
recipe ... and I had to repeatedly explain that a favourite
implies there’s only one, and they had about twenty with
that title. This was a battle they weren’t prepared to lose, so
you’ll find a lot of favourites in this book!”
Worried that her knowledge of Italian cooking would lead
to her making connections that weren’t necessarily in the
recipe, Tayla often dragged her husband into the room
to read through a recipe to see if he could follow it. “If he
could follow it, anyone can – and I say that with so much
love! On the boring side ... maintaining consistency for
method and measurements across every single recipe was
tough as it gets really monotonous. But on the positive
side ... I loved the endless chats to the family, hearing their
stories and creatively weaving their narrative into the blurbs
at the start of each recipe. My favourite part of the book is
the opening pages – the story of the family. It was the first
section I wrote and it really set the tone for everything that
followed,” she says.
“The family would ask my opinion on all kinds of things,
from what I thought the cover should be to helping them
choose which recipes to lose. That trust is so special to me,
as it shows that they knew I held this book as close to my
heart as it is to theirs”.
Tayla managed to pop in during one of the shooting days
for the photographs ... “and I happened to coincide my visit
with lunchtime (of course she did!). They were shooting
the risottos and after taking the pictures, we all sat down
amidst boxes and flat-lays to eat every risotto from the
book – it was heaven. Gosh, they make a good risotto. The
best I have ever had, for sure.”
Shooting (and eating) the risotto was Roelene Prinsloo, a
sensational professional food photographer who makes
every dish look mouth-watering.
“I started specialising in food photography in 2002. When
the chance came up to shoot the images for this book,
I grabbed it with both hands. I love what I do so much
it doesn’t even feel like work.” It can, however, be quite
challenging to get a variety of settings and images when
shooting a book. “It involves a lot of physically hard work,
moving studio lights from one location to the next to set
up a different set, but so worth it to get a different lifestyle
feel. At the end of the day, even when I am exhausted, I am
massively satisfied when I go through the lovely images.”
“And shooting a recipe book is such great fun! It’s a
wonderful opportunity to be really creative and to work
together as a team. After working together so closely for so
many days - usually around 10 days, but we did this book in
a record of six - we feel like friends and family,” Roelene says.
Tayla agrees with her. “At the launch of the book, I asked
Luciana, Chiara and Ryan to sign my copy, and Chiara wrote
that I am ‘officially part of the famiglia’ – and it really feels
that way.”
24 Get It Joburg South • Alberton • Bedfordview • Greenstone • Modderfontein December 2021/January 2022
GIS1203_024_513795458.indd 24 2021/11/17 15:13:58