Justin Bonello (born 21 June 1971) is a South African cook,

television personality Celebrity is a condition of fame and broad public recognition of a person or group due to the attention given to them by mass media. The word is also used to refer to famous individuals. A person may attain celebrity status by having great w ...

, producer, and writer.

Early life

Bonello was born in

Durban Durban ( ; , from meaning "bay, lagoon") is the third-most populous city in South Africa, after Johannesburg and Cape Town, and the largest city in the Provinces of South Africa, province of KwaZulu-Natal. Situated on the east coast of South ...

and grew up in the

Gardens A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the cultivation, display, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The single feature identifying even the wildest wild garden is ''control''. The garden can incorporate bot ...

suburb of

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

. He also spent some of his childhood on the

Breede River The Breede River (), also known as Breë River, is a river in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. Travelling inland north from the city of Cape Town, the river runs in a west to east direction. The surrounding western mountains formed th ...

and the Wild Coast. He has a sister. He learned to cook through his grandmother, who gave him his first pan, and about filmmaking through his mother Jeanne. He graduated with a degree in Information Systems, Analysis and Design from

Cape Peninsula University of Technology Cape Peninsula University of Technology () is a university in Cape Town, South Africa. It is the only university of technology in the Western Cape province, and is also the largest university in the province, with over 32,000 students. It was ...

Career

Bonello's first cooking series ''Cooked'' first premiered in 2006 on

BBC Food BBC Food is a division of the BBC which controls a recipe website part of BBC Online, an online streaming channel, and a former international commercial television channel focusing on food. Website BBC Food is the public service website which ...

and later

BBC Lifestyle BBC Lifestyle is an international television channel wholly owned by BBC Studios. The channel provides six programming strands: Food, Home & Design, Fashion & Style, Health, Parenting, and Personal Development. On 1 August 2019, BBC Lifestyle ...

. Together with Peter Gird, Bonello co-founded the production company Cooked in Africa Films in 2011, through which he has executive produced and hosted a number of food and travel shows, such as ''Getaway to Africa'', ''Exploring the Vine'', and ''Around Iceland on Inspiration''. In 2012, he created and began hosting the competition '' The Ultimate Braai Master'', which was later acquired by " Okuhle Media" now
Trace Studios
. He considered The Ultimate Braai Master a celebration of "who we are as South Africans through food". In addition, Bonello founded the non-profit organisation Neighbourhood Farm, which aims to create jobs and improve food security by bringing urban farming into communities and schools in Cape Town.

Personal life

Bonello lives in Noordhoek with his wife Eugenie (née Tancred) and their three children.

Bibliography

* ''Cooked in Africa'' (2010) * ''Cooked: Weekends Away'' (2011) * ''Cooked: Out of the Frying Pan'' (2011) * ''Justin Bonello Cooks... for Friends'' (2012) * ''Cooked in the Karoo'' (2014) * ''Roads Less Travelled'' (2014) * ''Ultimate Braai Master: Road Tripping with Justin Bonello'' (2015)

References

External links

*
Justin Bonello
at TVSA
Cooked in Africa Films
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bonello, Justin Living people 1971 births Cape Peninsula University of Technology alumni People from Durban South African chefs South African company founders South African cookbook writers South African television personalities South African television producers South African travel writers