Unilever chefs have created tasting sessions to come up with delicious homemade burger recipes to be recreated at the classes from exotic Spanish beef burgers to tasty tomato and rosemary burgers.
Bonello, who describes himself as a cook, presenter, traveller, father, husband, film-maker, and gardener – "but not particularly in that order," – will be featured at all three of the 2015
Taste Festivals in Cape Town, Johannesburg, and Durban. The first festival kicks off in the Mother City from Friday, 10 to Sunday, 12 April at Green Point Cricket Stadium.
Using the wealth of knowledge, which has led to the publishing of seven cookbooks, Bonello will enable class participants to easily make their own burgers in the comfort of their homes.
Throughout the fun, interactive classes, Bonello's appetite for life, food, and travel – the same cravings that have driven him to gather everything he cares most deeply about, and make his world revolve around them – will be evident. "
I'm really excited to be doing these Ultimate Burger Making Classes with Robertsons at the
Taste festivals this year. Beyond the fact that I get to show-and-tell what a beautiful and amazing delivery system burgers are for all those delicious flavour combinations, the bigger thrill for me is having the opportunity of meeting the rainbow nation one on one without a television set between us, and considering that this year I've got some new tricks up my sleeve for
season 4 of
Ultimate Braai Master, this might just be your window into what I'm going to put this year’s contestants through …" said Bonello.
The 43-year-old's passion for the outdoors and South Africa's untamed beauty is rooted in his childhood, where he spent weekends on the Breede River and holidays on the wild coast in the Eastern Cape, and as he grew, so too did his desire for good, wholesome, down-to-earth food.
At the tender age of 14, Bonello became involved in the film industry and, pursuing his dreams and desires, worked his way to becoming a film-maker, veteran presenter, author, and head of production at
Cooked in Africa Films. He has presented more than 10 television series and produced more than 23, which have been broadcast in over 100 countries. And he has no plans to stop, or at least not anytime soon.
Using the simple truths and connections of life, travel, and food, Justin produced his first travel show,
Cooked in 2003. He quickly became a local culinary celebrity when BBC Lifestyle grabbed the opportunity to showcase this home grown series, and the first season quickly grew into five. He also converted his unique outdoor cooking experiences into a cookbook entitled
Cooked in Africa, which was an instant bestseller. His second book, the pocket
Weekend Away, received rave reviews and his third,
Out of the Frying Pan was again an instant success.
Overall, his show reel of successful productions and programming has been broadcast across various genres on platforms such as BBC International, BBC Lifestyle, Sky Network, National Geographic, Discovery, Food Network, Travel Channel and local South African broadcasters MNET, e.tv and SABC. His most recent project is entitled
Karoo: Land of Thirst, and it explores the food and culture of South Africa's hinterland.
The original, home-grown flagship reality TV cooking competition
Ultimate Braai Master, which debuted on SABC 3 in 2012, has seen three seasons take South African audiences by storm. The fourth season is currently in production. More recently, the flagship show was selected by one of the world's largest independent production and format rights companies, all3mediaInternational to become part of its global format catalogue, a first for any locally produced original production. This will see the
Ultimate Braai Master replicated as a successful global format in territories around the world. The fourth South African season,
Ultimate Braai Master: Game On sponsored by Robertsons is currently in production.
Last year's winners, Yusuf and Stephen of team Tikka Boys, have gone on to open their new restaurant La Vierge and have won a culinary trip to India with Bonello, sponsored by Robertsons Herbs & Spices, as part of their prize for claiming the title of South Africa's Ultimate Braai Master. The Tikka Boys will also be a part of
the classes.
"It's really great to have Robertsons Herbs & Spices on board as the headline sponsor for the fourth season of the
Ultimate Braai Master and they've got a host of new prizes lined up for any hopeful Braai Masters. Going to the spice capital of the world was really exciting because I’ve never been there before," said Bonello.
The next few months are going to be crazy for Bonello as not only is his latest cookbook - entitled
Cooked in the Karoo - already on store shelves and his eighth,
Road Tripping due to be released in June, but he is also spear-heading two new projects in the conservation and sustainability genres. The first is Leopard 350, a project which highlights the plight of, and invites an urgent call-to-action to save, the last 350 leopards that are endemic to the Cape Fold Mountain Belt, while the second is Neighborhood Farm which will see him sharing what he has learned over the years to make issues like sustainability, living and eating healthily accessible, affordable and fun for the average South African. He said both new ventures were very important in a future which includes a lot of on-the-road, crew-in-tow fun, food, travel, exploration and boundary-breaking.