Latest press coverage (they’re having a field day)
Update 09/02/2010: Sanlam Developing Markets Donates R10,000
Update 05/02/2010: Philips donates R10,000
Update 02/02/2010: Woolies breaks down in tears

So this weekend we were wandering through Woolworths and came across their exciting Woolies Lovebird competition, advertised throughout their national network of stores on big posters (thanks for the pic @TalyaGoldberg).

It really is an exciting competition, and we wanted in, so we went online to check it out: www.woolieslovebird.co.za… just as the poster says. But the URL was not registered. What they meant to write was www.woolieslovebirds.co.za. We can only assume that the hangovers from the Woolies New Year’s parties were the cause for this little oversight. So we did something sneaky: we registered it and now we’re holding it ransom.

To get it back, and have us point the address to their competition asap, we’re asking Woolies to match, rand for rand, all donations made towards our 2010 charity, Soil for Life, between now and Valentines Day (and to be nice, we’ll put a limit of R5000 on it). Sound good? Excellent. So we invite all our fans to go ahead and donate R25 or more to support a great cause and make Woolies pay or the lovebirds get it

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UPDATE: 2 February 2010

Woolies has broken down in tears and has begged for their lovebirds back. Not only have they agreed to pay the ransom, they have volunteered an extra R2500 towards Soil for Life! Even better, they’ve allowed us to hold onto the web address because they believe this is such a worthy cause – hooray! So donate now to save the lovebirds;)

And if you’re a real lovebird, fly away and be free: www.woolieslovebirds.co.za

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UPDATE: 5 February 2010

After our interview this morning on 94.7 Highveld with Jeremy Mansfield, Philips South Africa got hold of us and said they would match a further R10,000 in donations! Thank you, Philips. We are moved. In addition to R5,000 donated by fans this morning since the show, KitchenAid South Africa lent their support and added R2,000 to the pot. If we added more exclamation marks to this paragraph it would start to look silly.

Total raised at the time of writing: R33,100 + R7,500 Woolies Ransom + R10,000 Philips contribution: R50,600!
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UPDATE: 9 February 2010

Sanlam Developing Markets called us this morning saying that they have just deposited R10,000 in our account towards Soil for Life! Thank you, Sanlam Developing Markets. Once again we are stunned by the generosity of people out there. Many other people have contributed in the last few days to raise our total to R66,000!

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Press Coverage

A big shout out to everyone in the press who has covered this story to date. The requests for interviews in print, radio and TV are coming in thick and fast. This is fantastic for Soil for Life, it’s fantastic for us and in a way it’s even pretty cool for Woolies. Anyone who needs more info can contact me (I am Paul) on media@yuppiechef.com. Here are a few of the highlights of the week.

Mail & Guardian Online

Woolies campaign ‘hijacked’

The Daily Maverick

Ambush marketers hold Woolworths to ransom, and get some lovin’ in return

Cape Talk: John Cherry breaks the story

Cape Talk 3/02/2010, John Cherry speaks about the Woolies Ransom by Yuppiechef

94.7 Highveld’s Rude Awakening with Jeremy Mansfield

Jeremy interviews Paul and gives us a huge punt at the peak of rush hour traffic on Johannesburg’s biggest show.
Highveld 94.7 Jeremy Mansfield & Paul Galatis by Yuppiechef

SAFM: Michelle Constant interviews Paul about the ransom

SAFM 6/02/2010, Michelle Constant interviews Paul about the ransom by Yuppiechef

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A bit more about Soil for Life

Soil for Life are a wonderful bunch of people whose mandate is quite simply to ‘heal the soil, heal the plants, and heal the people’. Their main work is in under privileged communities where they teach people how to start their own home gardens, provide on-going support through a team of field workers and over time see them blossom into agricultural experts! Find out more

Popularity: 100% [?]

Yip, we’re growing (again) and we need your help. We’re looking for a passionate food and kitchen tool lover to fill a marketing assistant role at Yuppiechef.

We’re based in Cape Town so you need to be in the area or need to be willing to move to the most beautiful city in the world. We want you to join us as soon as possible. We don’t mind too much about your age or whether you’re a boy or a girl but there are a few things we know we’re looking for:

• You’ve had at least 2 years experience in a marketing role and know that caring about customers is the most important thing in life.
• Your organizational skills are second to none.
• You are a great writer and your English compares to that of the queen, darling.
• You get passionate about your work and are willing to work hard (very hard) and have fun at the same time.
• You’re outgoing, you like people and people like you.
• You’re able to work well under pressure and can deal with several different projects at once with a smile on your face.
• The web is your second (or third) home. Facebook, blogs, Twitter and other social media are your weekly staples.

Things that will keep you busy in this role include:

• Co-ordinating and executing all our regular marketing activities
• Ensuring that our website, newsletters, print advertising, radio advertising, social media campaigns and press communication all talk to each other nicely and campaigns happen when they should
• Be involved in awesome campaigns (like this one) for all mediums mentioned above
• Working alongside other Yuppiechef team members at trade shows like the Good Food & Wine Show telling the world about who we are. These shows require lots of energy and are great fun. Take a peek here.
• Bringing cupcakes and other nice treats into the office every now and then to surprise us and keep us smiling.

If you think you’re cut out for this role or you think you know someone who would be perfect, please drop us a line at jobs@yuppiechef.co.za and tell us a little about yourself, why you think you’d like to work with us and attach your CV for us to have a squizz.

Popularity: 4% [?]

The performances given by the world’s best kitchen tools in 2009 were exemplary. But the Yuppiechef judges have spent many hours behind closed doors and have finally decided on their winners. Victors had to be top sellers in their category, had to receive only compliments from customers in 2009 (and no complaints), needed to be top of the ‘most wished for’ items in our gift registries and had to score highly on in-house product tests. Here they are.

Best Knife

In the category of best knives, the winner is… (drumroll)… the Wusthof Classic Chefs Knife 20cm!

No kitchen should be without this manual food processor. It is the most essential of all knives used in the kitchen. Slicing, mincing and dicing of all kind of food. Perfectly balanced, it’s an extension of your hand.

Best Gadget

In the category of best gadget, the competition was fierce. And the winner is… the FusionBrands IceOrb!

The patented vertical design engineering allows you to make 21 uniquely shaped ice cubes and store 30 cubes within it simultaneously. It can be used to chill wine or as a mini cooler at picnics and is very useful when you’re ‘on the go’. You can also use the lid under the IceOrb® while serving to catch condensation.

Best Tea & Coffee

When the time came for a call to be made in the tea and coffee category, the Le Creuset Traditional Kettle took the honours.

You will no doubt fall in love with this beautiful, cast iron kettle – available in a choice of colours that complement the Le Creuset cookware range.

Best Cookware

More and more people, including the judges, are being converted to Swiss Diamond every day and the Swiss Diamond Frypan has come up trumps in the cookware category. Well done, Swiss Diamond!

Best Appliance

The final prize in the 2009 Best Kitchen Tools awards goes to KitchenAid for their world class Ultra Power Blender.

And that’s a wrap! Thank you all for coming. We hope you enjoyed your evening.

Popularity: 16% [?]

Yip, we are growing and are on the lookout for some much needed help in the office. We’re searching for an office assistant who is friendly, hardworking, outgoing and who is excited by the idea of  being part of an enthusiastic team. The position is a junior one with lots of potential to grow with us through the gazillion exciting challenges ahead.

We’re not a normal company and we are not looking for normal people. We are an online store (which is awesome) and  we’re based in Westlake, Cape Town (which is here). We work hard, we have fun and we take customer service and the quality of our work very seriously, but we never take ourselves too seriously.

The lucky individual’s duties will include:

• Booking in of stock received from our suppliers
• Quality control of stock received
• Packing clients orders
• Hand writing our personalised cards
• Ad-hoc telephone customer support and reception duties
• General office administration and support

Requirements include:

• Excellent attention to detail
• Excellent English and hand writing skills
• PC literate
• Own transport
• Organised and systematic
• Ability to work well under pressure and during busy periods

If you’re interested or know someone who would be perfect for this role, please forward them this link or drop us a line at jobs@yuppiechef.co.za. Please write a short paragraph telling us who you are and why you think you would be great for this job and attach your CV and anything else you think is important that may sway the opinions of the judges;)

Popularity: 3% [?]

It’s been a long, hard-fought slog folks but he’s done it. Mike has won the chili competition. With two beautiful specimens to show off, he won by a country mile.

As for the other contenders, well, there is always next year. Perhaps we could grow a flower, or a common weed and perhaps then it would be a more fair competition. As for today, Mike is off celebrating by taking his day off all the way in the garden route, where chilies grow like weeds, weeds grow like Pierre Spies in the off season and the off season doesn’t exist. It’s just a perfect place year round.

Thank you to everyone who competed, it was a wonderful journey of self-discipline, tactics, scientific research and most notably, vermi-juice. To all the thousands of fans watching world wide, thanks for the steady stream of encouragement on the blog and advice emailed in. And finally, to those that lost: you have 24 hours to eat the winner’s chili. Good luck.

Popularity: 3% [?]

It’s official. We’ve finally managed to do it. Hold the phones. Stop the press. Turn off the stove, but leave the oven on. We’re making a commitment to support Soil for Life in 2010.

Who are they? Soil for Life is a wonderful little NGO based and operating out of Constantia, Cape Town, that teaches people to grow their own food. Their motto is: healthy soil, healthy plants, healthy people.

Judging by the work they are doing, their impressive track record and the basic needs in this country, we couldn’t think of a more suitable group of individuals to support this coming year. Who knows, perhaps after the soccer is over next year we could grow some world class vegetables on those pitches!

Charles at Soil for Life

So in brief, they start by teaching people how to grow their own food. This then leads to an array of different life skills ranging from composting, worm-farming, making preserves and selling their produce to friends or local markets… the list of benefits goes on. All the while they provide continuous support via experienced field workers. And what’s best of all is that it’s practically free for anyone who needs it to get involved.

The main focus of their work is helping poor people to start small home gardens so they can feed themselves. The impact these people often make on their communities is impressive – analogous to the growth of a seed into a large, shade-giving evergreen. Take some time to look at their website, read some of the testimonies and discover just how it easy it is to help make a difference.

Des's beautiful garden in front of her home

So from our side, we’ve committed to helping them in a number of small but exciting ways in 2010 and are offering our customers the opportunity to jump on the bandwagon and help as well.

So if you are intrigued, interested or impressed then watch this space for more information over the coming weeks.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Set to inspire a whole new love affair with iconic Le Creuset Cast Iron when it hits SA cinemas on November 13th, Julie & Julia boasts an impressive cast and a heady mix of food, relationships and writing.

Yuppiechef and Le Creuset have teamed up to give away a R5,000 set of Le Creuset pots. Here’s what you have to do:

1) Write about a great cooking or eating experience that you’ve had. Including a recipe would be great.

2) Post it on your blog or on the Yuppiechef Fan Page wall.

3) Tell us about your story by leaving a comment at the bottom of this page and if you have posted your story on your blog, please link to this page.

A winner will be selected by the comments the story receives, and the judges’ opinion. The competition will close on 30 December 2009.

Good luck, folks!

UPDATE (5 January 2010): Happy New Year, people! The competition is now closed and we are going through the intense process of choosing a winner. Stay tuned

More about the movie:

Le Creuset features throughout the movie that has already sent US and UK audiences rushing back to the kitchen to pore over cookbooks.  Meryl Streep is Julia Child and Amy Adams is writer Julie Powell in Nora Ephron’s comedy, Julie & Julia. Before Ina, before Rachael, before Emeril, there was Julia, the woman who forever changed the way America cooks.  But in 1948, Julia Child was just an American woman living in France.  Her husbands job has brought them to Paris, and with her indefatigable spirit, she yearned for something to do.

Fifty years later, Julie Powell (Amy Adams) is stuck.  Pushing 30, living in Queens and working in a cubicle as her friends achieve stunning successes, she seizes on a seemingly insane plan to focus her energies.  Julie decides to spend exactly a year cooking all 524 recipes in Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking (which Child co-wrote with Louise Bertholle and Simone Beck) – and write a blog about her experiences.  Director-writer-producer Nora Ephron seamlessly melds these two remarkable true stories into a comedy that proves that if you have the right combination of passion, obsession and butter, you can change your life and achieve your dreams.

Le Creuset’s timeless Cast Iron cookware in Flame orange appears in both the 1940s Julia Child scenes and scenes from Julie Powell’s more recent year-long attempt to recreate her recipes.  To celebrate its presence in Julie & Julia,

So be prepared to laugh, cry and fall in love with Le Creuset when Julie & Julia open at cinemas November 13th!

Popularity: 10% [?]

So today we have the pleasure of interviewing Andrew: the brains of more than one operation. Here we have his first chilli pot plant experiment:

So it seems simple, modern and efficient – just what we expected from the man. yet we know that something more lurks beneath the surface. Having established himself as the ‘king of the worm farm’ in the sunny southern suburbs we know he has some special tea in store for his plant. We interviewed him earlier and here are his thoughts:

1. Your strategy for winning this contest? Wouldn’t you like to know! I’m not sure my strategy passes local agricultural and health regulations, so it’s best not written down.
2. Who your biggest competitor is? Diamond-boy and Shane’s flower pot talk a big game, but I think the ever-so-laid-back Kaylee has more up her sleeve than she’s letting on.
3. What you are going to do with your prize? Stroll around the office in my board-shorts and towel, sipping a cocktail and laughing at the rest of the team, before heading off for a swim at Muizenberg, before returning to show off my tan.
4. Thoughts on the competition so far? It’s grueling stuff. With the public holiday last week and then Friday spent in meetings my little babies went a whole 4 days without water and are a bit worse for wear, but I reckon instilling some toughness in them will pay off for me in the long run.

Well folks, it seems we have a serious contender here, other contestants watch out. One does wonder though, if he can’t spell ‘chilli’ has he a hope…?

Popularity: 3% [?]

Moving into more serious territory, we now interview Kaylee Clark. Proficient in all she does, and now sporting a lethal looking headset, we approach with caution.

Chilli Comp Panel: How are you this fine day Kaylee?

Kaylee: Good thanks.

Chilli Comp Panel: Your strategy for winning this contest?

Kaylee: Lots of research.

Chilli Comp Panel: Who is your biggest competitor?

Kaylee: Shane.

Chilli Comp Panel: Literally?

Kaylee: Um…

Chilli Comp Panel: What you are going to do with your prize?

Kaylee: Extend my Xmas holiday.

Chilli Comp Panel: Thoughts on the competition so far?

Kaylee: Something different and fun, a good way of bringing the team together and creating some competitiveness.

Wow, honesty yet without giving anything away. We have a serious contender here folks. Beware all.

Take a look at her prized possession and understand the gravity of the situation.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Today we’re with Shane Dryden, creator of the inaugural Chilli Growing Competition. Here is his entry, as we’re sure you’ll recall, bright and wonderful with a big white ‘backer’ for reflecting more light onto his chilli’s.

We had a few words with him and found his answers intriguing if not somewhat bizarre.

Chilli Comp Panel:Your strategy for winning this contest.

Shane: Biochemical engineering. That’s all I am allowed to say at this stage of the competition.

Chilli Comp Panel: What does that actually mean, ‘biochemical’?

Shane: I haven’t the foggiest. I was pretending to be intelligent.

Chilli Comp Panel: (cough Julius Malema cough cough) Who would you say your biggest competitor is?

Shane: Definitely Dale – she has been known to pull some serious moves and she has a wicked sense of humour. My mom taught me to be careful of people like that.

Chilli Comp Panel: What you are going to do with your prize?

Shane: Seeing as the prize is an entire day off work – I will probably come to work anyway just to show everyone that I am really committed to Yuppiechef. That will score me some long term brownie points which should ultimately work in my favour.

Chilli Comp Panel: Thoughts on the competition so far?

Shane: I am very surprised at the standard of this competition, it’s clear that everyone has done their research and are (sic) well prepared. I feel that gender testing should have been introduced earlier on in the competition, I am a little concerned by how masculine some of the female competitors and their sprouts are looking.

Wow! Perhaps after watching District 9 Shane has lost the ability to be non-prejudiced. Perhaps his mother gave him some stick in his upbringing…  who knows? Either way folks, we have a serious contender here in Shane. His Chilli bush is leading the way with almost 7 full sprouts now. Check this picture taken yesterday:

Ok, so some of them look a bit like weeds, but give him some credit ‘a little weed is better than nothing’.

Popularity: 2% [?]