South African Chefs Salute the Joys of Cooking on TV Show

South African viewers tuning in to The Home Channel, almost 8,000 miles away from the U.S., are discovering double the fun and flavor on a new cooking show. “Twice as Nice – With Love from the Twins” premiered in July, introducing South African chefs Tebo and Lebo Ndala to a wider audience.

“Viewer reaction has been great. The season hasn’t ended yet, and viewers are already asking for season 2. I think it’s fair to say they love the show,” says Lebo, “Twice as Nice” chef and co-host.

The two professionally trained South African chefs already had thousands of fans and social media followers from the brand they built with pop-ups, catering and a popular cookbook. The new TV series gives the Ndalas another stage to shine on, while teaching home cooks how to prepare the recipes that made the twins culinary celebrities.

“We’ve built this career together as sisters, and we’re incredibly grateful that something that began with two girls cooking with their mother in Mamelodi has grown into a platform that allows us to share our food and our story with people far beyond South Africa,” says chef and TV co-host Tebo.

Twice as Nice on South African TV

The Home Channel contacted the twins after they were featured in a magazine article. The network’s offer fit right into one of their aspirations. “Having a cooking show has always been a desire of ours, but we never imagined it would happen so soon,” admits Lebo.

The South African chefs had appeared on several lifestyle magazine TV shows. Yet, doing the pre-recorded “Twice as Nice” series offered both an incredible opportunity and a chance to grow. “We’ve always been comfortable cooking on live TV, but nothing prepared us for shooting an actual cooking show with so many stops and starts,” Lebo acknowledges.

She continues describing the production process. “The long hours were very challenging; it takes the whole day to make a 24-minute episode. What was also challenging was keeping our energy up from start to finish. For people whose social batteries run out quickly, this experience was quite a shock. We have a newfound respect for TV chefs.”

The eight episodes of “Twice as Nice” airing in prime time gave the South African cuisine experts the chance to teach home cooks how to prepare delicious dishes that make mealtime a joy. “It was so much fun seeing our dream come true in real life. We love sharing fresh, new recipes with everyone, and this show allowed us to showcase a plethora of those recipes,” says Lebo.

Not all of the twin chefs’ recipes are new renditions of South African home cooking. Lebo and Tebo also honored traditional dishes passed on by family cooks. “Our favorite episode was definitely the ‘Seven Colour Sunday’ episode because it reminds us of home, our grandmother and our mom. It’s very nostalgic,” Lebo notes.

The family feast and other South African dishes the chefs prepare on The Home Channel show let their chemistry stand out. How they relate to one another while demonstrating their passion for cooking South African foods gives the series a unique dynamic. “Being twins is certainly part of our story, but we think people connect with us because our relationship is genuine. We’ve grown up together, worked together and built this business together, so the friendship, teasing and disagreements that people see are real,” says Tebo.

Building a South African Chefs’ Brand    

The twins’ personal and professional relationship provided a sturdy foundation for launching their business, With Love from the Twins. Tebo believes their lifelong connection produces a powerful advantage. “There is a deep level of trust and understanding between us, and that has helped us navigate the uncertainty of entrepreneurship and the food industry.”

The South African sisters built their food business by applying their combined talents to pop-ups, catering, media appearances and other culinary projects. They have also explored a wide range of interests as certified sports nutritionists, food stylists and private chefs.

“As our understanding of food developed, our interests expanded. Nutrition became an important part of our work because we wanted to understand not only how food tastes, but how it nourishes people. From there, food styling, recipe development, publishing and content creation became natural extensions of what we were already doing,” Lebo explains.

Once the twins decided to pursue culinary careers, they enrolled at The Hurst Campus in Stellenbosch to receive their qualifications in Culinary Arts. After graduating in 2014, Lebo and Tebo spent time in the U.S., taking online courses at the University of California, Los Angeles Extension.

“Living in the US and experiencing the culture broadened our understanding of food and the possibilities within the culinary industry. We came home with a greater sense of curiosity and a willingness to experiment, while still being very grounded in where we come from,” Tebo recalls.

In 2019, the South African chefs gave followers a broader understanding of who they are by publishing a cookbook. “Food Stories – Our Favourite Recipes, With Love from the Twins” features treasured dishes from family feasts, exciting twists on African and American cuisines and special treats for gathering with family and friends. Their publication received the Gourmand Award as the 3rd Best African Cookbook in the World.

Lebo describes how the cookbook takes home cooks along on the twins’ culinary travels to places they’ve been, to the people they’ve met, and to the lessons they’ve learned about food.

“Readers get an insight into our childhood and family meal traditions. We take them on a journey to some of our favorite culinary destinations around the world and share some of our food expertise from our studies. The stories are funny and relatable; readers feel like they are part of the family just from paging through the book.”

The Ndalas demonstrate their range and creativity in some of the cookbook’s most popular recipes, including the Boerewors (South African sausage) corndogs, creamy samp with spinach and corn, and Thai pineapple rice. At the heart of “Our Favourite Recipes” is the sisters’ passion for making nutritious, flavor-packed food more accessible by teaching the joy of cooking.

“We wanted readers to find easy, doable recipes for every occasion, whether it was a simple midweek meal for one or a showstopper for the in-laws on the weekend. We made sure there were recipes for every occasion. Every recipe has a story behind it. We put a South African twist on most of our dishes, no matter the country of origin,” Lebo shares.

South African Cooking from the Heart

The twins fell in love with cooking while growing up in South Africa. The time and attention their family gave to food taught Lebo and Tebo to cook from the heart long before they became chefs. “Our love for cooking started at home, with our mother. She is an incredible cook, and some of our earliest and fondest memories are of being in the kitchen with her in Mamelodi, South Africa,” says Tebo.

Chef Tebo remembers how their mom provided insights into the love needed to give South African cooking heart. “One of our clearest memories is baking scones with our mom. Those moments taught us that food is about so much more than the meal itself. It is about family, generosity, conversation and creating memories.”

In their family’s kitchens, the siblings learned to become stewards of traditional South African ingredients and cooking techniques. “Growing up in Mamelodi also shaped the way we think about food. We were surrounded by big flavors, resourcefulness and the idea that you can create something special with what you have. That spirit still influences us today,” Tebo confirms.

Culinary school and world travel strengthened the South African sisters’ ability to develop new approaches to food that deliver nutritional benefits and amazing flavors. “Our cooking is really a combination of all those experiences. We have the food we grew up eating at home, the technical foundation we gained through culinary training, what we learned through nutrition, and the inspiration we’ve found while traveling,” states Chef Tebo. “We don’t necessarily return from a trip wanting to recreate a dish exactly as we experienced it. Instead, we bring home flavors, techniques and ideas and find ways to interpret them through our own South African lens.”

Whether they are developing a recipe, filming a TV show or preparing a six-course pop-up dinner, the twins strive to make their meals about more than food on a plate. They want to connect to people, promote community and encourage curiosity.

“Food has the ability to communicate without words. It can remind you of home, introduce you to another culture, bring strangers around the same table or turn an ordinary evening into something memorable,” Tebo emphasizes. “That emotional connection is what keeps us inspired. We love the technical side of cooking, but we’re equally interested in what happens around the food, the people, the stories, the memories and the conversations.”

That approach promotes fan interest in the South African chefs, but how they relate to one another keeps supporters of their TV show. Viewers get an authentic glimpse of the chefs’ spark and spice as they cook butter chicken, chimichurri lamb chops, whipped feta with roasted strawberries, or Black Forest tiramisu. Similar recipes can be downloaded from free their monthly newsletter.

“We definitely think alike in many ways, but we’re also very different cooks, which works in our favor,” says Tebo. “Lebo is naturally more of the baker in the family, while I gravitate towards savory cooking. I don’t mind recipes that take hours to prepare. We often approach a dish from different perspectives, and that can lead to some of our best ideas.”

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Future Visions for South African Cuisine

The next chapter for the Ndala twins could be showcasing more South African cuisine on TV if their Home Channel series is renewed for another season. While they are grateful for the response to “Twice as Nice” so far, they have other ideas for spreading their enthusiasm for African foods.

Chef Tebo elaborates on the twins’ vision.  “Africa is home for us, and we want to continue building a brand that represents the continent and its food stories authentically. At the same time, we’ve always believed that African food has a place on the global stage. We’d love to take our perspective on South African cooking, hospitality and storytelling to international audiences through television, publishing, travel and culinary experiences.”

The message the sisters want to convey on the continent and beyond is that African foods can be nourishing, uncomplicated, affordable and interesting. The food educators hope increased awareness will also improve Africa’s food systems, production and collaborations.  

“There is so much wisdom in African food traditions, particularly around seasonal produce, grains, legumes, vegetables and cooking from scratch. We want to encourage people to engage with food in a more thoughtful way without making healthy eating feel inaccessible,” Tebo says.

The South African chefs see the culinary world’s many possibilities for future adventures that expand their With Love from the Twins brand. Whether they choose to do more television, open a restaurant or develop food products, Tebo and Lebo hope to motivate younger chefs and home cooks to appreciate the art of preparing healthy, satisfying South African foods and dishes influenced by the world’s cuisines. “Our hope is that through our recipes, television work and educational content, we can help people feel more confident in the kitchen and more informed about what they put on their plates,” adds Chef Tebo.

No matter what the future holds, the twins view the people they’ve met and the lives they’ve touched through food among the greatest rewards of their culinary careers. They consider the opportunity to educate and entertain through a treasured sibling partnership an honor.

“We’ve had the privilege of cooking for people in intimate dining rooms, meeting audiences through television, publishing books, working with incredible brands and mentoring young people who are just beginning their own culinary journeys,” Tebo shares. “But some of the most rewarding moments are actually the simplest ones: someone telling us that they cooked one of our recipes for their family, that we made them feel confident enough to try something new, or that watching us reminded them of their own relationship with their sibling.”