Arnold Tanzer finalist in Chef of the Year competition

Believe it or not, chef and Parkview resident Arnold Tanzer eats a lot of macaroni cheese. "We have 2 kids so that's the kind of food we eat," he says. However, as one of the 5 chefs nominated for Chef of the Year at the Sunday Times Food Show, he will be pulling out all the stops - he'll be preparing an original 6 course meal made from local and seasonal ingredients for the competition. "It's hard work, but a lot of fun," says Tanzer.

Tanzer's day job is running a high-end catering company called Food on the Move. A lover of all things foodie, he admits that, ".. these days I'm so busy running a business that I don't get much time for hands on food preparation." Just to keep him even busier, he is Vice President of the South African Chefs' Association, as well as being involved with the International Chefs' Association -he'd just returned from a hot Cairo when MyParks spoke to him.

So even though he doesn't do too much cooking at work, there's always cooking at home. He admits that he doesn't cook for his family every night, "it's whoever(meaning him or his wife) gets home first." But when friends come over, it's always Arnold's turn to cook. And it's usually something like roast chicken, an oldie but goodie. (Some of us could do with a husband like him.)

Of the Parks he says, "I wouldn't live anywhere else," saying that he loved the village "feel" of Parkview, the parks you can walk in, the young families all around, as well as the convenience of the shops on Tyrone.

"I always like to support the small businesses around me," said Tanzer, mentioning that there were 5 Woolworths stores in a 2km radius from his home and that of course he uses them occasionally. But he prefers to get his bread from The Chef in Richmond, his meat from the Komatie Butchery and his veggies from Manny at Tyrone Fruiterers. "I have a good relationship with these people, and that counts for a lot," he said.

Ever energetic, on weekends you'll find Arnold Tanzer in his kitchen whipping up pancakes with his kids before trundling off to the park for some quality parks time.

Food on the Move
www.foodonthemove.co.za
011 403 1232

Sunday Times Food Show
Sandton Convention Centre
3 to 6 July

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Arnold Tanzer