Hello, I'm Melanie. Pull up a chair.
Home cook, family-history digger and over-thinker.
I'm South African Chinese with Hakka roots (my Chinese name is 朱山梅 (朱云兴)), a mother and a curious over-thinker. I rarely ask one question when five will do.
These days most of those questions are about family. I'm digging into my ancestry, following the trail from Meixian to Mzansi, and writing it all down. Several books are on the way. The first, Chopsticks, Pots & Wooden Spoons, happens to be a cookbook, because every family story needs feeding.
I spent years in brand marketing, and for about 15 years I've volunteered with TEARS Foundation, because ending gender-based violence and femicide matters deeply to me. This site is where all those threads come together. Come for one thread, stay for the whole tangle. Make yourself at home.
A signed book under the tree
Gift my cookbook this Christmas. Buy a signed-copy voucher for R550 (courier included), sent by secure email once payment is confirmed. Your person redeems it on this site, and signed books are couriered from February 2027.
Order by 12:00 (SAST) on 24 December for Christmas.
Takealot and Amazon
Paperback and e-book, coming in 2027.
From the blog: Rice, Roots & Everything Else
I'm Melanie Minnaar, a home cook from a South African Chinese kitchen. My cookbook, Chopsticks, Pots & Wooden Spoons, is coming to Takealot and Amazon in 2027.
It starts where my cooking always starts: ginger, rice, a hot wok and a pot of bones. Then it moves on to the rest of the table: Italian food from my partner's table, South African pots, Sunday roasts, and puddings people ask for again.
It's built around one idea: tonight's dinner is also tomorrow's. One more meal from what's left, and food that looks like you meant it.
Leave your email and I'll let you know the day it's out.
Cook well. Waste less. Every recipe ends with what to make from it tomorrow.
One more meal from what's left. Start from what's in the fridge, not the contents page.
Food that looks like you meant it. Presentation matters as much as flavour.
Be the first to know
Leave your email and I'll let you know the day it's out.