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Food has always played a key role in the lives of the Eat Out Woolworths Restaurant Awards judges, so we asked them to share the meals, dishes and ingredients that have shaped who they are.

The elements of a memorable meal

For Jan Hendrik van der Westhuizen, the concept of a “memorable meal” cannot be summed up in just one memory or sensory experience. Rather, it’s all about layering. “The simplicity and art of layering is eventually the ultimate achievement in food,” he explains. “The conceptual value of a meal contains so many elements. It is the smile that serves and explains with passion. The fine choice of crockery and the substance in flavour, technique and identity.” As an Eat Out Woolworths Restaurant Awards judge, he recalls some of the incredible skills, punchy dishes, seasonal intent and surprising elements he has encountered this year. Ultimately, he says: “A memorable meal cannot be one. There are elements in some that stand out. It is the character of the team, the heart of the kitchen.”

Straight from the garden

Moses Magwaza says that some of the meals he’s eaten as an Eat Out Woolworths Restaurant Awards judge this year have really triggered his childhood memories. A particular highlight was a butternut soup he had, which reminded him of his late aunt. “She had a small garden in her backyard where she planted her vegetables. I would help her harvest the butternut and she would make the most delicious soup. I will never forget it. Every time I see butternut soup on the menu, I think about her.”

Mangoes in the bath

For Anna Trapido, ripe, juicy mangoes will always remind her of her father. “I grew up in England, but my South African father was so intensely homesick that everything we ate was infused with his yearning for a land that I had never visited. He missed mangoes the most. No English fruit was ever sweet or sticky enough. He told tales of a Krugersdorp boyhood where mangoes were so juicy that they could only be eaten in the bath. When I eventually did get to the promised land, I realised that he was right. Almost 40 years after my father first told me those stories, I still see South Africa through the golden glow of his faith in the future. And I still eat mangoes in the bath.”

SHOP: Woolworths range of fresh, in-season fruit and vegetables here

Local is always the most lekker

Like Anna, Mokgadi Itsweng also recalls snacking on fresh mangoes all day during summer. Her other favourite summer dish is green maize. “The smell of boiling green maize is one of my favourite summer smells – it always reminds me of hot summer days, during which we snack on the cooked green maize and fresh mangoes all day.” 

Other grains also played a key role in her youth. “The contrasting taste and smell of ting porridge and dates takes me back to my granny’s kitchen,” she says. “The perfect sweet-and-sour taste removes all memories of its funky smell! Sorghum and ditloo is another dish that is a true comfort to me. It was the original combo dish before maize became the staple, and heritage samp and beans became our default comfort food. My grannies would cook this combo until the ditloo (aka bambara nuts) were soft and creamy, completely melting in your mouth, and the sorghum grain is also tender. I love tender sorghum and beans, which was served with thepe aka amaranth stew.

READ: Mokgadi Itsweng shares her passion for indigenous ingredients

A commitment to good food

Karen Dudley recalls a host of dishes that inspired her love of food and cooking, from her mom’s sago pudding and crème brulée to tomato bredie and anchovy-and-tomato sandwiches. But one of the biggest highlights from her deep childhood is Hong Kong chicken – sadly she shares: “My mom can’t remember the recipe and I have spent many hours trying to replicate it!” 

But perhaps more important than a recollection of specific dishes are the lessons she learnt: “The commitment to eating nice things, to pancakes at the right moment, and the belief in eating the best that one could, always!”

A Venetian delight

Chief judge Abigail Donnelly says she’s had the most incredible opportunities to eat at local and international restaurants, with highlights including dining at JAN in Nice, eating scallop rolls in Maine, chowing hot dogs at Grey’s Papaya in New York, and dining under the full moon at Maggie Beer in Adelaide. But one memory she will never forget is eating at a small trattoria on the water’s edge in Venice. “I ordered a bowl of squid ink pasta, slurping it up like there was no tomorrow. It was delicious! I walked back to my hotel feeling like I was having a Shirley Valentine moment, collected my keys at the hotel reception and walked across the foyer. Back in the room I glanced at myself and burst out laughing as my face was covered in little spots of squid ink … it was worth the embarrassment!”

Abigail says another meal that stands out was the first one she ever made for her husband. “He was in the army and I was staying in a tiny flat in Hillbrow. My nana was visiting, so I made a Chinese feast from scratch, bowties included! In fact, many of my favourite food memories were spent with my nana. She was the one who instilled my food love affair … with dishes like the creamy rice pudding that she often made. I remember swimming in the pool after school and she would tip toe across the kitchen floor so not to make puddles so she could carefully stir the milk solids into the baking rice – she believed this made it more creamy … There are many more stories that I am saving to share with you in my book one day.”

WATCH: Abigail Donnelly creates restaurant-worthy dishes with some of her favourite ingredients on-shelf at Woolworths