Facebook Foodie

Facebook Foodie, Monique Labat has compiled a collection of recipes which thanks to social media has circumnavigated the virtual globe. Friends and family have "Liked" and "Shared" food photographs and asked where the recipes can be found. Challenges have been set on Monique's Facebook page. Three years of cooking, photographing, eating, liking and sharing have made this a fun food journey! Take a look at Monique's food website www.palmheartsandpineapples.com
About the Author: Food memories stretch back to her early and tender years. For Monique Labat whisking egg yolks with locally produced sugar on the Island of Mauritius and combining the custard with home grown vanilla pods was a technique taught and passed down from mother to daughter. Crème à la vanille was a standard base for the stewed guava or stewed pawpaw dishes the family loves. These tropical fruit abound on the Island. The strong cultural food influences of Mauritius were brought to the south coast of KwaZulu-Natal when Monique and her family made South Africa their home. Combinations of creole dishes, Indian specialties and French delicacies were incorporated into the farming lifestyle. A step into the citrus orchard meant sweet naartjies and juicy oranges. Picking mfino, the leaves and tendrils of the pumpkin or chayote creeper in the veggie garden was a ritual simply to produce brèdes eaten with rice and rougail de saucisses. The saucisses or sausages were handmade by the Italian community in Umkomaas and the drive home from Durban meant an obligatory stopover at the Italian Butchery. The sausages were grilled and then sliced and popped into the delicious Créole tomato sauce everyone knows as rougail. In May 2011, Monique took the step of following her dream and enrolled at the Ballymaloe Cookery School in Ireland. Fellow students on the course represented 14 different nationalities and Monique's network grew substantially. Living and working on an organically certified farm a short distance from the sea and being taught the importance of knowing where the produce has originated resonated. Opportunities at Ballymaloe included working the night shift in Arbutus Bakery in the City of Cork, helping sell fresh produce at the Local Farmers' Market in Midleton and learning to remove the pin bones from wild salmon in the kitchens of Ballymaloe House. Monique has published her first cookbook entitled, 'Facebook Foodie: Recipes of the Liked and Shared'. Since returning from Ballymaloe, Monique has been following the Paleo/Low Carb High Fat lifestyle. Quitting sugar, potatoes, rice and wheat flour was not easy initially, but has since become a way of life. Monique has given Low Carb High Fat food demonstrations in Durban with Sports Medicine specialist, Dr Glen Hagemann. Monique is launching her first cookbook at Burnedale Café, north of Durban followed by the launch in Black River, Mauritius. http: //www.palmheartsandpineapples.com