Readers of Daily Maverick who read the lifestyle content, especially the food section edited by Tony Jackman, will recognise my guest on this episode from her byline. An American who's lived in Cape Town for 30 years, Ilana Sharlin Stone is a great food writer whose portfolio includes work for Saveur, Life and Thyme, Los Angeles Times, and many others. After starting out as a writer, Ilana took herself off to study at the Culinary Institute of America and became a chef so that she could better understand and write about food. Of course that opened more doors and she started working in restaurant kitchens, ultimately moving to Cape town with her South African husband in 1994 where they opened the seminal modern Italian restaurant 'Rustica'. after closing 'Rustica' in 2000, Ilana concentrated on raising her two young children and building her writing career. Exploring more than just shiny palaces full of delicious temptation, Ilana writes about the grit and grime of restaurants, food security, sustainability and life in the trenches. We chatted about writing, restauranting and much more. I suspect we'll meet again to continue nattering about our love of food and the industry that surrounds it.
