Cook & Connect

18/04/2026

Some knowledge lives only in hands. In the way a grandmother presses mochi, or a chef reads the mountain before dawn. It cannot be written down until someone chooses to follow it.

The Memory of Food is a long-term field research project documenting endangered culinary knowledge held by elderly knowledge-holders across cultures, before it disappears with the generation that carries it.

Japan was one of the many encounters that became What the Hands Remember, a field document covering Japan, Réunion, South Africa, Zanzibar, Laos, and Chiang Mai.
More field work is underway.

Nadège Lepoittevin
Food explorer and cultural researcher
Founder, Cook & Connect, Cape Town

15/02/2026

25/11/2022

Cooking classes for individual and kitchen staff, Culinary tours in France with Nadege Cuisine -

The last months, I have been twice to Tanzania to create a retreat menu (raw food, vegan and Gluten/Sugar free) for Chole Mjini Tree House and an Energetic Kilimanjaro hikers menu for Altezza Travel. For both places, I have been there to train the kitchen staff (even did the Kilimanjaro ascend!...

08/04/2022

Tip of the week!

Tomato skins can be quite bitter to eat, so I usually skin them with a knife using this simple technique. Just chop the tomato into 4 pieces and remove the skin like I do in the video. It takes a minute, but can totally transform the taste of your dish. Bon appetit!

08/04/2022

Have you been thinking about rekindling a few connections with friends and loved ones? I used my decades of experience and knowledge, to design a one of a kind cooking class that shows you how to use cooking as a way to connect with yourself and those you love.
Head over to the cook and connect website and enjoy guided one on one classes that will help you rebuild connections in your life though fun, health, intimacy.