South African food made a splash in China last week, with two TV hosts and authors scooping up honors at the Gourmand International awards in Yantai, Shandong province. One of them, Cape Town's Zola Nene, is lingering in Beijing for a food festival at The Village Cafe, which continues through Monday.

The menu features recipes from her latest book, Simply Delicious (about $20, from Penguin Random House). It's a tantalizing journey that follows Nene's career in food, one mouth-watering dish at a time.

The opening chapter, "Nostalgic Nibbles", is all about the comfort foods she enjoyed growing up.