10 Questions For: Claire Allen

Fun-loving foodie and Chef Claire Allen is a face you won’t be forgetting. You probably already recognise her from M-Net’s MasterChef South Africa, where Claire was a season three top 12 contestant, or from her blog Food is Love, where she shares mouth-watering recipes. Claire also cooks alongside Sipho Mdlankomo and this entertaining cooking duo is known as ‘Short Chef Skinny Chef’. Known as ‘The Foodie in Love’, Claire’s outlook is as simple as her blog name: To her food is, essentially, love and she has taken the time to participate in our 10 Questions Project, showcasing her warm-loving personality.

1. How would you describe what you do for a living?
I am a food entertainer, I bring food to life for people  who I hope to inspire  to fall in love with food, cooking and eating. 

2. What is your most vivid childhood memory?
At the age of about seven or eight-years-old  I was watching the food channel where they were making  homemade pasta.  For the life of me I couldn’t understand how the pasta was going to be cooked when it wasn’t dry. It was a very funny experience and must be the reason why I don’t ever make homemade pasta, haha!

3. If you could invite any three people, dead or alive, for dinner, who would they be and why?
I do love a dinner party. I like my dinner parties to be full of life and a lot of fun so this will not be too serious. Therefore I would choose:
Prince Harry - He is really cute and I’m a sucker for a British accent.
President Barack Obama - He has to do his famous  mic drop skit before he would be allowed to have any dessert!
Marco Pierre White – I find him totally fascinating and sexy and I know he would completely take over in the kitchen - which would be just incredible. 

4. If you ever found yourself auditioning for a music reality TV show, what song would you sing and why?
I can’t sing… I sound like broken glass, so I'd go with the song I’m singing in the office off YouTube right now. Pheobe Ryan's 'Homie'. 

5. How would you complete this sentence?  The South African cabinet should include a Minister of ______________.
Sleep. Those guys [in parliament] nap way too much, I’m worried about them. I feel they all need to download an app or something. 

6. What would you say is the biggest misconception about you?
That I have it all together… I’m totally winging it 95% of the time!

7. What is your (honest) opinion of Cape Town?
Cape Town is home. It’s beautiful! Cape Town has such a great vibe, many incredible things to do, bad traffic, an insane amount of Woolies stores, great shopping hours and the most loving people you will find anywhere in the world. You simply need to smile back and give everyone a break. Oh, and our mountain is pretty cool as well!

8. What's the greatest fear you've had to overcome to get where you are today?
To realise that failing doesn’t make you a failure and that you need to roll with the punches. Trust that, in hindsight, everything has happened the way it was meant to and you will learn from every moment,  it just might not be right now. 

9. What's the one thing you'd like to achieve before you die?
I have a few. I want to travel to every continent in the world, I want to achieve some insane adventure, like climb Mount Everest or something and most importantly be the best mom I can be. 

10. Which well- known South African personality would you, without a doubt, be able to beat in a street fight and why?  
Ah, I’m a lover not a fighter. I’d properly talk you to death before you can take a punch , haha!

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ABOUT #CapeTownMag10Q:

CapeTownMagazine.com’s 10 Questions project gets to know some of the Mother City’s most creative and inspiring people. From television personalities and musicians to politicians and entrepreneurs, we find out more about well-known and up-and-coming Capetonians. You can follow #CapeTownMag10Q on Twitter and Facebook to track recent interviews or read more here about our other awesome 10 Questions candidates. 

A FEW OF OUR OTHER 10Q CANDIDATES:

10 Questions for well-known Cape Town chef Jenny Morris

10 Questions for Cape Town boy band Confidential SA

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Need some cooking tips for dining solo? Don't fear! Jenny Morris, Nicolas Charalambous and Siba Mtongana are here to help.

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