From Grandma’s Kitchen Assistant to Gaining a Global Food Following: Meet South Africa’s Nelisiwe Mahlangu

Nelisiwe’s love for food began early on. Raised by her grandparents, her first instinct for cooking came from her grandmother. Her grandmother was a domestic worker who often tried out new recipes at work. On the weekends, when she was home, she would often replicate those dishes, with Nelisiwe by her side, watching in awe.

As her grandmother got older and would get tired easily from standing too long in the kitchen, Nelisiwe stepped up to be her hands. She would carry out her grandmother's instructions step by step to cook their meal. Although this was around 20 years ago, and cooking has evolved over all these years, Nelisiwe revealed how her instincts are still connected to that time. When Nelisiwe moved to her place, she had to cook for herself. However, by that time, she had had much experience in the kitchen, and started cooking with one of her grandmother’s recipes. Beginning of the journey

Nelisiwe’s brother was the first to point out her cooking skills and suggest starting a food blog on Instagram. At first, she was against the idea. Fearing the harsh criticism and comments that one is often subjected to on such platforms, she decided to stay away. However, the idea stuck with her. With a little research, she realised that many food content creators posted their content without ever showing their faces. This idea of starting a food page and only ever sharing food-related content gave her some courage. And that’s how Dine with Neli came to be.

Despite her nervousness for the first few months of content creation, Nelisiwe’s page was doing well, to her surprise. She would often worry about how people would react to her recipes and what they would comment. There were times when these questions got to her. However, as time passed, she soon adjusted to this lifestyle and eased into being a content creator.

Another one of the challenges that she faced was arranging the ingredients with her own money. There are times when a certain recipe requires an expensive ingredient. She explained how this situation worsens when the final dish isn't delicious.

She also pointed out how she struggles to make beautiful content. Regardless of how amazing your recipe is, if the image attached to it isn't inviting enough, good recipes often get lost in the never-ending maze of the internet. As someone whose natural talent isn’t photography or videography, Nelisiwe struggles with this part of her job. However, over time, she has excelled in this part of her job too, and the proof of it is live on her Instagram handle.

Nelisiwe recalls her first recipe to be cinnamon rolls, which turned out to be a total disappointment. However, she wasn’t disheartened by this. She used this “fail” as a learning opportunity to understand exactly what she had done wrong.

She does not believe in the idea of a mentor.

"When it comes to food, we have different cooking styles and everything. It's unlikely you would like everything about a creator when they cook. Probably I might like their savoury dishes, but not their desserts. So, I didn't have a mentor at all. I didn't go to culinary school. I'm a self-taught cook."

However, there are several food content creators that she highly admires. If she had to pick the people who motivated her to cook, apart from her grandmother, she believes it is her brother. He is Nelisiwe’s biggest supporter, food taster, and suggestion giver, all at once.

Nelisiwe Mahlangu starts brainstorming her recipes by looking at the seasons. Accordingly, she picks recipes that are craved during that particular time of the year. Once she narrows down to a recipe, she works on experimenting with it. She visualizes different ideas in her mind before landing on one. Once the dish is finalized, she works on the recipe and gets to cooking it.

Her outlook on balancing being an engineer and a creator is quite simple. She has her two roles compartmentalized neatly. She explained it to us by saying -

“If I were a chef, cooking at work and home, it might feel like too much. But for me, cooking is therapeutic. It is an act of relaxation, when I come home from a long day of work, and enter my kitchen, it brings me immense joy. They both balance out perfectly.”

“First of all, you need to love cooking!”

She explains why she believes it is crucial to love and enjoy cooking before creating a food blog.

“It’s because content creation is a lot of work.“

She further added that one should not be too fixated on likes and followers; rather, they should take some time to invite people to their recipes.

She told us how friends and followers are insisting on her publishing a cookbook. However, she is clear about never writing one.

“I'm not planning to have any of that. The reason is that I never bought a cookbook myself. You understand? Whenever I want to try something new, I always rush to the internet.”

She has some big plans for her future that she isn't ready to share yet. “It’s a surprise,” she said. She is on her way to aim bigger, and we are here for it. Nelisiwe Mahlangu’s journey is rooted in her warm childhood and her love for her family. We wish her all the best for the future and hope to see the “surprise” soon. Want to try out her recipes? Check out her Instagram Handle: dine_with_neli

Updated on 10 Dec 2025