13 Feb 2023

Setswana cuisine is in the international limelight following the premier of My Botswana Plate on DStv’s Honey TV.

The popular My Plate show series features cuisines of countries such as Nigeria, Zambia and Kenya.

The 13-episode show is hosted by Rachel Tlagae, a private chef who is also a content creator.

During the launch of the series in Gaborone on Saturday guests viewed one 23-minute episode of the show.

The sneak preview showcased Rachel preparing lerotse and lengangale cheese cakes as well as morula cupcakes. Speaking after the preview, Rachel expressed excitement at her new journey in the culinary world.

“I am looking forward to so much and many unchartered paths in this industry,” said Rachel. She said she fell in love with food at a young age and was taught cooking by her mother.

She said she hoped the show would popularise Setswana cuisine throughout the continent and globe, especially among the youth. “I want to make our Setswana food cool through this show,” she said.

Rachel said she honed her cooking knowledge and skill while cooking for a Japanese family. She said the family, especially the children, would not eat anything that was not Japanese.

“They were well travelled kids, but they would not touch anything that was not Japanese,” she said, adding that it motivated her to make Batswana children to be also proud of their local dishes. “I also want Batswana children not to want to eat anything that is not Setswana cuisine,” said chef Rachel.

Rachel uses indigenous Botswana ingredients for her dishes and the show will give the international community a taste of the country’s culinary delicacies and trends.

“It is an exciting period for us at Multichoice Botswana as we align our strategy to programmes that support Botswana,” Multichoice Botswana managing director , Stephanie Pillay said at the launch. Ends