Cape Town-based chef and cookbook author Jill van As believes food can do more than feed the body. For her, it feeds the soul, tells stories, and helps people reclaim joy after pain. Through her deeply personal culinary work, Jill has become a voice for resilience and a reminder that healing can be found, one recipe at a time.bn
A Journal Born in Lockdown, Rooted in Legacy
Her debut book, The Epicurean Journal, was born from long-distance creative conversations with Atlanta, Georgia-based photographer Clint Alexander during the lockdown period. Originally imagined as a legacy project, the cookbook quickly took on deeper meaning.
“The writing came naturally,” Jill says. “It was about my life, my family, and my love of food. But as I wrote, I realised I needed to include the harder parts too-the traumas and the moments that shaped me. If I were going to tell my story through food, I had to be honest.”
From Survival to Sanctuary
From a young age, Jill’s grandmother taught her that food could express love and bring people together. Later in life, the kitchen became her refuge during some of her most painful moments. After surviving sexual assault at the age of 18, she found peace in cooking, where creating something beautiful gave her back a sense of control.
One of the recipes in her book, a yellowtail dish, was the first thing she cooked after being violated.
“Everything about that fish was wrong,” she recalls. “But it was still something I made. Something good. It reminded me that even in my imperfection, I could still create something meaningful.”
Kitchen Table Talk and the Power of Shared Meals
Jill’s belief in food as a healing tool extends beyond her book. She hosts intimate sessions called Kitchen Table Talk, where guests cook together, sip wine, and share their stories. These sessions are open to anyone looking for a space of warmth, support, and real conversation.
“I always say food is love. I want to help people find happiness in the kitchen again, especially after pain. There’s something incredibly healing about creating and sharing a meal, about laughing or crying with someone while a pot bubbles away on the stove.”
More Than a Title: Becoming Jill van As
Now rebranding from “Chef Jill” to simply Jill van As, she’s choosing to embrace all parts of her identity, beyond what she’s cooked or what she’s survived.
“Titles don’t define me. I want people to know me fully, not just as a chef or a survivor, but as a whole person. This is freedom.”
That freedom is also what she’s pouring into the return of her powerful event Look at Me Now, set to take place this spring. The event, first held two years ago, blends food, storytelling, music, and sisterhood in a space where vulnerability is celebrated.
Radio, Recipes, and the Road Ahead
Jill is no stranger to the airwaves, having previously worked with Heart FM and Afrikaap Online. She hopes to expand this platform to talk more openly about fertility, loss, gender-based violence, and healing—while always making room for joy and connection.
Her monthly cooking classes at Makers Landing follow a similar ethos. “They’re not demos,” she says. “They’re spaces to laugh, cry, learn, and leave with more than just a recipe. You leave with a memory.”
Her second book, due in 2026, will step even further into the stories behind the dishes. “It’s not so much a cookbook this time—it’s the full story.”
Softness as Strength
Jill knows that women in food and healing spaces are often underestimated or misunderstood. Their emotional depth can be seen as a weakness, even in the kitchen.
“There’s this belief that emotions make us inconsistent. But even when I’m tired or hurting, I still show up, I still create. That’s strength.”
At the end of the day, she wants people to leave her table feeling fed in every sense of the word.
“I want them to feel like someone saw them, fed them, and made them feel warm inside. That’s what food has done for me. That’s what I want to give back.”
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