Food content creator Onezwa Mbola: The original one

Onezwa Mbola acquired global fame after a controversial social-media storm when she accused fellow content creator Nara Smith — married to fashion model Lucky Blue Smith — of stealing some of her online content.

The 29-year-old cook and food content creator has garnered a huge social-media following, making homey dishes from scratch with produce she either grows or forages. In the process, the MasterChef SA alumnus has turned the spotlight on the scenic seaside village of Willowvale in the Eastern Cape.

Mbola has been back home for a couple of years now, after leaving Durban in 2020. We’ve spoken before, but there is something different about her now — she’s settled, and even the fact that she has just come out of a 12-hour power outage doesn’t faze her. It was scheduled, but she somehow missed the notice and didn’t charge her phone, so she’s in her car charging while we’re chatting.

Her four-year-old son is with her and there is the occasional babble of a toddler in the background.

“I’ve fully adjusted to rural life now. I’ve been good, taking it slow, taking care of my mental health, and just trying to be the best mom I can possibly be,” she says.

Her son, Phods (as he’s known to her followers), is at that stage where his personality is really beginning to shine through. He often appears in her cooking videos, helping her to mix ingredients or taste dishes.

She has decided to stop featuring him in so many videos and he’s developing other interests, although he still enjoys cooking and often comes up with surprising food combinations he’d like his mom to try. “Recently I’ve been asked to make pepperoni pizza with banana… I’m still trying to figure out if the banana should be pureed into a sauce or if we’re topping with banana,” she laughs.

Being back in her hometown has really underlined the importance of community for her. This is something she forgot when living in the city. It’s not all rosy, as the unemployment rate in the area is very high, but Mbola tries to help where she can. For instance, she sells locally made hand-woven mats that she uses as cutting boards through her business Emandulo, with the profits going to the artisans.

When Mbola moved back home, there wasn’t a vegetable garden or livestock at her home anymore. Her late mother had been the one who had enjoyed tending the garden and keeping livestock and, so, after her death in 2014, those activities ceased.

“When I moved back home the very first thing I did was start the garden and now we’ve got livestock. For the past two years it has felt like the home I grew up in,” she explains.

The restoration of the garden was like the revival of the family’s soul. As they nurtured the garden, the Mbola family nurtured themselves and those around them, with the community being welcome to harvest any of the produce.

“For me, working with the soil was about reconnecting with my ancestors. The initial thing was to work the garden that my mother had worked and the garden that my ancestors had worked,” Mbola says.

Her followers encouraged her to audition for season four of MasterChef SA in 2022, and she exited in episode 5. She took the exit hard, feeling disappointed in herself. She wouldn’t even cook after coming back and switching on a stove was triggering to her.

However, Mbola learnt from that experience that she didn’t need to seek validation from outsiders. She believes that if she went on the show now, she’d return in a better mental state than before, and doesn’t regret her time on the show.

The soft-spoken foodie has been open about her mental-health struggles and anxiety attacks. In this we share a camaraderie, and she goes on to tell me how she started Emandulo (a sauces and condiments business) in 2022 but later had to close it because she was burnt out and overwhelmed.

She took a year-long break and was back at the helm in March. Emandulo started out with 14 products but is now down to nine, a number Mbola is happy with. She thanks her audience for their unwavering support and says she’s blessed to have them.

The more Mbola and I chatter on, the more evident it becomes that community building is her superpower. She cultivated a supportive Instagram community that later moved onto YouTube. Mbola is now a sensation on TikTok with over 600 000 followers.

Butternut, lentil, and spinach curry 

Ingredients 

• 1 tbs vegetable oil
• 1 large onion, diced
• 1tbs ginger, minced
• 1 red chilli, minced
• 1tbs garlic, minced
• 2 tbs tomato paste
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 1 tsp cumin1 tsp coriander
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1kg butternut, cubed
• 1/2 cup lentils1 cup water or vegetable stock
• 2 cups spinach
• 1/2 cup coconut cream
• Salt to taste

Method

• In a deep pan, heat the oil over medium to high heat. Add the onion, season with salt, and cook until soft.
• Add the ginger, chilli, garlic, tomato paste, and spices.
• Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Add the butternut, lentils, and water/stock and cook covered for 25 minutes.
• Add the spinach and coconut cream and cook for another 5 minutes.
• Serve immediately with rice or naan.