WHEN Sibahle Mtongana told her parents she wanted to be a professional cook, her mother despaired - she would be doomed to life in a white madam's suburban kitchen.

Little did she know that Siba, the daughter with the sparkly dimpled smile, would become one of South Africa's celebrity chefs. She is about to blow up even more when the Food Network show Siba's Table is broadcast in about 900 countries later this month.

Siba beams as she speaks about her latest TV coup.

"I thank God for the opportunities that have come my way. But I've also worked hard to get here. I'm ambitious and get bored quite easily, so I need something that will keep me on my toes," says the food and consumer sciences graduate from the University of Cape Town.

Siba (28), who came into the public arena as a magazine food editor in 2008 and later hosted a cooking show with celebrity guests, is known to be quiet and unassuming. But when she starts talking about her passion for "changing perceptions about South Africa and black people", there's a fire in her.

"Yes, we have a past, but it's about time the world started seeing that we are progressing in South Africa. We need to dismiss perceptions about black people being lazy or unambitious. I want people to say the name 'Siba' with the same ease they say 'Nigella' or 'Jamie'."

Lofty aspirations indeed, but something that Sue Walton of the Food Network says is possible. The vice-president of commissioning in Europe, Middle East and Africa, Walton says she is under Siba's spell: "From the moment I met Siba, I found her enchanting. She has oodles of warmth and her talent and authenticity are an important element. This opportunity just captures her essence."

In Siba's Table, the girl from Mdantsane township in the Eastern Cape makes each episode a mini-chapter of her life. Her presenting style is infused with sass. She uses words like "va-va-voom", "boom" and "eish", and gets a naughty glint in her eye when she licks her finger and calls it "the perks of being the chef".

At the show's teaser event this week, guests watched an episode in which she whipped up a gourmet lunch for her family while husband Brian (33) entertained their son, Lonwabo.

"When I go home (to Mdantsane), who do they want to cook? Siba! I don't mind because I love it, and I've created dishes where I take something traditional, and turn it into something modern that still gets my mother's approval," says Siba.

The two men in her life - Brian and baby Lonwabo - make cameo appearances throughout the series. Siba became pregnant with the couple's first child soon after negotiations with the Food Network started. But they wanted her so much, they suggested she do the show belly and all. "No!" she mock-screams. "I couldn't do that! I wanted to have my baby to myself and enjoy my pregnancy." Eventually, the network had to wait a year before shooting for the show could start earlier this year.

She and her husband, a head designer at a leading supermarket, are a joy to watch. The two share an ease that is usually seen only with much older couples. They even finish each other's sentences. "If memory serves me right, Brian and I have been together for 10 years, but married for three. My family is super-important to me and a core of who I am."

Now that she's entered the international celebrity chef arena, Siba's passport has been getting some stamps. She recently visited Brussels, London and Lisbon for her show, and found that people thought she meant the Waka Waka dance when she spoke of chakalaka.

"This is one of the reasons it's important for me to fly the South African flag and show the world what we are all about."

Siba says she wants to be known as the the queen of convenience because "food should be beautiful and tasty, but simple enough not to be intimidating".

The last of eight children, Siba says she grew up in a home rich with love. Her mother, Noliza, is a retired teacher and dad Mncedisi Mnwana a retired supervisor of a leather goods manufacturer. Mom was the educator while dad fed them spiritually. "But it was mama who always inculcated in us that education and God go together."

Smart, warm, charismatic and stylish, Siba is well on her way to becoming a food rock star.

Siba's Table airs from September 23 at 9pm on DStv Channel 175

ON THE SIDE:

She's the second South African after Jenny Morris to get her own show on the Food Network.

She calls Morris, who recommended her to the channel, her "white mother".

Her comfort food is any seafood dish.

The only time she will not cook is when she's on holiday.

Her father had to persuade her mother that Siba would not end up a domestic worker if she studied food technology.

She was a top student in home economics in high school and at varsity.

She works closely with kids and is passionate about mentorship.