Tale of a much-loved, now-kosher, Jozi caterer

“These are people’s memories, this is for somebody’s photo album, we have to make it happen.”

This is what Delores Fouché, much-loved Johannesburg caterer, tells her loyal staff before every simcha and event.

For 20-odd years, her kosher-style catering company, Food By Flavours, has wowed clients with dishes known for taste, flavour, and creative, stylish presentation.

This month, she became certified kosher under the Beth Din much to the delight of frum guests who for many years have stared longingly at her colourful dishes at simchas, unable to partake of the feast before them.

So what finally prompted this momentous move into the certified kosher space after years of people asking her to do so?

“I guess I’m ready,” she told the SA Jewish Report.

Her decision was also influenced by the dire effects of the pandemic, the loss of valuable clients to emigration, and the need to search for different catering avenues, as well as “a new generation of supportive rabbis”.

“I needed to broaden my horizons and explore other markets. Now everyone can enjoy food at my table,” Delores said.

When the country went into lockdown last March, she lost 46 functions in what felt like a minute. “I literally didn’t know where my next cent was coming from,” she said.

So, like most caterers, it was a case of sink or swim. Within weeks, she gave new meaning to the COVID-19 buzz word “pivot”.

“COVID-19 pushed us into a corner, and I was forced to adapt. I began doing Shabbos boxes for people stuck at home. I did Mother’s Day and Father’s Day boxes for the parents of former clients living overseas because people couldn’t travel so it became a way to make relatives feel special.” Home deliveries and partnering with trendy venues to sell ready-made dishes also helped. She was also there to assist clients during shiva with COVID-19-style meals.

It was all hands on deck for her staff, who she managed to retain, and even for her husband, Phillip, who also had to pull his weight.

“It was a crazy shift,” she said.

Her foray into a strictly kosher weekend came with a bang, starting with a Barmitzvah last Shabbos for a boy whose bris she had catered; and culminating in the glitzy, annual Absa Jewish Achiever Awards – a mammoth virtual event in which she had to call on about 20 extra temporary staff to help prepare the labour-intensive elaborate food boxes.

Delores, 58, “proudly” grew up in Port Elizabeth, where she was influenced by her late mother’s talent for “making something out of nothing” and her bobba’s Lithuanian-style home cooking.

“My mother was the warmest, most hospitable Jewish woman, who always said, ‘Stay for a bite’, even when there was hardly anything in the house.

“She could make sliced cucumber on a water biscuit taste delicious. She made simple, basic food. It wasn’t fancy, but it was tasty,” said Delores, whose humble beginnings brewed grit, determination, and inspired a lasting spirit of entrepreneurship.

She came up to Johannesburg in Grade 11, and left on her own for Israel after completing matric at King David Linksfield.

She spent eight years in Israel soaking up the tastes and flavours of the many cultures, and put herself through university, where she studied her “first love”, English literature and poetry, at Hebrew University.

While a student in residence, she began experimenting with food and soon became known among hungry students for producing the most delicious meals. “Living in Israel influenced me hugely. There are so many Mediterranean tastes and flavours. It’s a real melting pot,” she said.

She met her husband of 31 years during a vacation job at Smiley Blue in Johannesburg, where he also worked. The couple married after Phillip’s Orthodox conversion, and started an events, marketing, and public relations company which, she said, soon lent itself to food.

She began making meals from her kitchen at home. Soon it was making a cheesecake for this person and a salad for that person and before long, she was catering for children’s birthday parties and other small functions, all from her kitchen where she could keep an eye on her three young sons.

“It was always important to me to be home while my children were young. Catering is a harsh business. You can be up at 04:00 and work till 23:00, so I always needed my home kitchen.”

However, when the boys grew older and the company expanded, she bravely decided to purchase new premises for Food By Flavours, and moved into “a small, homely space” in Norwood.

“Food is my signature. I live life through food. Sometimes I think being a cook sounds trivial and that I could have done something different with my life, but it’s heartening to know that I’m there for people’s best memories. I’m a part of their happiest simchas.”

Watching families evolve and over the years, becoming friends with her clients, is what keeps her going.

So how does she describe her food?

“My food is home food that tastes really good. It’s not fancy. I’m not a trained chef, I’m a cook,” she says.

“I don’t know about the acidity levels of white wine or balsamic vinegar, but I have a knack for flavour and taste, it’s something I just know.”

With a recently built, separate meat kitchen and the presence of a permanent mashgiach, Delores is looking forward to this exciting challenge.

“It’s a huge shift in many ways, an expensive exercise that translates into rands and cents, but I want to experiment with fresh ideas and see where this new chapter takes me.”