Aileen Wilsen

Aileen Wilsen was born and raised in South Africa, and moved to the USA in 2008 to be closer to her grandchildren. She grew up in a typically South African home, where English and Afrikaans were spoken interchangeably and basic South African recipes were handed down through the generations and shared amongst friends. She studied Home Economics at Stellenbosch University, majoring in food science and teaching. Aileen spent much of her career in recipe development, first creating and demonstrating quick and easy recipes for a canning company and then developing recipes for companies that supplied two large supermarket chains (Woolworths and Pick ‘n Pay) with ready-to-eat food lines. When Aileen moved to the USA, her daughter Kathy felt that there was a need for a book of traditional South African recipes developed specifically for preparation in the American kitchen, using available ingredients and equipment. The mother-daughter team founded Cape Point Press (www.capepointpress.com) and set to work on this exciting project. “South African Cooking in the USA”, an assortment of over 170 beloved traditional and contemporary South African recipes, was published in May 2010. Their e-book “Essential South African Cooking in the USA: 25 Traditional Recipes” was released two years later. Whereas “South African Cooking in the USA” has no pictures, images of recipes from this book can be seen at http://capepointpress.com/our-books/recipe-gallery/. The Kindle book has an image of each recipe. The recipes are straightforward and authentic.