From the heart of Bulawayo to the hills of the Kingdom of Eswatini, Zimbabwean chef Prince Mahlangu is about to take the culinary stage at one of Africa’s most anticipated cultural gatherings.

At this year’s Standard Bank Luju Food and Lifestyle Festival, Prince will cook live alongside two formidable voices in African cuisine Chef Mmabatho Molefe and Chef Sive Bhembe under this year’s powerful theme: “Nguni Foodways – A Return to the African Future.”
Writing on his social media, Chef Prince shared his feelings about the news to the public.

“I am incredibly honoured and excited to be taking the culinary stage at this year’s Standard Bank Luju Food & Lifestyle Festival in the Kingdom of Eswatini,” Prince posted.

For a chef rooted in Zimbabwe, the invitation carries deep meaning. It is a chance to represent Bulawayo, to represent Zimbabwe, and to represent a wider Nguni heritage that connects nations across Southern Africa.

For his live cooking demonstration, Prince is choosing to look backwards in order to move forward. His focus will be on ancestral forage and preservation techniques the knowledge systems that sustained Nguni communities for centuries.

Wild greens, fermentation, drying, smoking, and seasonal storage. Practices born from resilience, and refined by time.

“Bringing the tastes of our history into the present day”

Is the heart of what he will do on stage.

It is not nostalgia. It is innovation rooted in memory. It is showing how the foodways of Africa’s fore fathers can answer questions about sustainability, flavour, and identity today.

Standing with Chef Mmabatho Molefe, who has redefined African fine dining on global platforms, and Chef Sive Bhembe of Eswatini, whose work is deeply tied to local ingredients and community, Prince brings a Zimbabwean perspective to the conversation.

Bulawayo’s food culture bold, resourceful, and connected to the land will be represented on an international stage.

Luju has always celebrated more than food. It is music, fashion, art, and dialogue.
However this year food takes centre stage as a tool for storytelling.

In addition Prince intends to tell a Zimbabwean story through Nguni ingredients and techniques.
A story of land, of seasons, of adaptation. A story that says we did not start cooking yesterday.

“Get your palates and your outfits ready,” he tells festival-goers.

“It’s going to be a beautiful celebration of heritage, culture, and African storytelling through food.”

For Zimbabwe, and for Bulawayo especially, this is a proud moment. To see one of their own on the Luju stage, cooking not just to impress, but to reconnect. To show that Zimbabwean chefs are part of shaping what “the African future” tastes like.

As August approaches, the Kingdom of Eswatini will welcome voices, flavours, and ideas from across the region.
Representing Zimbabwe, Prince Mahlangu will be there hands working, and ancestors in the ingredients.